Canada had the advantage of playing at home before a record crowd against England. But the new BC Place Stadium roof could have cost the Women's World Cup team a chance at the semifinals.
Canada had the first half sun advantage against Switzerland but couldn't take advantage. England took full advantage of the sunshine, scoring 2 quick goals and holding on for a 2-1 win over Canada, eliminating the "home" team in the quarterfinals.
We had mentioned the sun earlier concerning the Switzerland match, also citing my own personal experience sitting in the sun in that corner for a BC Lions game. The 7:30 pm Eastern start times lead to a higher sun in Vancouver. At that time of the day, the sun is a factor early in the first half, moving its way up to the crowd at the end of the first half. Of course, Vancouver is going through a drought so there is plenty of sunshine in a place known for cloudy days in the winter.
We know Canada had that advantage in the earlier game but England had the advantage on Saturday. There is likely a rhyme and reason for which team goes where. In Vancouver at that time of the day, the advantage can lead to a victory. England didn't score on Canada when the Canadian goal was in the shade.
Christine Sinclair scored Canada's lone goal on Saturday in the 42th minute, her 9th career World Cup goal. Sinclair finished the World Cup tournament scoring 2 of the team's 4 goals and assisted on another goal. She played a part in 5 of the last 6 Canada goals in World Cup competition with 4 goals and an assist.
Josee Belanger (Switzerland) and Ashley Lawrence (Netherlands) were the other 2 goal scorers for Canada.
Jodie Taylor's goal in the 11th minute for England was a disaster for Canada right from the start. Sinclair's inbound pass went to an England player. Lauren Sesselmann, who has played a great tournament on defense, stumbled and gave up the ball in the back end. And Taylor shot from a sliver of shade into the bright yellow sun in front of Erin MacLeod.
Canada had more trouble 3 minutes later when on a free kick, Lucy Bronze sneaked past Allysha Chapman to put the header for the second goal. Fox colour analyst Danielle Slaton wondered if the sun played a factor in that goal (yes, it did).
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Based on previous World Cup tournaments, Canada was going to have trouble. The United States is the only host country to advance past the quarterfinals, having done so twice. And once Canada went down 2-0 on England's first 2 shots, no team ever won a knockout game while trailing 2-0.
Given that Canada hadn't scored 2 goals in a single game, and had the lowest offense output of any team in the quarterfinals, chances weren't good. For what it was worth, the England lead was the only time in the entire tournament that Canada trailed.
The game against England was also the only time Canada gave up more than a single goal in a game.
Canada played really good defense but generating offense was a struggle. The team should be plenty proud of what was accomplished. Just generate a bit more offense and Canada can compete on the world stage.
We've seen 3 Canadian attendance records in this tournament for a crowd to watch any Canadian national team. The Vancouver crowd on Saturday was 54,027, breaking the old record by 172 fans. The previous game in Vancouver drew 53,855, a 797 jump from the opening day crowd in Edmonton of 53,058.
The attendance for the second game in Edmonton was 35,544, but that number suffered from a dramatic lightning storm at the beginning of the match.
The Canadian team drew 45,420 at Olympic Stadium in Montréal for its final opening round game.
The 5 Canadian games drew 241,904 for an average attendance of 48,380.8. We'll have more about the overall attendance figures at the end of the tournament.
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Ottawa hosted its last game in the Women's World Cup when the U.S. defeated China 1-0. Montréal gets its last game tonight, leaving Edmonton and Vancouver to finish the Women's World Cup.
The United States will play in 5 Canadian cities in the 2015 Women's World Cup. The team has gone from Winnipeg to Vancouver to Edmonton to Ottawa and now Montréal. The U.S. team has brought great crowds with them; if a U.S. fan saw all their games in person, that person would have a nice collection of Canadian cities to have visited.
The U.S. will play one more game after Tuesday night: a win sends the team to Vancouver, a loss to Edmonton.
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Canada could have been playing Japan, the defending champs, on Canada Day in Edmonton. The patriotism would have run rampant if those elements had come together. England will play Japan in Edmonton on Wednesday while the U.S. and Germany battle in Montréal this evening.
The winners play Sunday in Vancouver while the losers battle for 3rd place in Edmonton on Saturday.
CTV will carry the semifinals in Canada. TSN will have the 3rd-place game while CTV has the finals on Sunday. Fox will have the U.S. semifinal while Fox Sports 1 carries the other semifinal. Fox will have the 3rd place game and the gold medal game.
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