Canada downs Mexico as Tancredi, Wilkinson, Nault say goodbye to women’s team
VANCOUVER — When the referee blew the final whistle on the careers of three Canadian women’s soccer icons, the message from Melissa Tancredi, Rhian Wilkinson and Marie-Eve Nault was clear — the torch is yours to carry from this point forward.
Canada picked up a 3-2 victory over Mexico in an international friendly on Saturday that celebrated the national team’s back-to-back Olympic bronze medals and also marked the end of the road for a trio that played 377 times for their country.
“They mean everything, they give everything,” Canadian head coach John Herdman said of Tancredi, Wilkinson and Nault. “Their whole adult life has been spent with this team. They don’t know anything different … and you only have to go into our locker-room to start to realize what they mean to each other.
“Each one of them has got something in their identity that Canadians can relate to, whether it’s the grit of Tancredi, the altruisticness of Marie-Eve or just that ‘true north’ of Rhian.”