SWITZERLAND MAKE CANADA WORK        24th February 2010

Today we beat Switzerland ( ranked 26th by FIFA ) by 2 goals to one. Not all of it was pretty, including the light rain that was falling.The match was played at the Ammochostos Stadium in Larnaka, Cyprus.

I thought we started the game well and had some good opportunities on their goal. We dominated both possession and territory, and Switzerland kept their whole team back in defence. But then, completely against the run of play, they scored on us. One of their midfield players had the ball out wide right, and crossed it perfectly onto an on-running forward. She took a good touch under pressure, before sliding the ball into the net. Karina managed to get a hand to the shot, but not enough to keep it out.

It was something of a wake-up. After that we had some spurts of really good play. Unfortunately those spurts were often followed by moments of uncertainty, confused and messy play.  

We went into half time with the score tied 1-1 after Sincy got pushed over in the box at 26 minutes, and she won herself, and scored on a penalty kick. We led in shots by 9 - 2.

In the second half we came out strongly and almost got a goal right off the start. It was  CJ (Julien) at 52 minutes who scored the eventual game winner, from a ball from Sinclair.'

From then, as the rain stopped, we managed to hang on for the win. We were under some heavy pressure for the last couple minutes.

Everyone is disappointed with how we played. After a win against Poland, we so badly wanted to play well. We enjoy playing together. We enjoy playing for Carolina and our coaching staff, and we enjoy the style. When things don't go right, I sometimes think that it's because we are trying too hard. We have a vision of how we should play and when we don't live up to that vision, we become very frustrated and  negative. We need to relax and enjoy the game.

We will take the win against Switzerland and be happy with it. Most importantly though, we have to grow as a squad. We have to understand that it's the moments when things aren't going well that define the team we want to become.

I am on the way to an ice bath. Next up is England, and they had their own struggles in a 1-0 victory over South Africa.

Canada Team: LeBlanc, Wilkinson, Zurrer, Chapman, Nault, Parker (Walsh 88), Moscato, Matheson, Julien (Desiree Scott 72), Robinson (Raber 80), Sinclair

RhianWilkinsonSoccer.com is the Official Website of Rhian Wilkinson.
All rights reserved. All content copyrighted by their respective sources.