The Canadian women’s national team play twice this week in what Canada Soccer has named the Summer Send-Off Series — a pair of friendlies on home soil against Mexico before the team heads to Europe to finish their preparation for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

On Saturday they’ll host El Tri Femenil in Montreal at Stade Saputo, before the teams head west to Toronto — where they’ll meet again at BMO Field on Tuesday in the second fixture.

After decent performances at the Concacaf W Gold Cup and SheBelieves Cup, this series of matches will be an important measuring stick for the team as they look to head to Paris on a high note, and defend their Olympic title. The matches will also be an audition for several players, with Bev Priestman saying ahead of this camp that she wants to get closer to finalizing her Olympic roster — which is a significantly smaller squad of just 18 players, meaning there is a lot of competition for places.

With tickets to the Olympic Games on the line, here are five players who need to have a big June international window.

Gabrielle Carle

After being an alternate player at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Gabrielle Carle will be keen to make the roster outright for Paris 2024, and a strong showing this week is crucial to making that happen.

Canada has a lot of depth at the two fullback positions, with Ashley Lawrence, Jayde Riviere, Sydney Collins, Bianca St-Georges, and Allysha Chapman all among those in consideration. With Riviere coming back from an injury, Collins out injured, and Chapman only with the squad as a training player as she returns to the pitch after giving birth, there is a real opportunity for Carle to stake her claim on the left flank.

She impressed at the Concacaf W Gold Cup earlier this year, and will need to continue that form into June if she’s to prove that she is undroppable. Carle’s service from wide areas could be her ticket to the Olympics, if she can produce some scoring opportunities for her teammates like she has done in her chances to play so far in 2024.

Julia Grosso

Julia Grosso was the hero of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for Canada, scoring the winning penalty in the gold medal match against Sweden, but her ticket to Paris doesn’t seem to be booked just yet.

Minutes for the national team have been hard to come by for the 23-year-old, with Simi Awujo, Quinn, and Jessie Fleming among the preferred options for Bev Priestman in 2024. Grosso is yet to start a match for the national team this year, limited to five appearances off the bench, and even coming off the bench into the forward line instead of her usual midfield spot.

Offensively, Bev Priestman has said on several occasions that Grosso has the talent to be incredibly effective, but that she needs to be more confident and play with the handbrake off, but that hasn’t always led to a response from the midfielder. Defensively, there are question marks about whether Grosso is a natural fit in the middle of Priestman’s new 3-4-3 formation, as she is more attack-minded, whereas someone like Quinn for example is more of a two-way player.

Fleming’s spot in the team is guaranteed, leaving several players competing for just one other starting job if Priestman sticks with this formation. With Quinn missing this camp through injury, Grosso could get an opportunity to get some minutes in midfield alongside Fleming. If she doesn’t, or if she doesn’t make the most of them, she could be on the outside looking in for the smaller Olympic roster.

Deanne Rose

Deanne Rose has a history of showing up in Olympic medal games for Canada — scoring the bronze medal-winning goal at Rio 2016, and converting a penalty in the shootout of the gold medal match at Tokyo 2020.

While she isn’t a lock to go to Paris 2024, Bev Priestman seems to trust her and believes that she can be a difference-maker still — starting her in four of seven appearances in 2023. Rose has speed to burn and has created some chances this year — including one assist in the SheBelieves Cup Final against the United States — but like many Canadian attackers at the moment isn’t performing consistently enough to lock herself into the starting lineup.

Rose is one of the players that can get herself on that plane to France with a couple of strong performances, especially if the other attackers in the squad fail to stand out. Injuries have been a concern as well throughout Rose’s career — and she will need to stay fully healthy to have a shot at being on the team.

Desiree Scott 

A serious knee injury kept Desiree Scott out of the national team for the entirety of 2023, including missing the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Scott returned to the squad for the SheBelieves Cup in April, her first appearance with the national team since November 2022.

One of Canada’s longest-serving players, making 185 appearances since 2010, Scott faces a tough battle to win a spot in midfield, similar to Grosso. While Grosso is more attack-minded, Scott is the opposite. Nicknamed “The Destroyer” because of her physicality and ability to break up plays from midfield, Scott could be what Canada needs to have in the team to allow Jessie Fleming to focus more on going forward.

The concerns with Scott will always be the potential of re-occurring injuries, and how many minutes she can give Canada — the latter being something that could be a huge factor when at the Olympics you’re playing every few days instead of once a week like at the club level. Scott undoubtedly has something to offer still, especially when it comes to leadership around the team, and a strong June camp could be what springboards her into Bev Priestman’s best 18.

Evelyne Viens

Evelyne Viens has continued to score at an impressive rate at the club level, winning the Serie A Golden Boot this season with 13 goals as Roma won the league title.

That goalscoring prowess hasn’t always followed her to the national team, however. In 29 national team appearances for Canada, Viens has scored just five goals. Just seven of those 29 appearances have come off the bench since making her debut in 2021, but she hasn’t made the most of those starts, or her minutes off the bench.

One of those five goals was a crucial extra-time winner against Costa Rica at the Concacaf W Gold Cup earlier this year, a well-taken header on a chipped free kick from Jessie Fleming that found the top right corner. Viens clearly has loads of potential, and it’s time for her to step up and win the starting striker job that nobody else has been able to lay claim to since Christine Sinclair stepped away from the national team at the end of last year.

Whether from the bench or the starting lineup, it is very likely that Viens will get some minutes over this two-game series, and scoring or creating a goal could go a long way toward solidifying her place in the team.