Catching up on the women thanks to the Star and the Province

[Vic]

The great news is we're getting high quality content now and it looks like there's a new standard for women's coverage. Some highlights and outtakes below for each of the articles.

Canadian team wants to control it like Barcelona

December 15, 2012

Jim Morris, Toronto Star

“We have a group of players that are getting a little bit older. We've got to bring some young players through.”

Besides new legs, Herdman plans on employing fresh tactics. He wants the team to adopt a new style that focuses on ball control and possession. Both France, who Canada beat for the bronze in London, and Japan, who lost the gold medal game to the U.S., play a similar style.

“They have more shots, they have more crosses, they enter our attacking parts of the pitch more than us,” Herdman said. “That’s because they are able to control the ball better.

“We are going to work very hard in the next three years to add control to the Canadian DNA. We are powerful, we’re precise in the counter attack. Of the teams that finished in the top four (at the Olympics) we took less crosses and shots, but we scored the most goals. We are very precise but we lack the control.”

http://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/article/1302895--women-s-soccer-canadian-team-wants-to-control-it-like-barcelona

Coach Herdman challenges Canadian women's soccer team to 'possess the ball'

December 16, 2012

Marc Weber, The Province

"He showed us the Prozone [data] from one of our games against Japan," centre back Carmelina Moscato said of the detailed analysis so many of the top clubs and countries pay for these days. "And then he showed us a Barca game against, I don't remember who. But, regardless, they had about 800 more passes than us.

He wants his team to have the sense, before kickoff, that they can control any game. That it will be played on their terms, and that they can be the best attacking team in the women's game.

It's an ambitious, audacious plan, but Herdman believes it's the only way Canada can raise a trophy in 2015, and win another Olympic medal the following year.

"Physically? Yes, we're there with the best," said midfielder Sophie Schmidt, an Abbotsford native. "And our understanding of the game? Yes. But that technical ability, we're not close. I

One thing Herdman did in the lead-up to the Olympics was ask his players to follow a top professional at their position that they could model their game after.

Many picked Spaniards, so there's not too much adjustment needed in that regard.

Moscato's television mentor is Barca centre back Carles Puyol, whom she jokes is "My hair twin and my leg twin."

"It's a legacy they've left for Canada," Herdman said of the bronze medal, "but the past is the past.

"I said to the group, 'The players that are sitting here today won't be at that World Cup or Olympic Games. It needs to be someone different."

The literal implications of that statement will be up to each individual player - and their ability to grow, and to change, and to keep the ball.

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Players+taking+control/7706232/story.html#ixzz2FT7mA9T2

Players trust Herdman’s judgment

December 17, 2012

Marc Weber, The Province

There are bound to be some difficult decisions for Herdman, whose focus is on picking players likely to be key contributors at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada and the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“We know John’s a smart guy and he’s going to pick the players he’s going to pick, and we’re going to have to deal with that.”

With more spots guaranteed for Canadians and Mexicans in the NWSL, Kyle figures there’ll be more openings overseas for anyone who’s left out of the mix.

Kyle said Japan and Russia present opportunities, too, and her agent will keep some irons in the fire until Herdman announces his decisions.

Herdman said all the non-college players will have to find good teams and leagues.

“That’s the challenge now,” he said. “To keep up with that group of 16 you’re going to have to go find professional football somewhere else.”

And he’s not concerned about any backlash.

“People are going to pretty upset if they’re not given contracts,” he said, “but it’s good for our game. In people’s heart of hearts, they’ll know it’s the right thing and they know they can’t all have a contract.”

It’s believed that each team will get two Canadians, but details are sparse.

There’s been talk of players or teams having some say in where the talent ends up, and there’s talk of a draft. Likely, it will be a combination of both.

“We’re getting clearer in what our gold-medal standards are for our team, and these are empirical things,” he said.

“So the standard for a fullback is to be able to do this, this and this, technically. And I've got to make a [prediction] that these players can either get to these standards or they can’t by 2015-2016.”

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/soccer/Canadian+women+soccer+players+trust+Herdman+judgment+gets/7711223/story.html