Rhian Wilkinson's Official Website

RHIAN'S SOCCER JOURNALS:

UPSETTING ENGLAND IN CYPRUS 27th February 2010

by Diana Matheson

Well today was a little bit of déjà vu seeing as we had already gone through the whole game day routine yesterday. More meetings, more eating, eating again, and then off to the game! Yesterday we had a three hour round trip to Nicosia, Cyprus' capital city, only to be turned around, when the FIFA and EUFA officials declared that the pitch was waterlogged and unsafe.

The weather was much more accommodating today as the rain had completely disappeared and the sun was shining. It was still quite windy though which we had to take into account going into the game, especially as Canada was playing into this wind in the 1st half. Wind or no wind, we won our match.

i think we played a good first half. We had good defensive shape and limited what England were able to do on the ball. We also had most of the possession. C.J. came up with another great goal, around the 9^th minute mark. It was quite similar to the goal she scored last game as Sincy had the ball wide, just outside the box, and slotted it back to C.J. C.J. then finished the pass with a perfect strike, sending the ball low far post into the back of the net. It was her third career international goal in her seventh appearance.

Around the 35 minute mark, we came close to scoring again. Kelly Parker, Rhian and Sincy combined well down the right to create space for a Sincy shot, but the English keeper stopped it. The halftime score remained Canada 1 : 0, with Canada trailing England 5 - 4 in shots on goal, and 4 - 0 in corners.

In the second half we saw a lot less of the ball, as we faced the wind and as England forced us back into our own end. We knew that they were going to come at us in numbers, and that is exactly what they did. Wave after wave of England attackers were repulsed. We did exactly what we needed to do though, which was to put up a strong defensive performance.

After running around and chasing a little bit too much in the first 10 minutes of the second half, we settled in and did a good job shutting them down. They still had some good chances, including 4 corners in a row, but we had some good chances too.

C.J. almost had a second goal after a great give-and-go with Sincy, but the shot didn’t have quite enough legs. Then, at 50 minutes, JAR found space as I crossed the ball to her, and she passed to C.J., but her shot was right at the England goalkeeper

At 65 minutes Desiree Scott came on for JAR. Cindy Walsh came on to replace the injured Candace Chapman at 71 minutes. Then at 78 minutes Sari Raber replaced C.J..

Sincy had the best chance of the half, for either team, with about 5 minutes left in the game. After some good defensive work we regained the ball just inside our half, and Sari slotted the ball through for Sincy. She made a fifty yard run, ending up with a breakaway, but the keeper came out well to cover the angle, and ended up making the save.

We held on through the last few minutes and earned the win, 1-0 over England! This is a great result for us, as it both marks the progress we’ve made over the past year, and gives us an important win over a top 10 team. England is currently 8th in FIFA rankings.

After the game, we headed back to our hotel and straight into the sea to do our make-shift "ice bath." Carolina had told us that she, and the coaching staff, would come into the water with us if we won. And, she was good to her word! Much to our amusement Carolina, our assistant coaches, and our physio all came in to the chilly water and suffered with us. (It must be mentioned that a certain Canadian coach seemed to fare much better in the cold water than her Italian counterparts.

All in all, this was a good day for the team, and we are soon heading off to the tournament banquet in high spirits.

In the Cyprus Cup Tournament, Canada now has six points (three goals scored, one goal conceded), Switzerland has three points (4-3), England has three points (1-1), and South Africa has no points (1-4). Canada’s last group match is Monday 1st March against South Africa. Should two teams be tied on six points, the "one best placed shall be the one with more points obtained in matches played against each other." Canada has already beaten both Switzerland and England, the only teams that can catch Canada on six points.

Canada’s opponent in the 2010 Cyprus Women’s Cup final will be the first-place team from the opposite group. After two matches, the Group 1 classification is Netherlands (four points, 5-2), New Zealand (four points, 2-1), Italy (three points, 2-1) and Scotland (no points, 1-6). On 1st March, New Zealand plays Scotland and Italy plays Netherlands.

Rhian sends her thanks to the girls of the Lakeshore Under 15 AAA team whom she knows are following the team's progress in Cyprus.

Starting team: LeBlanc, Nault, Zurrer, Chapman (Cindy Walsh 71 mins), Wilkinson, Parker, Moscato, Matheson, Julien (Sari Raber 78 mins), Robinson (Desiree Scott 65 mins), Sinclair