“The Americans are not our focus at this point,” Canadian head coach John Herdman said after his team clinched a semifinal appearance with a 2-0 win over Cuba on Saturday. “We have played them recently and have enough understanding of their new style and philosophy. We’re keeping a very close eye on Mexico.”

The Costa Rican squad should press Canada much more than Haiti or Cuba could manage in the CONCACAF tournament at BC Place and Canada will need to bring its "A" game.

The team will need Chapman and Scott anchoring the defence and making successful challenges. Wilkinson will need to continue those overlapping runs and create crosses and corners. She showed some individual flashes of brilliant skill on the ball, and some diversity with her attacks.

Attacking midfield should continue to work for Sinclair. Also, set pieces will need to be better .... corners were way past the net with no receivers. We should not be letting these opportunities for goals slip when we get to the stronger teams. Parker needs again to be like a crazy workhorse in midfield. I don't like that she ends up on her butt too often.

Canada has a better goal differential than Costa Rica, so the Central American side, which has also clinched a semifinal berth, must beat Canada to avoid the U.S. in the semis. “They have to chase the game a little bit because they need to win, which hopefully will open some things up for us,” said Canadian captain Sinclair, who rested in the second half against Cuba after scoring on a penalty kick and assisting on Melissa Tancredi’s goal.

She said Los Ticos are a talented side and a lot more organized than Haiti or Cuba. “We played them in the Pan Ams and it was pretty difficult for us, but I think if we play the way we’re capable of, we’ll be fine,” Sinclair said. Costa Rica scored the first goal of the PanAm game, but lost 3-1 to Canada at the Pan American Games in Mexico in October.

Herdman likes his team’s situation heading into the Costa Rica game, only needing a draw to win Group A. “That puts us in a brilliant position because we don’t need to run every player into the ground, so we can keep ourselves fresh for (the semifinals),” he said.

Canadian defender Lauren Sesselmann (knee) and forward Christina Julien (suspected concussion) missed the Cuba game after suffering injuries in the opening match against Haiti. Herdman said Julien is “day-by-day”, while Sesselmann still has swelling around her knee, but might recover in time for the semifinals. Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports