The harmony surrounding Canada hit a sour note this week and provided an unwanted distraction as the hosts prepare for a showdown with England today for a place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-finals.
Coach John Herdman and his players have been forced to confront reports of poor team morale and dissent within the ranks following comments made by Christine Latham, a former member of the Canada national soccer team turned television analyst.
Latham reported prior to Canada’s match against Switzerland last Sunday that defender Carmelina Moscato told her morale was low and there were divisions within the squad over Herdman’s starting lineup.
Photo: The Canadian Press via AP
Herdman laughed off the report, captain Christine Sinclair maintained that team bonds were strong and Moscato said her comments had been misrepresented.
“Yeah, it’s terrible. It’s really terrible,” Herdman said sarcastically following training on Wednesday. “The girls are fighting each other. They hate each other. You see all the black eyes and the bloody noses.”
Herdman said he would be “amazed” if Moscato’s comments were true.
Photo: Reuters
“The player in question, she is one of our off-field leaders, she has got unbelievable integrity and to be questioning the calm, I’d be amazed if there’s any truth in that,” Herdman said.
Sinclair also denied any rifts and said it was the closest-knit team she had ever played on.
“I think some people are trying to create stories or fish for some stories,” Sinclair said. “This is the tightest team I have ever been part of, players and staff. The way we celebrate goals is the way we are on and off the field.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS