The Canadian women’s national soccer team is in an odd situation heading into Saturday’s CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals.
Canada wrapped up Group C with a 3-0 win over Costa Rica on Wednesday in Houston.
As the No. 1 seed, Canada faces the No. 8 seed, which just happens to be Costa Rica as the teams will meet in the first quarterfinal at 4 p.m. at BMO Stadium.
“Very unique situation in terms of playing the same team twice,” Canadian coach Bev Priestman said Friday. “I think it poses a totally different challenge.
“We recently with Jamaica to qualify for the Olympics, had the home-and-away legs, that’s a little bit of familiarity there. I think it is going to make it for more of an interesting match. In many ways, we’ve learned some things from each other and it’s who can dissect that game and apply going into the next game.
“For me, as coach, I think it’s really important that we stay with the game we have and not getting too far ahead, but also knowing that Costa Rica for sure will bring a better version of themselves. I think it’s going to be interesting to go again.”
Canada emerged from group play, having scored 13 goals scored and none allowed. Adriana Leon leads the attack with five goals scored.
“It was an exciting group stage for us,” Canadian midfielder Quinn said. “We look at the tournaments in the past, we’ve had some difficulties putting the ball in the back of the net, so I think it’s exciting to see us really capitalizing on our chances and creating a lot of good quality chances that we can score off. I think that’s going to give us good momentum going into these other matches.”
As the No. 1 seed, if Canada prevails, it would meet the winner of Sunday’s quarterfinal, between No. 4 United States and No. 5 Colombia, in the semifinals in San Diego.
“Our mindset throughout the group has been that we will improve on every game and I think we’ve done that,” Priestman said. “We have to be prepared for Costa Rica at their best and we have to go in prepared and ready for that and we also have to be very adaptable.”
The second quarterfinal features South American rivals Brazil and Argentina (7:15 p.m.). Brazil is the second seed and Argentina is seventh.
On the women’s side, the nations have met 20 times, with Brazil holding a 17-2-1 advantage. Brazil, the current champions of the CONMEBOL Copa America Femenina, defeated Argentina 4-0 in the last meeting, at the 2022 Copa America tournament.
Argentina’s two wins over Brazil came in 2006 and 2014.
Brazil had a perfect run in the group stage, winning all three games, scoring seven goals without allowing one. Brazil and Canada were the only two teams to win their three group-stage games. Brazil hasn’t allowed a goal in eight of its past 12 games.
The winner will face the Mexico-Paraguay winner in the semifinals.
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CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup quarterfinals
No. 1 Canada vs. No. 8 Costa Rica
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: BMO Stadium
TV: ESPN+, Paramount+
No. 2 Brazil vs. No. 7 Argentina
When: 7:15 p.m. Saturday
Where: BMO Stadium
TV: ESPN+, Paramount+