Rhian Wilkinson's Official Website

TEAM CANADA:

CANADA TIES LES TRICOLORES 2 - 2 IN DIEPPE

29th August 2006

On a wet and windy evening in the Stade des Vertus, Saint-Aubin-sur-Scie, near Dieppe, Canada tied the second friendly match against France 2-2. Canada, playing in their fourth game in ten days, was determined to hand France a second loss in the series. France on the other hand, was looking to even the series, and give Canada its first loss in 10 matches.

As in the first match, the Canadians dominated the match, especially in the first half. It was a superiority that was made the worse by five glorious opportunities to score which were missed, one shot caroming off the post. Ironically, it was the French who opened the scoring on one of their rare forays into the Canadian half at 46 minutes. Tonazzi found herself contesting a ball with Erin McLeod on the ground, and she managed to slip the ball back to Pichon who merely had to tap it into the goal for her 81st score for France at 46 minutes.

The second half was much better for the French, but there were many occasions when the North Americans showed how dangerous they can be. In one phase of play at 53 minutes, they had three successive shots at goal, the last of which forced Deville into making a big save in front of the net. However, the constant pressure of the Canadians, with the wind at their backs did lead to a penalty being awarded.

The Canadians equalised on the shot 1 - 1 following the foul in the box on on Diana Matheson. Christine Sinclair, the captain scored the goal at 60 minutes. Six minutes later, the Canadians scored again when Deville had trouble with a back pass and Franko was served the goal on a plate. She made the score 2 - 1.

Slowly, France eased back into the game and they equalised. On a corner, Erin McLeod punched out a shot which bounced awkwardly to Lattaf who scored at 68 minutes.

The last 15 minutes of the game was played without much incident, in a torrential downpour.

"We should have determined this game in the first 45 minutes, but couldn’t make the most of our five scoring opportunities,” said Head coach Even Pellerud. “However, I must applaud our players who showed great ability to play as one unit to lead us to this ten game undefeated streak.”

Canada will continue its efforts in preparing for the Women’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, scheduled for November 2006.