I keep saying I will be more frequent with these updates but I never really am. The last 5 months have just flown by without realizing and I since then a lot has happened. My PhD is coming to an end so the pressure is starting to ramp up, but here is a short update.
I have now got two accepted studies within academic journals. The first is a review covering what factors might affect player movement in soccer. In short, there are a lot of things that can happen…. The second looks at how player movement can vary from match-to-match. This type of information is helpful when looking at the different match factors to make sure what is actually happening is meaningful and also outside the normal match-to-match differences.
My first article accepted in an academic journal 🙂
In the next few days, my supervisor will be presenting some of my PhD work at a conference in France. It is the World Conference on Science in Soccer, which will have a number of the world leaders in sport science in soccer attending. Gutted I can’t go but it will be good exposure for me and what we are doing.
I don’t know when I will update this next time but until then….
I seem to be pretty slack at updating this but here we go, second post of the year three months after the first. I don’t want to leave you with a novel, so I will break it up in to two parts. First, Olympic Qualifying with the Canadian Women’s National Team and then Part Two I will talk about my experience with the Canadian Women’s Under 17 World Cup Qualifying.
So, Olympic Qualifying was a crazy experience. Firstly, I was only meant to be in Houston for 10 days before going back to Vancouver. But circumstances changes and I was there for 3 weeks. Aside from the World Cup last year, this was my first real chance to experience a tournament from all angles. I managed to sneak in to the changing rooms pre- and post-match to see how things were set-up and then enjoy the game from in the stands.
Overall, the group stage of the tournament was a bit of a breeze. First up we played a Guyanese team that were only there to defend. The moment they won the ball, it was kicked as far away as possible, minimising the chance of wasting any energy trying to counter attack. The green wall was strong enough to only let in 5 goals, which doesn’t really show the dominance the Canada had throughout that match.
2016 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying 11 February 2016 – Houston, TX, USA Canada Soccer by Mexsport .. v Christine Sinclair
The second game was against what was expected to be a tough side from Trinidad and Tobago. Although it was still a battle, we came out 6-0 winners. This was more of a game, with T&T trying to attack and having a couple of good chances. The last group game was against Guatemala, who also tried there best, with Canada running over them in a 10-0 rout. A good way to end the group stage in first, setting up a semi-final against Costa Rica who sprung a surprise by beating Mexico in the other group.
So now we were up for a real battle, with a team that had some dangerous players that would challenge us. Two fantastic goals in the first half to Christine Sinclair steadied the nerves. Costa Rica got one back but young Deanne Rose, only 16 years old at the time, scored the goal that put it beyond doubt late in the 2nd half. This result qualified Canada for the Olympics in Rio, essentially the expected outcome of the tournament was achieved.
2016 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying 19 February 2016 – Houston, TX, USA Canada Soccer by Mexsport Diana Sáenz v Christine Sinclair
So that set up the big grudge match in the final, against the United States. For this game a different approach was taken, based upon previous matches and trends. The approach almost paid off, with the team keeping the score level until early in to the 2nd half, before the US scored 2 quick goals. Three big substitutions were made shortly after, at the time that was intended, which saw the game swing dramatically back. Unfortunately Canada were unable to score with the game ending 2 nil.
2016 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying 21 February 2016 – Houston, TX, USA Canada Soccer by Mexsport Kadeisha Buchanan, Stephanie Labbé, Melissa Tancredi
Not the desired outcome, as this was the game everyone wanted to win, but Qualifying for Rio was achieved which was the minor goal of this tournament. Canada then went on to win the Algarve Cup in Portugal in March, beating Brazil 2-1 in the final. Getting 2016 off to a great start, with hopefully more to come! Next up, two big games against Brazil on home soil in Ottawa and Toronto before Olympic preparations get in to full swing.
In part two I’ll recap the Under 17 World Cup Qualifiers,
My PhD Journey 