Team Canada captain Christine Sinclair, right, videotapes fellow teammate Karina LeBlanc, after arriving in Richmond, B.C., on June 16, 2015.Jimmy Jeong/The Globe and Mail
They are exactly where they wanted to be. Never mind the incredible summer-like spring in Vancouver, where it hasn't really rained for two months: This place is home for Canada's women's soccer team.
The mood was bright on arrival by private charter – Flair Air – midafternoon on Tuesday. The team, having scraped out a draw in Montreal on Monday night against the Netherlands, secured first place in the World Cup's Group A despite a middling record – one win and two draws in three matches.
Winning the group made Canada's path into the tournament much easier. Had it finished second in Group A, it might have faced an epic road trip through Edmonton, Ottawa and Montreal. Instead, the Canadians play their Round of 16 match on Sunday in Vancouver and, if successful, their quarter-final in Vancouver and the semi-finals in Edmonton on Canada Day before, if it all comes together, the final July 5 in Vancouver.
The Vancouver region is home for some team members, starting with team captain Christine Sinclair, who grew up in the suburbs, and coach John Herdman, an Englishman who settled here when he took the job after coaching New Zealand. But the city has been the training base for the team for much of the past two years, home to crucial infrastructure – the Fortius Sport & Health centre in the suburbs – and specialized staff.
"We're comfortable here," Sinclair said. "Hopefully, we can sell out the place and make it as loud as Montreal was. That was an incredible crowd to play in front of."
There were 45,420 at Olympic Stadium in Montreal and, on Tuesday night in Vancouver, roughly 50,000 were expected to pack into BC Place for United States versus Nigeria, a rocking crowd of mostly Americans. More than 40,000 tickets have been sold for Canada's game on Sunday, against an opponent yet to be determined. A rush of 4,000 tickets were sold after Canada won Group A.
Canada's play in the World Cup has underwhelmed so far and prognosticators doubt the team has what it takes to get deep into the tournament.
Home-field advantage, at BC Place and Vancouver in general, bolsters Canada's chances. The Dutch data consultancy Infostrata Sports predicted before the tournament that if Canada won Group A, it could scrape its way to the final against Germany. Data analytics site fivethirtyeight.com calculated Canada, ranked No. 8 in the world, had a 75-per-cent chance to make the quarter-finals, a 43-per-cent shot at the semis and 20-per-cent odds to get to the final.
At the London 2012 Olympics, Canada was hardly a juggernaut in the round-robin phase and started to play its best only when it counted the most.
"It's high right now," defender Kadeisha Buchanan said of the team's confidence. The 19-year-old has played a crucial role for Canada and is among the top players in the tournament. "Everything has worked out so far."
During Sinclair's short scrum with a dozen reporters, backup goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc filmed the scene. After the questions concluded, Sinclair and LeBlanc embraced and LeBlanc exclaimed: "We're home. Yay!" Sinclair then took the GoPro and playfully filmed LeBlanc's scrum. Like Sinclair, LeBlanc is a local, having grown up in the Fraser Valley.
Big questions remain, starting with Sinclair, who turned 32 last week. She has not been the force she once was, and without her production there's a big hole on a team that already struggled to score goals. Canada only scored twice in three games in the round robin and one was on a penalty kick. The team's defence and goalkeeping has been essential, ceding only one goal.
"Everyone's uplifted," Herdman said on arrival. He spoke of the smell of the rich sea air. "I feel" – he luxuriously exhaled – "really refreshed. Your plans start to come to fruition."