The Canada women’s national team celebrates after Melissa Tancredi’s goal in the first half of their match against Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, February 14, 2016 at BBVA Compass Stadium. Victor Araiza / Prost Amerika.
The Canada Women’s national team has secured themselves a stay in Houston, at least till Friday, after thumping Trinidad and Tobago 6-0 in the second day of Group B action in the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship. Guyana defeated Guatemala by a score of 2-1 in the first match of Sunday’s doubleheader at BBVA Compass Stadium.
Canada remains as the leader of Group B with six points and a +11 goal differential. The Canucks led at halftime with goals from Diana Matheson and Melissa Tancredi before opening the floodgates in the second half with goals from Christine Sinclair, Kadeisha Buchanan, Janine Beckie and
Jessie Fleming.
Christine Sinclair has surpassed Mia Hamm and holds sole place in 2nd worldwide pic.twitter.com/Ndtgi6kHtX
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) February 14, 2016
Sinclair came on as a substitute in the 61st minute and scored her 159th international goal two minutes later, placing her second on the all-time international goal scoring list ahead of Mia Hamm (158) and within range of Abby Wambach’s record of 184 goals.
Trinidad and Tobago must now shake off the loss and focus on their must-win match, Tuesday against Guyana. Trinidad and Tobago (-5) and Guyana (-4) have both defeated Guatemala to accumulate three points but the goal difference favors Guyana, meaning the Lady Jags can advance to the semifinals with a win or tie.
Meanwhile, the first match featured some great goals near the end of the match but early on no team could take control. Guatemala showed the most promise early and a poorly cleared header set up Rayo Vallecano’s Ana Lucia Martinez to give the Central Americans the lead in the 54th minute.
Guyana fought back in the final 20 minutes of the match and, behind goals from Mariam El-Masri and Alison Heydorn, completed the comeback to earn the Caribbean nation its first win in the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship. The loss ends Guatemala’s chances of reaching the semifinal.
The last match day of Group B will take place on Tuesday at BBVA Compass Stadium with the Trinidad & Tobago vs. Guyana set to kick off at 5 p.m. CT followed by Canada vs. Guatemala at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets for the match can be attained by visiting BBVACompassStadium.com.
