'It's a balancing act': Faced with cutting CanWNT to 18 players for Olympics, Bev Priestman weighs options

The Summer Olympics are rapidly approaching, and so is the Canadian women's national team's difficult quest to defend their gold medal.

If there’s one thing to know about Olympic teams, it’s that they’re small. Brutally small. While national team coaches are fighting to expand World Cup squads from 23 to 26 players, Olympic squads are staying put at a paltry 18(!) – as such, there will surely be a lot of little cuts that are gonna hurt a lot of feelings.

For Bev Priestman, it'll be an interesting exercise in determining who’s a luxury item and who is truly essential.

What did we learn vs. Mexico?

Though club form will probably remain the single most important arbiter, the two friendlies against Mexico provide something of a window into her plans. The two starting XIs we got were both quite close to full strength with small alterations along the fringes. 

"Some players have come forward in the last six to 9 months," Priestman offered after yesterday's 1-1 draw in Toronto, "...or, you could argue in the last couple of games."

The second lineup seemed to adjust somewhat to the tactical switch that saw Canada knock two goals past Mexican goalkeeper Celeste Espino on Saturday afternoon. Striker Evelyne Viens, who has been one of Canada’s only consistent scorers at club level, came on as a substitute and created the chaos necessary for her teammates to drop into dangerous spaces in Canada’s 2-0 victory in Montreal.

Viens and Arsenal forward Cloe Lacasse started the match at BMO Field in place of goalscorer Adriana Leon and Sporting CP starlet Olivia Smith. In the middle, USC Trojans star Simi Awujo drew in for Julia Grosso, while two backline veterans, in Vanessa Gilles and Shelina Zadorsky, swapped places. Even in goal, Sabrina D’Angelo came in for Kailen Sheridan.

The lineup swap, though, failed to generate the attacking play we saw in the second half at Stade Saputo, Canada managing just two shots on target all match long.

"What you've seen up until this window is some lineups where we look more fluid," Priestman said. "I haven't been able to do that across two games, and I think that probably showed."

It’s a difficult situation that will probably keep one or two beloved names off the flight to Paris. Could that be Jordyn Huitema? Is young Olivia Smith competing with the likes of Nichelle Prince, who missed this window with an injury? The backline is perhaps even more ambiguous. Zadorsky, who earned her 100th cap at BMO Field, is not at the club level she once was. Does Gabrielle Carle have what it takes to beat out Jayde Riviere, whom Priestman seemed to defer to this window?

"It's a balancing act," said Priestman. "You put the best combinations together based on the opponent that you've got. If I play a certain type of opposition, I know which midfielders I need and which wingbacks work well together.”

That midfield has become quite inarguably thinner with Christine Sinclair and Sophie Schmidt’s simultaneous international retirements. Meanwhile, Quinn, who has been an absolute stalwart of no. 6, injured their knee a month ago, and the Seattle Reign are keeping the result of their scan very hush-hush.

"Am I clear? No way!" Priestman laughed. "They’ve made my life so difficult, and that’s credit to them."

The only thing that is clear is that Priestman doesn’t particularly like the Olympics' stringent roster sizes.

"There's been a push behind the scenes to try and get that to a bigger squad," she said. "The reality of the women's game and the amount of injuries there's been - in my opinion it should be a bigger squad."

What have we learned since the World Cup?

Almost one year later now, Canada’s results at the recent Women’s World Cup still seem shocking. The visitors failed to make it out of the group stage as Australia dispatched the Canadians 4-0 in front of a friendly crowd of 30,000 in Melbourne. 

"I think we lost our way, right?”" Priestman said quite bluntly. “We lost our way. We had an unbelievable 2021, [but] for whatever reason, we lost our way and I lost my way in terms of my values and principles and being able to see the woods for the trees.”

Looking back at that World Cup squad reads very much like a clash between two distinct generations of Canadian talent. Priestman attributes those challenges to a lack of a single, clear identity,

“I played it safe," she lamented. "You could say, in 2023, there was a lot of clutter. Maybe that was the safe thing to do to make the environment feel that way, and what was going on. But I think right now we're not doing that, and it gets us places.”

If there's a silver lining here, it’s that these reigning Olympic gold medalists have inexplicably found themselves cast as underdogs in Paris.

"I think we're going under the radar," Priestman said, "And I quite like it that way to be honest with you.”

Though she has ‘internally committed’ to naming a squad by June 30th, Priestman will have one more window to shuffle some pieces around before the Olympics - it is not yet known who that will involve.