Canadian women head to France for final pre-Olympic soccer tests
TORONTO — John Herdman and his Canadian women’s soccer team head to France on Wednesday for their final two warmup games in advance of the Rio Games.
The goal is to recreate Olympic tournament conditions — specifically to face tough competition in No. 3 France on a short turnaround. Canada, currently ranked 10th in the world, plays No. 12 China in a closed-door friendly on July 20 before facing the French on July 23 in Auxerre.
Herdman notes the French are also playing China but are giving themselves a week to recover and prepare for Canada.
“Our players will have a 48-hour recovery window,” Herdman said. “Our goal was to try and replicate the experience that you have when you move from a semifinal to a final or from the (final) group game to a quarter-final, when you’ve really had to grind a result out and then you’re playing against a world-class opponent.