"What have you done for me lately?"
It's an old entertainment biz trope that's been applied to all facets of life (and was a hit song for Janet Jackson back in 1986). When we apply it to the Canadian women's national team vis-a-vis France and England (their opponents in a pair of friendlies next week), the answer is: A bit of a mixed bag.
You'll surely remember it was France that was dealt a cruel, last-minute blow in last summer's Olympic bronze-medal game (courtesy of Diana Matheson's foot). On the other hand, it was England who downed Canada by a slim 1-0 margin in the final of the Cyprus Cup earlier this month.
Then again, go back a little farther, and the the tables turn -- Canada knocked Team GB out of the London Olympics with a decisive 2-0 victory in the quarterfinals, while the French utterly demolished Canada at the 2011 Women's World Cup, before going on to a less comprehensive but still deserved victory in the final of the 2012 Cyprus Cup.
So Canada knows anything can happen next week, facing off against a pair of tough, top-10-ranked opponents. After the jump, a look at the 19-player roster named by head coach John Herdman:
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1 - GK- Erin McLeod | USA / Chicago Red Stars
2 - CB- Emily Zurrer | USA / Seattle Reign FC
3 - F- Tiffany Cameron | USA / Seattle Reign FC
4 - CB- Carmelina Moscato | USA / Chicago Red Stars
5 - FB- Robyn Gayle | USA / Washington Spirit
6 - M- Kaylyn Kyle | USA / Seattle Reign FC
7 - FB- Rhian Wilkinson | USA / Boston Breakers
8 - M - Diana Matheson | USA / Washington Spirit
9 - FB- Ashley Lawrence | CAN / Erin Mills Mighty Eagles
10 - CB- Lauren Sesselmann | USA / FC Kansas City
11 - M- Desiree Scott | USA / FC Kansas City
12 - F- Christine Sinclair | USA / Portland Thorns FC
13 - M- Sophie Schmidt | USA / Sky Blue FC
14 - CB- Kadeisha Buchanan | CAN / Erin Mills Mighty Eagles U-16
15 - F- Adriana Leon | USA / Boston Breakers
16 - M- Jonelle Filigno | USA / Rutgers University
17 - F- Jodi-Ann Robinson |USA / Western New York Flash
19 - FB- Chelsea Stewart | USA / UCLA
33 - GK- Karina LeBlanc | USA / Portland Thorns FC
Plenty of familiar faces from the London Olympics (14 of them, in fact), as well as some rapidly-becoming-familiar faces from Herdman's lineup experimentation thus far in 2013. Teenagers Lawrence and Buchanan have stuck around, while Leon (who formed a potentially-dangerous striker triumvirate with Sinclair and Filigno at the Cyprus Cup) also seems to have ensconced herself with the senior side.
Cameron, 21, and Robinson, 23, are also getting another look with the senior squad under Herdman (though Robinson is no stranger to the team, with 50+ caps already under her belt).
Barring any hastily-organized friendlies between now and then, the matchups against France (April 4) and England (April 7) will be the team's final tests before the high-profile, sold-out friendly against the United States on June 2. Herdman has said he'll only use players who are "ready" on that day (rather than testing lineups or personnel), so we'll have to see whether any of Lawrence, Buchanan, Leon, Cameron or Robinson can show enough in these two games to earn a callup in June.
Big Red heads to Nice for the match with France on Thursday, April 4 at 9:30 a.m. PT / 12:30 p.m. ET, before heading to Rotheram to take on England on Sunday, April 7 at 7 a.m. PT / 10 a.m. ET.
Both matches will be streamed live on Sportsnet.ca (hooray for that) -- but not, presumably, shown on Canadian TV. No word what will be on during the time Canada plays England, but at least for the Canada-France game, you can set aside any accusations of an "anti-soccer" conspiracy, as the TV network will be showing Europa League at that time.
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