The friendly was the first for the sixth-ranked Canadian women’s soccer team since beating Sweden for gold at the Tokyo Olympics
It had been over 29 months since the Canadian national women’s soccer team last played a game on home soil. The Olympic champs made their long-awaited return a victorious one Saturday, kicking off their Celebration Tour in style with a 5-1 win over New Zealand at TD Place.
Jessie Fleming opened the scoring on a penalty kick in the 12th minute and Christine Sinclair made it 2-0 in the 41st minute. Nichelle Prince and Adriana Leon, with a pair, rounded out the Canadian scoring. The team played 29 straight games outside of Canada before returning to meet the 23rd-ranked Football Ferns.
“I think there were a lot of positives that we can take from this game actually,” said New Zealand defender Ali Riley. “I know the scoreline is obviously disappointing. But I think the confidence we had playing out of the back, some of the spells of possession, some of the combinations. In addition, the association called on Canada Soccer to initiate a “transparent, independent review,” at a mutually agreed time, of the investigation of allegations against Bob Birarda during the time when he was employed by the federation, “to understand fully what occurred and to develop recommendations and best practices to better protect athletes.”
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