Women face Spain
Sixth-ranked Canada to take on World Cup champ in friendly
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada's drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women's coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy
Spence took charge of the team in Priestman's absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logrones,
Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women's game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
KANE BREAKS RECORD
Harry Kane broke Wayne Rooney's record for the most Champions League goals by an English player when the Bayern Munich striker scored four times against Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday.
It was one of several records broken as Bayern routed Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 in one of the highest-scoring games in Champions League history — and an emphatic start to European competition for new coach Vincent Kompany.
“Amazing game, a bit of a crazy game for sure,” Kane told broadcaster DAZN. “To score all those goals in the end was a great night.”
Kane took his tally to 33 in the competition by scoring in the 19th, 53rd, 73rd and 78th minutes — three of the goals were penalties — to surpass Rooney's record of 30.
“To be honest, after the second (penalty) I didn't really know what to do with the third one, but thankfully I was able to put it away,” Kane said.
Kane opened the scoring from the penalty spot to give Bayern the lead over the Croatian club after his teammate Aleksandar Pavlovic
was fouled by Ronael Pierre-gabriel.
That drew Kane level with Rooney's record of 30, and he scored his 31st on a rebound after goalkeeper Ivan Nevistic parried Joshua Kimmich's shot in the 57th.
Kane scored two more from the penalty spot to extend his record.
SAME OLD WINNERS
New format. Same old winners. The revamped Champions League made its debut Tuesday with some familiar clubs claiming victories on opening night.
After joining from Paris Saint-germain, Kylian Mbappe scored for 15-time champion Real Madrid, which needed late goals from Antonio Rudiger and Endrick to beat Stuttgart 3-1.
Six-time champion Liverpool came back from a goal down for a 3-1 win at seven-time champion AC Milan in a rematch of the 2005 and 2007 finals.
Two-time champion Juventus dispatched PSV Eindhoven 3-1.
During the new league phase, all 36 teams are ranked from top to bottom in a single standings that finishes in January.
Also, Aston Villa returned to the competition for the first time in 41 years and won 3-0 at Young Boys; and Sporting Lisbon beat 10-man Lille 2-0. The first round of league matches continues with six more matches on both Tuesday and Wednesday.