Canadian women's team goes to ground, limits media access at FIFA World Cup

PERTH, Australia — With its tournament future on the line, Canada has gone to ground at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

In the wake of Wednesday's 2-1 win over Ireland, the Canadian team plans no media access until the mandatory pre-game news conference Sunday, following training, ahead of Monday's do-or-die game with Australia at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.

"With the accumulated load from the past month, the tech team has decided to give the players extra days off,'' team spokeswoman Marianne Gagne told The Canadian Press in an email.

"We will only be training on MD-2 (matchday-minus two) and MD-1 (matchday-minus one), with only MD-1 open to the media. I want to reiterate that any decisions around opening or closing training sessions to the media are made as a consensus between the tech team, players, and I.

'We are looking into offering other opportunities to media... as we understand this offers a limited amount of access going into a very decisive game."

Given a loss to Australia could end Canada's tournament, Plan B may be moot.

Access to Canadian players has been tightly controlled in Australia, with limited scrum interview opportunities after training. Rest days and closed practice sessions have also cut into availability.

It's the second straight tournament that Canada Soccer has drawn criticism for its media policy. In Qatar at the men's World Cup, reporters complained of a lack of access to high-profile players.

But Canada Soccer did routinely make members of the Canadian squad available in Qatar, unlike this tournament.

The seventh-ranked Canadians will advance to the knockout round of 16 with a draw or win against No. 10 Australia.

Canada could also move on with a defeat, providing No. 40 Nigeria loses to No. 22 Ireland and the final goal difference favours the Canadians.