Canada defeats Japan to finish fifth at Algarve Cup soccer tournament
PARCHAL, Portugal — Goals by Janine Beckie and Ashley Lawrence lifted Canada to a 2-0 victory over Japan and fifth place at the 12-team Algarve Cup on Wednesday.
The Canadian women, playing their first tournament under new head coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller, are currently ranked fifth in the world. Japan, runner-up at the 2015 Women’s World Cup, is ninth.
“I was definitely very happy with this performance,” said Heiner-Moller, who was elevated from assistant coach in January when John Herdman moved over to take charge of the men’s program. “I think it’s been a tournament where we’ve been growing into matches after a very rusty start (a 3-1 loss to Sweden). But today was definitely the best performance of this tournament.”
“Two beautiful goals and a couple of good (scoring) chances as well,” he added. “Against Japan, a very very good Japan, winning 2-0, that’s very encouraging for this team.”