Red was the official colour Monday night with the Maple Leaf widely emblazoned on hats, scarves and jerseys among the sellout crowd of 5,434 assembled at Starlight Stadium. For those without soccer gear, Luongo and Crosby 2010 hockey jerseys sufficed. But the real colour was gold as it was again evidenced what an Olympic championship can do for a sport.
All 21 of the Canadian women’s team players, backed by an afternoon pre-game speech from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a surprise visit in Langford, were introduced to a rousing reception with their gold medals from last summer in the Tokyo Olympic Games hanging around their necks. In keeping with the occasion, part of the national celebration tour honouring the Olympic victory, sa国际传媒 wore red jerseys with gold lettering and numbers.
But a plucky and opportunistic world No 39 Nigeria was intent on taking a bit of the shine off the golden moment and they did with a kinetic 2-2 draw against current world No. 6 sa国际传媒.
Shelina Zadorsky salvaged the tie for sa国际传媒 at 88 minutes off a long cross from Janine Beckie.
Ifeoma Onumonud stunned sa国际传媒 and the crowd in the fifth minute with a back-heel goal to give Nigeria the 1-0 lead. sa国际传媒 pressed for the equalizer with several close calls, including Beckie rattling a shot off the post.
Canadian captain Christine Sinclair, a national sporting legend who received the largest ovation in the pre-game gold-medal introduction, received another when she started the second half. She brought the house down when she chipped in the 1-1 tying goal at 49 minutes for her world-leading career 189th international goal in her 309th cap for sa国际传媒.
But upset-minded Nigeria kept the celebratory mood short by retaking the lead at 2-1 through a ball by Busayo Ajibade that found its way in from a long way out and from a strange angle at 53 minutes. Sinclair left-footed a shot off the cross bar in the 64th minute followed closely by another shot off the bar by Zadorsky off a corner kick. After Zadorsky tied the game late, Sinclair just missed scoring the potential winner in what was a riveting affair for a friendly.
The sa国际传媒 team was clearly buoyed the crowd.
“This is so exciting. I really want to see Christine Sinclair. She is my favourite player,” said Saanich Fusion U-11 player Lauren Clarke, decked completely in red, along with her younger sister Julia Clarke and friend Kylie Young.
“My parents woke me up at 6 a.m. to watch the gold-medal game last summer and we were jumping up and down on our feet.”
The sa国际传媒 portion of the tour began Friday with sa国际传媒 blanking 11-time African champion Nigeria 2-0 before more than 20,000 fans at sa国际传媒 Place. sa国际传媒 defeated New Zealand 5-1 and 1-0 in games played in Ottawa and Montreal to open the tour.
The sa国际传媒 fixtures are serving a practical purpose, as well. sa国际传媒 is preparing for the eight-nation 2022 CONCACAF Championship from July 4-18 in Monterrey, Mexico, which serves as the qualification route for both the 2023 FIFA World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“We have a big task beyond what we did last summer,” said Canadian defender Desiree Scott.
“So this tour is a balancing act [of celebrating Tokyo and preparing for the upcoming CONCACAF championship].”
These are heady times for the sport in this country with the establishment in 2019 of the domestic men’s pro Canadian Premier League, the women’s gold-medal triumph last summer in the Tokyo Olympics and the men’s national team qualifying for this year’s World Cup to end a 36-year-drought.
“Celebrating the gold medal with our home fans is special,” said Scott, before the game.
“The Island has embraced us and the game, and Pacific FC [of the CPL] has done an awesome job there,” said Canadian head coach Bev Priestman.
