HIGHLIGHTS: CANWNT vs Panama in CONCACAF W Championship (July 8, 2022)
Final Score: Panama 0-1 Canada
Goalscorers: Grosso 64′
Concacaf W Championship Group Stage
Match in a minute or less
The Canadian Women’s National Team booked its spot in the 2023 Women’s World Cup on Friday with a 1-0 win over Panama at the Concacaf W Championship.
The first half was a somewhat frustrating one for the Canadians, as Panama were able to keep them scoreless through 45 minutes with an organized defence. Adriana Leon and Janine Beckie — who started the match at right back — were the two focal points of the attack, tasked with delivering crosses into the box, but Panama’s backline held strong.
With about half an hour left in the match Canada finally beat Panamanian goalkeeper Yenith Bailey, as Julia Grosso again found the back of the net with her third goal of the tournament. Instead of hitting a shot early Grosso took a clever touch to beat a defender before poking the ball past Bailey to open the scoring. It moved her into the lead in the competition’s Golden Boot race.
That would be the lone goal in the match, as Canada were able to hang on for the win. Panama never really threatened much offensively, and Canada improved to 2-0-0 in the tournament. A match against Costa Rica, who also have two wins from two, on Monday will decide who wins the group.
Three Observations
Canada clinch 2023 World Cup spot with second consecutive win
The Concacaf W Championship acts as a path to qualify for the two biggest competitions on the horizon — the 2023 Women’s World Cup and Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Canada jumped over the first hurdle on Friday night, qualifying for next year’s World Cup by clinching a top-two spot in Group B.
Perhaps fittingly it was Julia Grosso who scored the clinching goal for Canada, as it was her penalty that sealed Canada’s historic Olympic gold medal 11 months ago in Japan.
GOAL 🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 9, 2022
Julia Grosso with her third of the tournament! 🙌#CanWNT go up 1-0 over Panama in the 2nd half of tonight's Concacaf W Championship match. #CWC | 🔴 https://t.co/7JFAUhgjL6 pic.twitter.com/iGaNmUwvVb
The top two sides in each group advance to the World Cup, while the rest of the tournament will decide which teams advance to the Olympics. The tournament champion automatically goes to Paris, while the runner up and third place team will play each other for the second Concacaf spot in the Olympics.
Canada’s 6-0 win in the opening match of this tournament, followed by the 1-0 win on Friday night, leave them with an impressive +7 goal difference, but 3-0 and 4-0 wins from Costa Rica in their matches have them equal in that regard. Should the contest between the two teams on Monday end in a draw, fair play points would be the next tiebreaker to decide a winner. Under that system a yellow card results in minus one point, two yellows for a sending off is minus three, a straight red is minus four and a yellow card followed by a straight red is minus five.
As a result of winning their first two matches, Costa Rica have also secured qualification to the World Cup. It will be their second appearance on the biggest stage, first qualifying for the 2015 edition in Canada, but missing out on the 2019 World Cup in France. The United States have also qualified by picking up two wins in Group A, leaving Haiti and Jamaica to battle for the final spot.
Versatile Janine Beckie starts at right back
Despite the Portland Thorns attacker putting in another impressive performance on the right wing against Trinidad and Tobago, Janine Beckie played a slightly different role on Friday, deployed by Bev Priestman at right back.
It isn’t a totally new role for Beckie — she has operated there at times for both club and country. Against a team that Canada were expected to beat regardless of if or where she played, Priestman was able to experiment — similar to how John Herdman has sometimes used Alphonso Davies at fullback or in attack for the Canadian Men’s National Team, depending on the opponent.
Because of Canada’s dominance in terms of possession — they held the ball for 77% of this match — Beckie got a lot of touches. It seemed as though, in the first half especially, she was still the focal point of Canada’s attack. A lot of plays went down Canada’s right flank, with her whipping some of her trademark crosses into the penalty area.
They weren’t always connecting, but she was putting them into good areas of the pitch. If Christine Sinclair, or whoever plays in her place, can get on the same page and challenge for the crosses more frequently, those threats from wide areas will continue to be an option for Canada. It worked against Trinidad — Jordyn Huitema’s stoppage time goal, assisted by Beckie, is an example of that — but the challenge is now to make it a more consistent way to put balls into the back of the net.
By playing at right back Beckie has more of the pitch in front of her, and she can really stretch her legs a bit to be an added attacking presence. It’s worked for Jayde Riviere in her national team career, as well as Ashley Lawrence on the left side.
Canada aren’t losing anything defensively either, Beckie has the defensive prowess to be a strong two-way fullback, but against stronger teams — for example Costa Rica or the more daunting United States — playing her in her natural attacking position and letting Riviere handle defensive duties may be the better option.
Starting in her place at right wing was Nichelle Prince. She’s been in good form for Houston Dash recently, and has more than earned an opportunity to step into the starting lineup as well. Friday’s match was another one of those chances. Prince would only play 45 minutes in this one — replaced at the half by Riviere — but had a few moments where she used her acceleration and comfortability on the ball to slip by a defender or two.
It can only be a good thing for Bev Priestman to have multiple strong options at most positions — and that she needs to narrow a talented and versatile squad down to eleven players for every match isn’t a decision that some would envy.
Panama frustrates Canada, but Grosso saves the day
Concacaf teams can be incredibly frustrating at times, no matter who’s playing, what the competition is, or where the match is taking place, and that was no different on Friday night. It has a reputation for being a region where one team can shut it down defensively and use tactical fouls and time-wasting to slow the pace of the match down to a crawl, and for large parts of Friday’s contest those were the tactics employed by the Panamanians.
Sitting in a low block, there were as many as seven or eight players behind the ball at times, crowding their own penalty area. With Beckie, Leon and Nichelle Prince trying to cross balls into the box in the first half, everything was getting cleared away from danger. Central defenders Wendy Natis and Yerenis De León in particular were quite involved, but the teenager Natis was forced out of the match prematurely with harsh cramps in her leg, not long before Canada would take the lead.
After they did the match opened up a little bit more, but Panama were mostly limited to shots from long range — two of which challenged Sabrina D’Angelo and forced a reaction from the otherwise-untested Canadian goalkeeper.
It was something that Canada knew would happen, however. After they drew 0-0 with South Korea in Toronto at the end of June — a match where their opponents also played a similar style of defensive, organised football — Janine Beckie noted that it was something they had to be ready for ahead of this tournament, and she was correct.
At times Canada didn’t make it too difficult for Panama, as there was a hesitation to shoot from distance and crosses into the box weren’t as effective as they were against Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday. Canada were struggling at times to create the necessary opportunities, and at times should probably have opted to just let some fly from distance.
In the end Julia Grosso would be the hero for Canada, her 64th minute winner yet another sign of her continued growth into one of Bev Priestman’s most important players. Friday’s match was an audition of sorts for the 21-year-old, seemingly a chance to start the match and try to win herself the starting job full-time. Starting in midfield with Jessie Fleming and Desiree Scott, Grosso was the standout of the trio, and in her 73 minutes of action was easily one of the best players on the pitch.
Her defensive work rate is strong, and she clearly has the talent to be an offensive threat, but as Bev Priestman said after Tuesday’s match, Grosso needs to be more confident and trust in her abilities. She did that on Friday with her genius chop around a defender and tidy finish, and has likely earned herself at the very least one more start in Canada’s next two important matches — a final group game on Monday against Costa Rica with first place on the line, and the semifinal.
