March 31, 2003

England to play two games in Canada after match against the USA in Birmingham

The England National Team will play Canada on May 19th., Canada's National Day of Celebration, at a venue to be decided, and on the 22nd.. at the 30,000-capacity Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa at 7.00pm local time.

England have played Canada only once, winning 3-2 at the 1995 World Cup when present National Team Head Coach Hope Powell played as a member of that team. That game was played in Helsingborg, Sweden, so this will be the first time that the sides have met on Canadian soil.

England National Team Head Coach Hope Powell OBE: ³Canada have played in the last two World Cups and have qualified for this year¹s Finals as well. I remember playing against them at the 1995 World Cup and, although we beat them, you could see they were making massive strides forward. That was reflected in their Under-19 squad who beat our side last summer. Canada will be a hard test and that¹s exactly what I want for our players. I was keen that if we were going all the way to the USA to play quality opposition that we would play as many games as possible, so it¹s pleasing to be playing Canada twice. Playing three games gives us the chance to use every player to get experience, rather than using them for 45 minutes. It is likely that every player selected in the squad will play 90 minutes of high standard international football.²