Canadian women expect physical challenge from Iceland in soccer friendly in Spain

Interim coach Cindy Tye is expecting a stiff challenge Friday when the sixth-ranked Canadians take on No. 13 Iceland in an international women's soccer friendly in Spain.

Iceland posted a 4-1-1 record in qualifying for the 2025 UEFA Women's Championship, finishing runner-up to fourth-ranked Germany in a group that also featured No. 17 Austria and No. 32 Poland. That included a 3-0 win over the visiting Germans which marked the first time Germany has been beaten by three goals in a competitive game since Brazil in the 2008 Olympic semifinals.

"They're a physical team, a fast team," Tye said Thursday from Spain. "At times (they) can be very direct so we're going to have to be able to match that physicality. And when we get a chance to get on the ball, settle the game and — in opportunities when we can be in transition — take advantage.

"It's going to be a tough match, let's say. They're a team that's hard to play so, for us, we're going to have to show our quality when we're on the ball."

After Iceland, the Canadians face No. 19 South Korea on Tuesday, also at the Pinatar Arena in Murcia.

Tye, who coaches the Canadian under-20 women, is in charge for the November friendlies while Canada Soccer searches for a permanent head coach.

The governing body has said head coach Bev Priestman will not be returning in the wake of the recent independent report into the Olympic drone-spying scandal. Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi are currently serving one-year suspensions from FIFA, with Lombardi having already resigned his Canada Soccer position.

Tye has said she is not interested in the Canadian coaching job on a permanent basis, given her U20 role and full-time job as associate athletic director and women's head coach at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Canada is missing a handful of veterans in Spain.

Kadeisha Buchanan, Sydney Collins, Cloe Lacasse, Evelyne Viens and Quinn are out injured. Canada Soccer said Seattle Reign forward Jordyn Huitema was unavailable due to personal reasons.

But there is young talent in North Carolina State University defender Janet Okeke and SMU forward Nyah Rose, who received their first senior call-ups.

Okeke, an 18-year-old from Laval, Que., and Rose, a 19-year-old from Markham, Ont., both represented Canada at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in September in Colombia. Jade Rose, Nyah's older sister, has already won 26 senior caps but the 21-year-old Harvard University defender misses the Spain trip through injury.

There is also a second call-up for 18-year-old midfielder Jeneva Hernandez Gray from the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls elite team.

"The philosophy for us is to give (them) some opportunity for sure so we'll see a couple of different looks from the group over the two games in terms of the young players," said Tye. "We'll see how the games go and hopefully they do get an opportunity."

Canada has played Iceland twice before, both at the Algarve Cup, with the teams playing to a scoreless draw in February 2019 and Canada winning 1-0 in March 2016.

The Canadian women are 7-1-1 all-time against South Korea, unbeaten in their last five meetings. The teams drew 0-0 last time they met, in June 2022 in Toronto.

The FIFA window marks Canada's final camp of the year, with North American-based players entering their off-season and European-based players returning to club competition.

The Canadian women go into the game with an 8-0-6 record this year, with three of those draws turning into penalty shootout losses to Germany (in the Paris Olympics quarterfinal) and the top-ranked United States (in the SheBelieves Cup final and the CONCACAF W Gold Cup semifinal).

Another draw produced a shootout win over Brazil (in the SheBelieves Cup semifinal).

Tye's staff in Spain includes incumbents Neil Wood (assistant coach) and Jen Herst (goalkeeper and set play coach) as well as Katie Collar (interim assistant coach) and Maryse Bard-Martel (interim performance analyst).

Canada Soccer said assistant coach Andy Spence, who ran the team during the Olympics and last month's 1-1 draw with third-ranked Spain, was "unavailable for this camp and is scheduled to return for the next FIFA window."

Collar, head coach of Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite, was also part of the staff for the game against Spain.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2024.