Canada prepares for hosts China

For more information on this match, please visit the following fixture link.
Canada will be in front of a loud and patriotic crowd on Saturday 12 August at the 2008 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. The Canucks will expect a full house at the Tianjin Olympic Sports Center Stadium – almost all of which will be cheering for hosts China from the 19.45 kickoff (07.45 ET or 04.45 PT).
Both Canada and China are tied in Group E after opening the tournament with victories – Canada 2:1 over Argentina and China 2:1 over Sweden. Canada was expected to defeat Argentina – as it had in two previous encounters – but the Chinese victory was somewhat of an upset over the number-three ranked Swedes. Xu Yuan opened the scoring in the 6th minute and then Han Duan scored the winner in the 72nd minute.
For the Canucks, it was Candace Chapman (27’) and Kara Lang (72’) putting the ball past Argentina’s goalkeeper Vanina Correa.
This will be the 18th meeting between the two sides. While Canada holds the edge in the current FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Rankings (Canada is 9th while China is 14th), China definitely holds the edge in Canada-China matches. Canada has won but once while four matches have ended in a draw and 13 have been in favour of the Chinese.
Canada’s lone victory against China, however, was a big one. In their only encounter in a FIFA event – the FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003 quarter-final – Canada slipped through with a 1:0 victory. Five players that were on the pitch for that historic 2 October 2003 win – Christine Sinclair, Diana Matheson, Kara Lang, Brittany Timko and Rhian Wilkinson – are still part of the Canadian squad.
More recently, Canada dropped back-to-back decisions in May 2007 (1:3 and 1:2 losses) and then played to a draw in January 2008 (0:0 draw).
In the most recent match, Chapman scored her 5th career goal for Canada while Lang scored her 33rd career goal. Chapman’s goal was Canada’s first ever at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. Captain Christine Sinclair – looking for her 94th goal – tied Canada’s single-season record by reaching 1,740 minutes in 2008 (Lang previously recorded 1,740 minutes in 2003).
Brittany Timko, meanwhile, came in as a substitute for her 86th appearance with the full national team, tying her with retired star Isabelle Morneau for sixth place on the all-time list.