ANALYSIS + HIGHLIGHTS: CanWNT cruise to victory over Mexico in game no. 2 of Pinatar Cup 🏆

Canada’s Pinatar Cup continued with a 2-0 win over Mexico on Saturday, in their second of three friendly matches in Spain this week.

Casey Stoney made seven changes to the lineup that drew 1-1 with China on Wednesday, keeping Vanessa Gilles at centre-back, Gabrielle Carle on the left side of the backline (although she played on the right against China), Julia Grosso in midfield and Janine Sonis in attack. Kailen Sheridan checked back into the team between the sticks, Megan Reid and Jayde Riviere filled out the backline, and captain Jessie Fleming joined Grosso in midfield. Olivia Smith and Adriana Leon got the start after coming off the bench last time out, while Jordyn Huitema played from the start as well.

Here are your match highlights:

The start of the match struggled to find much of a flow, with Greta Espinoza and Olivia Smith going down in the first ten minutes. While Espinoza was forced off the field in the fifth minute after a collision of bodies, Smith was able to continue after being on the end of a studs-up tackle from Annia Mejía, who received an early yellow card.

It was El Tri who had the first shot on goal in the match, with Lizbeth Ovalle testing Sheridan from distance, but the Canadian netminder was able to dive to her left to parry it away from danger for a corner kick that led to nothing. Leon tried a shot from distance of her own a couple of minutes later, holding up the ball near the edge of the Mexican penalty area before turning and firing a shot that missed high and wide. Ovalle challenged Sheridan again with another shot from long range in the 33rd minute, this time a lot more powerful than the first, but Sheridan was again equal to it, making an impressive save to keep the game scoreless.

Smith had Canada’s first attempt on target with an attempted chip over Esthefanny Barreras, but the rushing Mexican goalkeeper did well to come out of her net quickly and put a stop to it.

Mejía, who was lucky to be on the pitch still after the early challenge on Smith, threw her body in front of Huitema with a huge body check to stop a Canadian counter-attack in the 35th minute, but to the displeasure of the Canadians was not even called for a foul, when they thought she deserved to be off the pitch. The Mexican defender’s night was done five minutes later when she again went flying into a tackle, this time a sliding challenge into the back of Adriana Leon, before the referee finally sent her off.

Neither side was able to find a breakthrough on the scoresheet in the chippy opening half, with Mexico leading the shots 6-4, and 3-1 on target.

It didn’t take Canada long to open the scoring in the second half, though, as Les Rouges found the back of the net from a set piece. Smith lobbed a cross into the box from the corner flag, right onto the head of Huitema, who sent it back across goal. Gilles redirected it past the goalkeeper with a header of her own, marking her 50th national team appearance with her eighth goal, giving Canada the lead.

Smith nearly scored herself three minutes later, driving a low shot on target, forcing Barreras to dive to her right and push the shot off the post. Sonis skied a shot from the edge of the penalty area as Canada started to really pile on the pressure, before Huitema sent a header wide of the mark a few moments after that.

Wanting to maintain the pressure that her team had been building since the sending off, and especially since the goal, Stoney made a triple substitution. Smith, Huitema and Sonis were replaced by Emma Regan, Nichelle Prince and Evelyne Viens, respectively, as Canada looked to increase their lead and show the ruthlessness Stoney wants to instill in her first camp with the team.

Up a player, Canada continued to dominate possession but the game slowed down as both sides traded substitutions. Mexico started to build a bit of momentum, but were limited in the second half to five shots, none of which challenged Sheridan. Canada, meanwhile, had eleven in the second half, one of which was from Viens in the 82nd minute, which took a big deflection out for a corner, but Canada was not able to turn that into a second set piece goal.

Leon put the game to bed in the 89th minute, passing the ball into the wide open Mexican net after a touch from Viens played her through on goal, redirecting a low cross into the box from Prince.