Mirror-Guardian: Canada Test Mettle Versus
Norway
Team Canada tests mettle versus Norway
Sam Laskaris,
Guardian Sports
Jul. 14, 2002
An international soccer match will be
held at Etobicoke's Centennial Stadium this Wednesday.
The Canadian
women's soccer squad will play the national side of Norway in an exhibition
contest. The opening kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Norway won the gold medal
at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The Norwegians also captured the women's World Cup
title in 1995.
"It's a good test for us," said Morgan Quarry, the
Canadian Soccer Association's director of communications. "Norway is considered
one of the top three teams in the world."
The United States and China
can also arguably claim they have the best women's soccer side.
There
are no official world rankings for women's soccer teams but Quarry believes
Canada would be in the Top 10 if there was such a list.
Thus, Quarry is
confident the Canadians will put forth a rather respectable effort on Wednesday.
"Canada has shown over the last couple of years that it can beat
anybody," he added.
Norway will play just the one game in Canada. The
CSA was able to line up the match with the powerful Norwegians in large part
because of the connections Canadian coach Even Pellerud has.
NORWEGIAN
CONNECTION
Pellerud, a Norwegian native, guided Norway to the World Cup
title in '95. He had served as the Norwegian head coach from 1991-'96. He was
then hired as the Canadian team coach in 1999.
In the weeks leading up
to Wednesday's game, much of the talk centred around whether the game would
actually be staged at Centennial Stadium.
That's because the strike by
Toronto's outdoor workers would have necessitated a venue change. The CSA was
prepared to move the contest to York University, which is not a city-run
facility.
But since workers were legislated back to work by the
provincial government on Thursday, in all likelihood the game will be held at
Centennial Stadium.
"The actual game itself is a big deal," Quarry said,
adding all the talk of where the game would be held should not be the only
newsmaker.
Both the Canadian and Norwegian sides feature three players
that compete in the WUSA, the top women's soccer league in North America.
Canadian goaltender Karina LeBlanc toils for the Boston Breakers while
forward Charmaine Hooper and defender Sharolta Nonen are both members of the
Atlanta Beat.
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