Canada WNT kicks off Canada 2015 quest Saturday against China PR

Years of work have been building for this.

On the eve of their opening game at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™, Canada’s Women’s National Team got their look at a fully decked out Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, AB, as the excitement has reached a fever pitch that will crest on Saturday as the team takes on China PR.

“You need three points in your first game and bring it on because we play to win,” said Head Coach John Herdman at the pre-match press conference in Edmonton on Friday. “We know every player has a role in the team, they conduct their performance, they engage the fans through their performance and that’s what they have to focus on.”

Continuing their tradition of supporting Canadian soccer, and the women’s game in particular, upwards of 50,000 fans are expected to cheer on team Canada on Saturday evening in Edmonton.

BROADCAST ALERT: Fans can watch the Canada v China PR match live Saturday on CTV, TSN 1, TSN 3, TSN 4, TSN 5, and RDS at 18.00 ET / 15.00 PT with Opening Ceremonies preceding the match.

Just as the fans will be out in red to cheer the Canadians on, Canada wants to give them something to cheer about in what is a historic event for the sport in this country.

And after years of testing, studying, and pushing their own limits, the team thinks they’re ready.

“We’re hoping that we’ll do our thing on the pitch which gets people excited and then the fans do their bit and push us over the line when we need it,” said Herdman.

Canada’s game is the first of the opening-day doubleheader in Edmonton as the other two teams in Group A, New Zealand and the Netherlands cross swords later in the day.

Canada will remain in Edmonton for their second game of the competition on 11 June against New Zealand before wrapping up the group stage on 15 June at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal against the Dutch.

MULTIMEDIA ALERT: All of Canada’s pre-match (day prior) and post-match press conferences will be streamed live on migmultidev-canada-soccer.pantheonsite.io (on match page).

Fans can follow Canada’s Women’s National Team via Twitter @CanadaSoccerEN using #canWNT and share their support by tagging messages and pictures with #CanadaRED. Canada Soccer also invites fans across the country to share their viewing parties and other activities in support of the team on Canada Soccer’s Facebook page and help build the country’s best community calendar.