Canada May Not Be Best Team at Women's World Cup but Is Most Balanced

There is a (quite literally) hard-nosed captain, a teenager in defence, a midfield talisman and a coach who trusts them all. Canada may not have the most talented squad in the Women's World Cup, which starts on Saturday, June 6 in Edmonton, but they have achieved some pretty good balance.

It's an ideal combination of experience and youth, with three players under 20 and another nine in their 30s. They came from all kinds of backgrounds: They're track runners, swimmers, dancers and baseball players.

There's an Englishman on the bench, an American-born goalkeeper and players with Italian and Jamaican backgrounds. Some, including captain Christine Sinclair, have been with the women's soccer program for more than a decade. 

Sinclair has played in three World Cups and two Olympics, first suiting up in the red-and-white strip in 2000. She has commanded the team ever since, becoming one of the leading scorers in the women's game. Only American star Abby Wambach has more goals (178) than Sinclair (153) among active players. 

The Canadians adore her. She's on a commemorative stamp and wears the captain's armband. She embodies the Canadian spirit.

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Sinclair is shy by her own admission—"I’d rather be behind the scenes," she recently told the Vancouver Sun's Daphne Bramham—but she is gritty and unforgiving on the field.

When Sinclair broke her nose in the opening match of the 2011 Women's World Cup, the medical staff told her to get off the field. She ignored those calls and proceeded to score one of the goals of the tournament.

"We’d play through anything to stay on the field,” Sinclair told the National Post's George Johnson at the time. "This is the World Cup. It only comes around once every four years."

Canada ended up without the World Cup that year. The following year, in the Olympics, Sinclair scored a hat-trick but could not do more in a memorable 4-3 semifinal loss to the U.S. But Canada left London with something: a bronze medal and renewed pride.

"I think that the London experience gave us a taste of winning, and you don't want to let that go," Sinclair told the Canadian Press (h/t CBC Sports). "We had a goal heading into London: obviously to medal but also to change the sport of soccer in Canada."

That had an immediate effect.

Kadeisha Buchanan was watching that game from home. She was just 16. Six months later, she was called up to play for the women's team, and three years later she's with the team full-time. She's the "Christine Sinclair of defenders," as Canada coach John Herdman called her, via FIFA's website.

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Buchanan is a two-time Canadian Under-20 Player of the Year. At 19 years old, she has already started in 32 games for her country. She shows the calmness of a veteran on the field and has experience marking the best players in the world, including U.S. stars Alex Morgan and Wambach.

"At first, it was all about me learning from other players and seeing how the team works and understanding the dynamics behind the team,” Buchanan told the Vancouver Sun's Bruce Constantineau. “But I feel I have enough caps to have gained more confidence, and hopefully others can learn from me now, so there’s more give and take.”

Despite her age, Buchanan has a strong personality. But she's not the only one with the confidence to step up and take control. Take Sophie Schmidt: The 26-year-old is a vocal midfield battler. During one friendly, a 1-0 loss to France last April, Schmidt had the temerity to just change formations. 

"I had it in me, and I see the game well, and I think the players really respect me," Schmidt told The Province's Marc Weber. "So it was just a matter of letting the words out that were inside me."

It's all fair game for Herdman. He trusts the women on his team, and they trust him. After all, Herdman repaired this team after their previous World Cup disaster. He has brought his team down to Mexico to train in the heat and put together friendlies against some of the biggest teams.

Now it's time for the real thing.