It's Portland or bust
By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
BOSTON -- It's a go-home game. And there's only one way to go into it and that's to go for it.
"I'm going out there and I'm going to bust my ass like I've never busted my ass before,'' said Calgary's Christine Latham.
"We're not going home tomorrow. Period.''
It's Portland Or Bust for the Canadians when they play Japan at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts this afternoon at the Women's World Cup.
The winner advances to the quarter-final against either China or Russia. The loser, if you listen to Latham, gets a trip to Tokyo.
This isn't about anything other than attitude, says the striker who scored goals in the 79th and 82nd minute to haul Canada out of the dumpster and deliver a 3-0 win over Argentina Wednesday in Columbus.
"It doesn't matter about our confidence and why we didn't play well against Germany and why we didn't beat Argentina 8-0 or anything, but just busting our ass and winning one game.''
IT'S TIME TO BE A TEAM
It's time to be the team, she indicates, that American coach April Heinrichs said "is reckless, destructive, scrappy and shows absolutely no concern for their own bodies.''
Latham says bustin' butt to kick butt is all they have to think about.
"If we beat Japan 1-0, I don't care how ugly it is. Look at China. They beat Ghana 1-0 and Ghana is ranked 55th in the world. They tied 1-1 with Australia. China was in the final four years ago. They're one of the top teams in the world.''
They're in the same boat. So is Norway, the No. 2-ranked team which lost 4-1 to North Korea for openers. They're the top teams going into their final games of group play with the same mindset as Canada.
"If we win the game, we're fine. It can be pretty ugly. I don't care how ugly it is as long as we win.''
CONCENTRATING ON ANYTHING TECHNICAL
Coach Even Pellerud hasn't been concentrating on anything technical since his team caught the plane to these parts.
"This game is abut how much you want to be here as opposed to going home. That's the thing that will decide the outcome of this game.
"It has to come from inside themselves. It has to come from inside every player.
"If we play our best, like we were this summer, we would dominate them,'' he said of this Japanese team which has been shut out in nine of the 12 World Cup games they've played.
"We have to come back and play aggressive soccer. If we don't do that, if Japan possesses the ball more than I would enjoy ... we just need to turn our heads and get back to our own style.''
One of the problems with this Canadian team is that they are so young, that they have so many players who haven't been here before.
For his part, Pellerud says he's been in this exact same situation when he coached Norway in the first Women's World Cup in 1991, four years before he took the Norwegians to the title.
"It's a challenging situation but I have been there before. It's identical to the first World Cup. We lost 4-0 to China. Then we played New Zealand. Like Argentina, there was an expectation that we'd beat them by a lot of goals but we didn't play well and won 4-0. "So it came down to Denmark, a team which was overconfident. We had to decide that we didn't want to go home. We won that game.
"The problem is the stage and getting here and becoming hesitant. You have to go for it.''
Canada has been playing afraid-to-make-a-mistake soccer.
Players who normally want the ball haven't played like they wanted the ball. And Pellerud says that has to change if the team is going to get out of the group.
"We're coming in too late. It's a mental thing. We're starting too late and we're coming in too slow. We're questioning decisions.
"We just have to go out there and decide to win. It's a kind of back-to-basics time for us.''
Ian Bridge, the assistant coach who was head coach of more than half these girls, either at the FIFA U-19 Women's World Championships orthe Pan-Am Games where he took his team to golden goal losses in gold medal games, says all they have to do is play the game they played to get here.
"We have to play the same way all our women's teams are coached to play. Go forward. Attack. Play attacking soccer.
"We beat Japan 4-0 at the U-19 Women's World Championships. We scored two goals on set plays.
"All we have to do is be Canada.''
