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Canada celebrate a goal at the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup. (Photo: Concacaf)
MATCH ANALYSIS: CanWNT defeat Costa Rica, finish Concacaf W Gold Cup group stage as top seed
2024-02-28
by
Benedict Rhodes, CanPL.ca Contributor (@BTFR17)
Canada Soccer CANWNT

Final Score: Canada 3-0 Costa Rica
Goalscorers: Huitema 11′, Zadorsky 27′, 57′
2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup
Group Stage — Matchday Three

Match Recap

It’s three matches and three wins for the Canadian women’s national team at the Concacaf W Gold Cup, after Les Rouges beat Costa Rica 3-0 on Wednesday to finish top of Group C. The victory also secured them the top seed at the Concacaf W Gold Cup, with teams ranked 1-8 for their performance in the group stage determining knockout round opposition.

Canada dominated the possession of the ball in the early stages of the match, pinning Costa Rica in their own half and testing them with wave after wave of attacks. Jordyn Huitema gave Canada the lead in the 11th minute, making a run between two Costa Rican defenders to get her head on a pass over the backline from Jessie Fleming, redirecting it into the bottom left corner.

Canada maintained that pressure, and doubled their lead in the 27th minute. Adriana Leon, who came into the match with five goals in this tournament already, turned provider and curled a corner kick into the penalty area. Shelina Zadorsky met it in the air, heading the ball past Daniela Solera at her near post to make it 2-0.

Les Rouges dominated the first half, not allowing Costa Rica to take a single shot through 45 minutes, and having nearly 75 per cent possession of the ball. Canada had six shots, scoring on both of their first half shots on target.

Twelve minutes into the second half Shelina Zadorsky scored again in a similar fashion, getting her head on a cross into the box, this time from Olivia Smith. Zadorsky rose above everyone to meet the in-swinging effort, beating Solera again at the near post.

They were the fifth and sixth goals of Zadorsky’s national team career, but not the first brace. Zadorsky also scored twice in a 5-2 victory over Ecuador at the 2015 Pan American Games on home soil.

 

Julia Grosso forced a save out of Solera at the other end of the pitch moments later, but the Costa Rican goalkeeper was also able to push it away from danger. Las Ticas upped the pressure in the second half, pressing high up the pitch and giving Canada problems, but in the end, they couldn’t find a second shot on target as Canada held on for the clean sheet and a third.

Three Observations

Canada finishes group stage with perfect record and top seed for the knockout rounds

With Wednesday night’s 3-0 victory, Canada finished the group stage at the Concacaf W Gold Cup with three wins from three matches, 13 goals for, and zero conceded, taking top spot in the knockout round seeding among all eight teams going into the quarter-finals.

Being the first seed means that they will play the eighth-best team from the group stage in the quarter-finals, with second place playing the seventh-best team, third playing sixth, and fourth playing fifth. After Costa Rica and Puerto Rico finished completely even in every tiebreaker, Concacaf conducted a random draw on Wednesday night, and it’ll be Costa Rica again to play Canada in the first knockout round.

Les Rouges will fancy their chances going into that match, knowing that they are in good form and that the different aspects of their game seem to be coming together at the right time. Most importantly, they didn’t take their foot off the gas pedal despite already qualifying for the latter rounds of the competition.

“We’ve had a real high standard focus around no matter what’s happening in the game, we’re chasing some things full speed, getting after the ball if we lose it and things like that,” Priestman said after the match. “I’ve challenged the group coming into today particularly, I said ‘How you do one thing is how you do everything’, and whether this game gets us through or not because we’re already through, the standards need to remain the same.

“I think that relentless mindset is what the best teams can do, and that’s our challenge, we want to be the number one mindset team. I’m really proud of the group, we lost that way a little bit with all the changes in the second half and [Costa Rica] really came out once a third goal happened, but overall, I’m really pleased to keep three clean sheets.”

Wednesday’s match also had extra significance as it was the 50th for Bev Priestman in charge of the women’s national team since taking over in October 2020. In that span, Canada has won 31 times, drawing nine and losing 10. Priestman most notably led Canada to the Olympic gold medal at Tokyo 2020, and will look to defend that title in Paris this summer.

Set pieces something for Canada to continue to build on

One of Canada’s strengths in recent years has been the team’s ability to win aerial battles, particularly in the defensive half of the pitch but also in the opposition penalty area. Vanessa Gilles is one of the best aerial defenders in the world, and Kadeisha Buchanan and Shelina Zadorsky also possess the athleticism and strength to be major factors when they get those opportunities.

In this tournament, however, that hasn’t always been the case. Canada have had a lot of corners as they played primarily on the front foot, but have not necessarily had much to show for it. Buchanan scored a header from an Olivia Smith corner against El Salvador, but otherwise, most of Canada’s set pieces haven’t resulted in good scoring opportunities.

That changed on Wednesday night, as two of Canada’s three goals came from corners, both scored by Shelina Zadorsky from the exact same position. The first one was assisted by Adriana Leon and the second one by Smith, both deep in-swinging crosses to the back post, headed home by the West Ham United defender.

Part of that success is because of better movement and positioning off the ball, but part of it also comes down to having better deliveries into the penalty area — and Leon and Smith have been serving some crosses in on a platter for their teammates at the W Gold Cup.

“I think our deliverers are expanding,” Priestman said after the match. “When we came away from the Olympics in 2021, it was about expanding who can deliver and who could score. I brought in Jen Hurst, our set plays specialist; she does a lot of work on the pitch but we also give a lot of time off the pitch.

“I think we value set plays just like we do attacking and defending, and in our schedule it just gets as much time. I was pleased tonight because we should have had more up until this point, we gave it some extra work yesterday and it paid off in the game.”

Priestman also acknowledged that Canada have been playing teams they were expected to beat comfortably. Later in the tournament, against the likes of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and the United States, for example, they may need to rely a bit more on set pieces if they are unable to create as much from open play.

“Obviously, we know in major tournaments, you might get two corners in the game against a very top team, and those two corners are going to matter,” Priestman said. “I think being more clinical in that space was a challenge we set for today, and I’m over the moon for Shelina to come in and get them two goals as well. I think that’s really critical.”

Priestman makes five changes to starting lineup, has decisions to make ahead of quarter-finals

With Canada’s ticket to the quarter-finals already booked before Wednesday night’s match, Bev Priestman was able to rotate the squad and get some fresh legs into her starting lineup.

Coming out of the starting eleven were Olivia Smith, Cloé Lacasse, Deanne Rose, Quinn, and Jade Rose, who were replaced by Jordyn Huitema, Gabrielle Carle, Clarissa Larisey, Simi Awujo, and Shelina Zadorsky, respectively. Canada remained in the 3-4-3 formation that Priestman has favoured of late, with Kailen Sheridan in goal, and Zadorsky in a back three with Kadeisha Buchanan and Vanessa Gilles. Carle was on the left side of the midfield four with Jessie Fleming and Awujo in the middle and Ashley Lawrence on the right, and an attacking unit of Clarissa Larisey and Adriana Leon on either side of Jordyn Huitema.

All of the incoming players, especially Zadorsky and Huitema, had impacts on the match and gave Priestman a bit of a selection dilemma going into the knockout rounds. Jade Rose looked sharp in her 180 minutes of work against El Salvador and Paraguay, but Zadorsky looked good in her effort against El Salvador and now scored a brace against Costa Rica. Buchanan starting is always a near-certainty, so Priestman will likely have to pick two of Zadorsky, Rose and Gilles.

Canada celebrate Jordyn Huitema’s first half goal against Costa Rica. (Photo: Canada Soccer)

Huitema is also in good form, scoring against both El Salvador and Costa Rica, which could win her the starting spot for Canada’s quarter-final match. Adriana Leon is a lock to start after scoring five goals in the group stage, but nobody else has really locked down a spot. Olivia Smith has been effective in her appearances, so she too could get the nod for that match.

Cloé Lacasse, who would usually be an attacker in this team, got the night off on Wednesday, and has thrived in a wingback role on either side of the midfield four, which is where she is expected to play again for the quarter-final.

Whatever Priestman chooses, she can take comfort in the fact that many of her players have started this tournament well, and adjusted well to this formation for the most part. It’s a good problem to have for the Canada boss, and her side will have the expectation of advancing no matter who they play or who is on the pitch.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Shelina Zadorsky, Canada

In addition to a solid defensive performance, Shelina Zadorsky scored two of Canada’s three goals — both headers from corner kicks.

What’s next?

Next up, Canada will play Costa Rica again, this time in a quarter-final match at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles this Saturday, March 2 (4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET). All Concacaf W Gold Cup matches are available to watch live on OneSoccer.

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