CanWNT vs Australia Predictions for December 5, 2023

The CanWNT won the first game convincingly 5-0 over Australia. Yes, the Matildas did not have their best team on last Friday, but it showed that Canada can show up offensively in any given match. This is what the head coach of the national team, Beverly Priestman said about the games this December after the win on Friday (Saturday if in the ET, sourced by Neil Davidson of The Canadian Press):

“Now post-game, things will start to set in about what this next game means — for everyone,” Priestman said after Friday’s game. “I said to the players at the end we’ve got to do everything right from the minute this whistle [blew] to actually going to give her the sendoff on the pitch as well as off the pitch that she deserves.”

Since the 4-0 loss to Australia in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Canada’s form has changed completely. They have won four of their last five games, this included winning both games at Independence Park and at BMO Field against Jamaica. These two wins meant that Canada would qualify for the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup and also the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Australia (3-0-2)

The loss on Friday meant that the Matildas three-game winning streak has ended. After winning three games in Olympic qualifying, the Australians fell flat in the previous game. However, it also needs to be noted that most of the Starting 11 was not playing last Friday against Canada.

This is what Australian head coach, Tony Gustavsson said about the previous game (source: Taryn Heddo of the Matildas):

“I do think there’s a couple of really good takeaways for us from this one. One is that we can’t lose our verticality to get in behind the back line when the time is there, because we’re really good when we do that. I think the fact that we trained three days now with combination play, we lost a little bit of the mindset to get in behind and have more variation in that,” Gustavsson said. “The 30 minutes with Charlie Rule’s centre-back play was impressive.”

One potential reason for the experimentation is the two-legged format coming up against Uzbekistan next February. This two-legged home and away fixture will determine one of the two berths in Asia for the Summer Olympics in Paris. The other will be between Japan and North Korea. Both games will take place on February 24 and 28 in local time.

Head-to-Head Between the CanWNT and Australia and Christine Sinclair Comments

Both teams have faced each other four times since 2022. Canada actually has the advantage, winning three of those four games, including winning the most recent game at Starlight Stadium. The game the CanWNT lost in was probably the most important game of the four though as the Australians eliminated Canada from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The other notable game between these two teams happened in 2016, where Canada defeated Australia 2-0 in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

This is what Sinclair said about the game on Tuesday against Australia and the growth of the game in Canada:

“When I first joined the national team, that I no one cared. I joined because like, obviously, I got invited, but it’s just like something cool to do. And to see the growth of the game, see where it’s at now and the opportunities that are available,” Sinclair said. “Whether it’s playing with the national team or playing pro, honestly, I never thought in my career that this was going to happen.”

Predictions for This Game

PREDICTION: CanWNT 2 – Australia 1

This will be a much tighter game than the one back on Friday between these two teams. The Matildas might try out a much different Starting 11 than the one seen on December 1, especially since their important Olympic qualifiers are coming in just over two months time in late February.

For the Canadians, expect Sinclair and Schmidt to get lots of playing time, since this is their last game wearing the Red and White. This could also be seen as a precursor to Vancouver getting a professional women’s soccer team in 2025 and the chance to host the FIFA World Cup in 2026. Also, while she will not be playing, Erin McLeod’s career with the national team will also be honoured.

The game between both teams will start at 10:00 PM ET on Tuesday at Christine Sinclair Place (normally known as BC Place) in Vancouver, British Columbia. The game will be shown on OneSoccer and Telus and will also be televised nationally on TSN.