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The U.S. squad has been down that hard road and won. Now it’s Canada’s turn.
Already frustrated by negotiations over a collective bargaining agreement, the Canadian players last week blasted the Canadian Soccer Association for cutting resources as they prepare for the World Cup.
“Pretty much every women’s team out there sooner or later had to be a part of this fight,” said Canadian star Christine Sinclair, the greatest international scorer in soccer history, men or women. “For us, for a long time, we’ve been kind of negotiating blindly.”
It was not until the players saw the CSA’s support of the men’s team before the World Cup last year that “we became aware of what our federation was capable of, support they’re able to throw behind teams,” Sinclair said. “So now we’re just demanding the same.”
Before the cuts surfaced, the sides were locked in talks over compensation and equity issues — topics not unfamiliar to the U.S. players, who last May, after years of strife and distraction, struck a landmark agreement with the U.S. Soccer Federation.
The Americans have their rivals’ backs.
“We’re all on the same team off the field,” said forward Megan Rapinoe, the face of the U.S. labor fight, which became part of the narrative at the 2019 World Cup in France.
The Canadian cuts also impact the men’s and youth programs, but the women’s national team, the reigning Olympic gold medalist and the No. 6 team in FIFA’s rankings, is preparing for the sport’s biggest tournament.
“I’m angry, frustrated, appalled and heartbroken,” midfielder Sophie Schmidt said.
The players were prepared to go on strike, but because that would have violated labor law, they agreed to play in the week-long, three-city tournament that also will feature world powers Japan and Brazil. The CSA has yet to schedule games in the April international window and, unlike the World Cup-bound men’s team last year, has no plans for a send-off game at home this summer.
In protest this week, the Canadian players wore training jerseys inside out so the Canadian federation badge was not visible. “We are so proud and honored to play for Canada,” Schmidt said, “but right now we feel as though the federation is letting us down.”
The players kept the mood light before practice Wednesday, joking with each other and tossing around a football, but the strain of labor issues has concerned their English coach, Bev Priestman.
“It’s supposed to be the most exciting year of their careers, and to start the year like this isn’t great,” she said. “You have players emotionally drained. We’re dealing with things that I just don’t know as a coach how much toll it has taken on players.”
While they would like nothing more than thump the team that beat them in the 2021 Olympic semifinals, the Americans also empathize with Canada’s labor fight, which threw the women’s soccer spotlight back on topics that have nothing to do with corner kicks and quadrennial tournaments.
“Canada’s just getting started,” U.S. striker Alex Morgan said. “They know the long road ahead of them because we just went through that, and I hope it’s a shorter road for them.”
Captain Becky Sauerbrunn added, “We did write the playbook a little bit on this.”
The Americans have offered advice and assistance, and they hinted at a show of solidarity before kickoff Thursday.
“We love our battle on the field, but they’ve also been in this fight,” Canadian midfielder Quinn said. “We all know that at times, it’s bigger than when we step on the pitch. … They’ve offered a lot of support and advice for us because their battle was no different than ours in some senses, and so it has been a big support for us.”
Asked whether equity issues could someday be a thing of the past, Morgan smiled and said: “Imagine like, we could just do our job. That would be so nice.”
Rapinoe said she is “inspired again by another team, standing up and fighting for what they feel like they deserve and what they’re worth.”
Though their labor dispute is behind them, the U.S. players are not shy about continuing to address social and gender issues. Aside from supporting their Canadian counterparts, they have spoken out against FIFA’s plans to enlist Visit Saudi, the kingdom’s tourism bureau, as a World Cup sponsor this summer.
Saudi Arabia’s record on women’s rights has long drawn scrutiny.
“I would not even be supported and accepted in that country, so I just don’t understand it. … I really hope FIFA does the right thing because morally it just doesn’t make sense,” Morgan said last week.
On Wednesday, Rapinoe said, “If they thought for one second that this would be a good sponsor for women’s tournament, it’s outrageous.”
Others are raising their voices.
“We have a negative view of the whole thing,” German captain Alexandra Popp said. “It is not an ideal sponsor for a Women’s World Cup and for the things we stand for as women.”
Sauerbrunn recently took on another hot-button topic, writing a column for the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader supporting transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
Based on experience with his own team, U.S. Coach Vlatko Andonovski said he does not expect Canada’s side issues to impact its performance.
“We saw with our team prior to resolving our problems [with the USSF], there was so many things going on off the field,” he said, “But once they step on the field, they are pros. They know how to how to tune everything out and focus on what matters in the moment.”
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