Casey Stoney on CanWNT 🇨🇦 journey of rediscovery & growth of women's sport | THE SIT-DOWN by Visa 🎙️

It’s no secret - 2025 didn’t go as planned for the CanWNT. 

After a solid start to life under new head coach Casey Stoney, which saw them win six and draw one of their first eight games under her tutelage, they struggled massively the rest of 2025, losing their last five games by a combined score of 9-0. 

Because of that, the pressure is on for them to find their feet again in 2026, as they avoid extending their losing run any further. 

With the Concacaf Championships coming later in the fall, which will serve as qualifiers for the 2027 World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics, Canada will need to turn around their ship, and quickly, if they’re to qualify for both of those major tournaments and avoid disaster. 

“I think the main objectives are to get the group in a place of togetherness, unity, cohesion, and to add a little bit more belief,” Stoney told OneSoccer’s Kristian Jack in an exclusive sit-down this week. “We're not going to ignore the fact we've had a difficult year, but we said that last year is about learning, and 2026 is about the response.”

If they’re to find that response, however, Canada will need to take what they learned from this losing streak and channel that into their performances, starting with the She Believes Cup this week. 

It was one thing for them to lose five in a row as they did at the end of last year - what was most frustrating was how they played in each of those losses, as they were unable to impose themselves in any of the matches. 

Instead of playing the direct and organized style of play that Stoney wants from her team, this Canadian side looked lost on both sides of the ball and struggled to match the physicality of the matches that they played, which was concerning to see. 

Granted, it must be said that of Canada’s five losses, they all came against challenging opponents, as Canada lost to the US, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Japan (x2) in those matches, with three of those four sides sitting inside the top 12 of the FIFA Rankings. It’s not as if Canada lost five games against teams they had no business losing to, which is a small silver lining. 

Yet, for a team of their calibre, these are the sort of games that Canada wants to be doing a lot better in, showing why these results have really stuck with them until now. 

“I think for me, it's really about calmness and consistency of messaging, because this team hasn't experienced this before, but I'm very aware that we've intentionally picked some really challenging games,” Stoney said. “We went to Japan, we played the Dutch, and we played the Swiss off the back of a major tournament. Now, it’s about being calm, sticking to the process, understanding where we're at, understanding the complexities of the transition period that we're going through, and not getting too high or too low - it’s also about reminding the players how good they can be.”

“I think belief comes from preparation and clarity, so we’re making sure that the players know their roles, know about where there's freedom within our framework, to build them up. We haven't been able to pick our strongest team pretty much for an entire year, based on injuries and unavailability, but that's no excuse. One door closes for one player, it opens for another. This is a tournament where we're going to look at other players as well, so it's an exciting opportunity for many, many reasons.”

As a result, this Canadian side is looking to hit the reset button in 2026. 

In particular, this will be a big year for Stoney, as she had a tough end to 2025 after dealing with personal issues, which further compounded the struggles that this Canadian team was dealing with on the pitch. 

Having admitted that she wasn’t able to give as much to this team as hoped due to her own struggles at the end of last year, she feels that she’s in a much better position to lead this team now, and that she’s already felt that in the lead-up to the She Believes Cup, in which Canada will play Colombia, the United States and Argentina in a trio of matches. 

Because of that, she’s looking forward to what’s next for this team, as she and this side look to put that difficult 2025 behind them, starting with this window. 

“We weren't at our best, and I wasn't at my best,” Stoney said. “I gave what I had, but to give 100% of what I had wasn't good enough because of my personal circumstances. But what they saw was a human being - they saw someone who was struggling, someone who was going through something extremely difficult, and I gave them everything that I got, but it wasn't what I needed to give them.”

“I feel like I'm in a space where I can do that now, and I think they deserve that. I think showing vulnerability is important to players because it builds trust, and I've been able to be very present in this camp and in the lead into this camp. (We’ve given) support between the last camp and this one, I debriefed that entire year of every single player and every single member of staff as well, so there's been a lot of learning there, and it's about making us stronger as a program moving forward.”