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SOCCER MEDIA REPORTS:

FAN-FRIENDLY WIN

March 06, 2006
Times Colonist, Victoria by Brian Drewry

Canada's national women's soccer team had a little going away message for their Netherlands counterparts Saturday afternoon at Centennial Stadium. Don't take us for granted, we're the better team.

After a lacklustre performance in a 1-0 win last Wednesday at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, the Canadians came out with fire in their eyes Saturday and treated the sell-out crowd of 4,500 to a show of crisp passes, physical midfield play and solid finish around the net. The result was a convincing 3-1 win in the final game of the two-game international friendly series. "They actually felt they had been robbed in our 1-0 win so we had to come out here and squash any thought they had of winning today and show them how good we are," said Canada's captain Charmaine Hooper, who led the way with a pair of goals, her record-setting 66th and 67th tallies in Canadian colours.

Canada used a last-minute Andrea Neil goal to win in Burnaby, but wasted little time in getting on the board on Saturday. Hooper hammered home a goal-mouth scramble just four minutes in. A miscue by the Canadian back line just four minutes later allowed Dutch striker Shirley Smith to finish off a cross and give the orange-shirted Netherlands some brief hope. But it was all Canada after that on a beautiful but gusty afternoon at UVic. Hooper struck again from in close off a Neil flick-on from a corner kick just two minutes later and the white shirts never looked back.

"We were much more determined today than in Vancouver," said Team Canada coach Even Pellerud, whose No. 13-ranked club now holds a two wins and two draws record against the Netherlands, who are ranked No. 17 in the world. "Our passes were crisper, are marking was better and we created chances. Other than the mistake on their goal, it was a very good game for us."

Canada's pressure up front, courtesy Hooper and Christine Sinclair, and dominating midfield play from Neil, Wilkinson and Diana Matheson resulted in nine corner kicks, compared to just one for the Dutch.

"They caused us a lot of problems early on with their physical play and quick passing," Netherlands goalkeeper and captain Marleen Wissink said. "The Canadians played soccer today, rather than just kick it up and run which they kind of did in Vancouver."

Fighting the wind in the second half, Canada took a while to get going, but a pair of fresh legs in Brittany Timko, who came off the bench in the 60th minute, helped put the game on ice. Timko sent a perfect free kick on to the head of Sohpie Schmidt who buried it past Wissink midway through the final half.

While Canada heads south in April for some more tune-up games against U.S. university sides, Holland flies home from Vancouver today to gear up for 2007 World Cup qualifying games later this month against Hungary and next month against France.

"We didn't play very well today. But we've had a great time in Canada," added Wissink. "I mean, the sun is out, there's blue sky and we're in beautiful British Columbia. It's not all bad."