Canada coach John Herdman. (Photo copyright Meg Linehan for The Equalizer)
Canada advanced to the Cyprus Cup final for the seventh time in eight tournaments with a 1-0 win over Italy on Monday. Allysha Chapman scored the winning goal five minutes into the second half.
Canada will play England in Wednesday’s final.
“Both teams put each other under immediate pressure, but we started slow,” Herdman said. “I had to change the structure at halftime as the shape we set up with (in the first) didn’t really cope well with their diamond formation. The change at half time changed everything and we were able to get a goal quite quickly.”
[MORE: England captain Houghton out 8-10 weeks with knee injury]
Wednesday will mark Canada’s seventh final in eight all-time Cyprus Cups. Canada is a three-time champion of the event.
Canada won all three group stage matches, shutting out opponents Italy, Korea Republic and Scotland by a combined 4-0.
#CanWNT starting XI: Labbé (GK), Wilkinson, Buchannan, Moscato, Chapman; Scott, Schmidt and Sinclair; Bélanger, Leon, Filigno.
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) March 9, 2015
Italy starting XI: Giuliani (GK), Manieri, Gama (c ), Di Criscio, Cernoia, Rosucci, Cimini, Carissimi, Bonetti, Mauro, Tarenzi
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) March 9, 2015
Netherlands 1-1 England
Vivianne Miedema scored early, but the 18-year-old’s goal was equalized by England’s Eniola Aluko.
Finland 0-3 Australia
Kate Gill, Ashleigh Sykes and Emily Van Egmond all scored to lift the Matildas to a comfortable win.
Scotland 2-1 Korea Republic
Check out Christie Murray’s game-winning goal in the 90th minute:
Scotland's winning goal. 2-1 #scokor #cypruscup2015 https://t.co/T04Kgsspq8
— Wendy Lloyd (@wendylloyd) March 9, 2015
South Africa 0-1 Czech Republic
Belgium 0 – 0 Mexico
Placement matches for Wednesday
1st: Canada vs. England (12:30 p.m. ET)
3rd: Italy vs. Mexico (8 a.m. ET)
5th: Australia vs. Czech Republic (8 a.m. ET)
7th: Scotland vs. Netherlands (7 a.m. ET)
9th: Finland vs. South Africa (6 a.m. ET)
11th: Republic of Korea vs. Belgium (5 a.m. ET)
