Nuke Soccer

The Canadian Soccer Association announced today that its upcoming Canada-USA women’s match in Toronto will be broadcast live on Rogers Sportsnet. The match, which kicks off at 19.00 on Monday May 25 at BMO Field, will be shown on all four Sportsnet channels from coast to coast. The Canucks are hosting the number-one ranked Americans on home soil for the first time in eight years.

“Our fans from coast to coast will have the opportunity to watch our national team on Sportsnet,” said coach Carolina Morace. “It should be an excellent match and an excellent test for our players.”

Just last August at the 2008 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, Canada pushed the eventual-Olympic champion USA into extra time in the quarter-final stage. Christine Sinclair scored Canada’s tying goal in the 30th minute in what was one of the classic Canada-USA contests of the year. In extra time, USA ‘s Natasha Kai slipped through the winning goal to send Canada packing.

In April 2008, Canada played to a 1:1 draw with USA at the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament. Both teams had already qualified for the Olympics, but they still competed hard through 120 minutes. The match was sent to penalties after which USA collected the confederation championship.

Canada’s May 35 opponent, of course, was originally scheduled to be Japan. Just this week, Japan canceled its North American trip to USA and Canada. The two sides worked quickly to bring USA to Toronto for the 25 May match. USA, reigning Olympic champions, are already scheduled to host Canada on 19 July ( Rochester , NY) and 22 July ( Charleston , NY).

The May 25 Canada-USA match is presented by Winners. Tickets are still available at $15-$35 each through Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.ca / 416.872.5000). Tickets marked Canada-Japan are in fact valid for the Canada-USA match.