Olympic champion Germany edges Canada 3-2 on late goal in women’s soccer friendly

Sinclair wheeled away from the goal, her arms outstretched in celebration and headed towards the Canadian bench.

Sinclair, who turns 35 on Tuesday, is now 11 goals from tying American Abby Wambach’s record of 184.

Fleming gave Canada a brief lead in the 69th minute after Canada pounced on a poor backpass. The ball came into the box, with a dummy run from Sinclair setting up Fleming, who outwaited the goalkeeper and a defender and cooly knocked the ball into the net.

But Germany replied a minute later with Dabritz, another substitute, beating Labbe with a high accurate shot from just outside the penalty box.

Canada’s defence was ripped open early as Svenja Hutch scored in the first minute. Star centre back Kadeisha Buchanan lost the ball in midfield and Lena Petermann split the Canadian defence with a through ball to Lea Schueller. A chasing Rebecca Quinn managed to poke the ball away but it went straight to Huth whose low shot beat a diving Labbe.

“Blitzstart!” tweeted the German women’s official account.

Huth was a threat throughout a beautiful but breezy afternoon.

A soldout Tim Hortons Field crowd of 22,826 was a sea of red for the Canadian women’s first home game since last November — and the first in Hamilton since May 2015.

Fourth-ranked Canada steadied itself after a nightmarish start that saw its defence ripped open in the first minute from a giveaway. The Canadians, playing with Sinclair and Sophie Schmidt up front, had their moments — mostly counter-attacking off German mistakes.

The game opened up in the second half with the entertainment value growing.

Canada is now 3-3-0 in 2018.

Canada fielded a strong team, calling on its top echelon of talent other than teenage striker Jordyn Huitema, who is captaining the Canadian entry at the CONCACAF U-17 Championship.

The Canadian starting 11 featured eight players who started the bronze-medal match game at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Germany brought a younger squad with just one starter from the Olympic final in Rio in its starting lineup.

The game was the first at home for Canada coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller, a former assistant coach to John Herdman who took over the women’s team in January when Herdman switched to the men’s program.

Heiner-Moller switched tactics, opting for a 3-5-2 formation rather than the women’s traditional 4-3-3.

The Canadians steadied themselves after the rocky start and came close in the 11th minute but Schmidt’s header off a Beckie corner hit a German defender positioned on the goalline.

Labbe made a fine save in the 24th minute to deny Petermann from close-range.

Canada came close again when a German clearing attempt bounced off Sinclair and headed back towards the goal with the ‘keeper caught in no-man’s land. But the ball just went wide.

With six substitutes allowed, both teams made changes. Carina Schlueter took over the German goal at halftime.

Canada’s career record against Germany dropped to 1-15-0. The lone win — a 2-1 decision — was a preliminary round matchup at the 2016 Olympics. Germany avenged that loss with a 2-0 victory in the semifinal.

Germany won 2-1 on an 86th-minute goal the last time the two met, in a friendly in Erfurt in April 2017.

The Canadian women are gearing up for the CONCACAF Women’s Championship in October. The tournament doubles as a World Cup qualifier.

Germany fired coach Steffi Jones after a series of poor results, including a last-place finish in the four-country SheBelieves Cup in March. Veteran Horst Hrubesch is currently interim coach, having already led Germany to two World Cup qualifying wins since taking charge.

Martina Voss-Tecklenburg is slated to take over after finishing her duties as Swiss coach following the 2019 World Cup qualifiers.

Candace Chapman, a Canada Soccer Hall of Fame inductee in 2018, was honoured before the match.

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Olympic champion Germany edges Canada 3-2 on late goal in women’s soccer friendly

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