By Canadian Press

Captain Christine Sinclair leads World Cup roster with few surprises

May 25, 2019 | 8:23 AM

Canada announced its 23-player roster for the Women’s World Cup on Saturday with few surprises.

Coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller had two decisions made for him earlier this month when veteran midfielder Diana Matheson (toe) and goalkeeper Erin McLeod (foot) were ruled out through injury. The two have a combined 321 caps for Canada.

“We are going there to win it, but we have been very good at taking things one step at a time,” Heiner-Moller said in a statement from San Sebastian, Spain. “We didn’t look beyond the Algarve Cup and we didn’t look beyond (warmup) matches against England or Spain. We only looked at what was right in front of us.

“Right now, there are three group matches in front of us and we are focused very clearly on Cameroon, New Zealand and Netherlands.”

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Defenders Jade Rose and Vanessa Gilles, who were on Canada’s 21-woman roster for the 3-0 win May 18 over Mexico in Toronto, drop off with European-based players Kadeisha Buchanan, Sabrina D’Angelo, Jenna Hellstrom and Shannon Woeller rejoining the squad.

Rose and Gilles did not travel to Europe with the team after the Mexico match. The four European-based players joined the team at its training base in Spain.

The World Cup roster is essentially the same as the 23-woman squad called up for the 1-0 win over England in Manchester in April. Kailen Sheridan replaces the injured McLeod and Rebecca Quinn, who was injured for that game, has been recalled at the expense of Gilles.

Captain Christine Sinclair goes into her fifth World Cup on 181 goals, three off retired American striker Abby Wambach’s world record of 184. She equals Karina LeBlanc’s Canadian record of five World Cups.

The 35-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., is one of nine returning veterans from the 2015 team that exited in the quarter-finals four years ago on home soil roster, beaten 2-1 by England. The others are Buchanan, Stephanie Labbe, Allysha Chapman, Jessie Fleming, Ashley Lawrence, Desiree Scott, Sophie Schmidt and Adriana Leon.

Schmidt is making her fourth World Cup appearance while Labbe and Scott are attending their third tournament.

The fifth-ranked Canadian women open their World Cup campaign June 10 against No. 46 Cameroon in Montpellier before facing No. 19 New Zealand on June 15 in Grenoble and the eighth-ranked Netherlands on June 20 in Reims.

Canada’s best finish was in 2003 when it place fourth after losing 2-1 to Sweden in the semifinal and 3-1 to the U.S. in the third-place match.

Of Canada’s 14 debutantes, half were teenagers four years ago when Canada hosted the tournament — Quinn, Sheridan, Jayde Riviere, Gabrielle Carle, Julia Grosso, Jordyn Huitema and Deanne Rose.

Grosso, Huitema and Riviere are still teenagers at 18 years old.

Nine of the 23 are with European clubs and nine play in the NSWSL with four at NCAA schools and one from a local Canadian team.

Canada drew Spain 0-0 in its final tournament tuneup Friday to improve its unbeaten record in 2019 to 5-0-3, having outscored its opposition 7-1. Canada’s last loss was a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the top-ranked United States in the final of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship last October.

McLeod’s injury leaves No. 1 Labbe, Sheridan and Sabrina D’Angelo as Canada’s three goalkeepers.

Canada World Cup Roster

Goalkeepers: Sabrina D’Angelo, Vittsjo GIK (Sweden); Stephanie Labbe, North Carolina Courage (NWSL); Kailen Sheridan, Sky Blue FC (NWSL).

Defenders: Lindsay Agnew, Houston Dash (NWSL); Kadeisha Buchanan, Olympique Lyonnais (France); Allysha Chapman, Houston Dash (NWSL); Jenna Hellstrom, KIF Orebro (Sweden); Ashley Lawrence, Paris Saint-Germain (France); Rebecca Quinn, Paris FC (France); Jayde Riviere, Markham SC; Shannon Woeller, Eskilstuna United DFF (Sweden); Shelina Zadorsky, Orlando Pride (NWSL).

Midfielders: Deanne Rose, University of Florida; Julia Grosso, University of Texas at Austin; Desiree Scott, Utah Royals FC (NWSL); Sophie Schmidt, Houston Dash (NWSL); Jessie Fleming, UCLA.

Forwards: Janine Beckie, Manchester City (England); Gabrielle Carle, Florida State University; Jordyn Huitema, Paris Saint-Germain (France); Adriana Leon, West Ham United (England); Nichelle Prince, Houston Dash (NWSL); Christine Sinclair (capt.), Portland Thorns (NWSL).

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press