The Canadian women's national team will be looking for its first win against its American counterparts since 2001 on Friday, when they head to FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, Texas for their first match of the calendar year.
While the USA will be missing Alex Morgan due to injury, they'll still be rolling out a world-class lineup (it's no accident that they're consistently ranked #1 in the world, after all), so Big Red will be -- sports cliche alert -- in for a stern test.
Unlike the last few camps, there are no complete newcomers with the Canadian squad this time, though a few familiar faces will be aiming to make their return to action for Canada:
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GK- Stephanie Labbé | SWE / KIF Örebro DFF
GK- Karina LeBlanc | USA / Chicago Red Stars
GK- Erin McLeod | USA / Houston Dash
D- Kadeisha Buchanan | USA / West Virginia University
D- Carmelina Moscato | USA / Seattle Reign FC
D- Marie-Eve Nault | SWE / KIF Örebro DFF
D- Lauren Sesselmann | USA / Houston Dash
D- Rhian Wilkinson | Unattached / sans club
D- Sura Yekka | CAN / Brams United
D- Emily Zurrer | SWE / Jitex BK
M- Kaylyn Kyle | USA / Boston Breakers
M- Diana Matheson | USA / Washington Spirit
M- Sophie Schmidt | USA / Sky Blue FC
M- Desiree Scott | USA / FC Kansas City
M- Brittany Baxter | unattached
F- Adriana Leon | USA / Chicago Red Stars
F- Christine Sinclair | USA / Portland Thorns FC
F- Josee Belanger | Unattached / sans club
F- Jonelle Filigno | USA / Sky Blue FC
Belanger is back with the team after years of bugging from head coach John Herdman, and is aiming to make her first appearance with the women's national team since early 2011. Filigno, meanwhile, has spent much of the recent past dealing with injuries and finishing her education, though her allocation in NWSL is a clear sign that her focus will be on the field in 2014.
Both will bring some experience to the Canadian attack, while at the back end, Herdman continues to place in faith in teenagers Buchanan and Yekka (though shouldn't Yekka be in school?).
The 2012 Olympics have convinced many fans in Canada that this rivalry is much more evenly matched than it actually is; hence, you'll surely see predictions of a Canadian win from plenty across social media in the coming days.
But the reality is, the Americans are the top-ranked team in the world for a reason; while Canada has suffered a number of setbacks since that glorious run in London.
Of course, it's distinctly possible Canada could pull an upset on Friday and earn their first win over the Americans in the past 13 years. But the more likely scenario is that this game will serve as valuable experience for some of the team's younger players, and as more evidence for Herdman to use in his analysis of which veterans should remain with the team in the run-up to the 2015 Women's World Cup and 2016 Olympics.
And hey, in the grand scheme of things, that's actually pretty useful.
Although, it sure would be nice to beat those Yanks...
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