Canada uplifted by opening-night performance

For more information on this match, please visit the following fixture link.



After putting away the first opponent at the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament, Canada will now prepare for Costa Rica on 6 April. Canada is hoping it can win a second-straight match and finish first in Group B, thus guaranteeing a spot in the 9 April semi-final.



“The Olympic Games campaign started with a quite comfortable win against a skillful and quick, but somewhat disorganised Trinidad & Tobago team,” says coach Even Pellerud. “The win could easily have been much bigger, as we created an extraordinary high number of goal-scoring opportunities. That said, our opponent had some very fast and skillful strikers and they challenged our back four at times.”



All of Canada’s matches at the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament will be webcast on CBCSports.ca. Canada’s first two matches (2 April against Trinidad & Tobago and 6 April against Costa Rica) as well as the two semi-finals will be broadcast on GolTV. Tournament matches will also be televised by host broadcaster PCTV in México.



On the first night of the competition, Canada won 6:0 over Trinidad & Tobago in Group B action while hosts México won 8:1 over Jamaica in Group A action. There are no matches today, but on 4 April Costa Rica will face Trinidad & Tobago and the United States will face Jamaica. The final night of round-robin action is 6 April when Canada faces Costa Rica (11.00 local time) and the United States faces México. All matches are being played at the Estadio Olímpico Benito Juarez in Ciudad Juarez, México.



“The six goals were evenly spread on the two halves and between six different players,” says Pellerud. “I hope that gives a number of athletes the confidence they need going into harder battles later in this tournament.”



Canada, whose title sponsor is Winners, wants to finish first or second in its three-team group to advance to the 9 April semi-final. Canada needs to win the semi-final match to qualify for the Summer Olympics in Beijing.