captain Christine Sinclair ongoing labor dispute with says canada soccer It has left him and other representatives of the team “tired and frustrated” as they prepare to face the top-ranked Americans in the opening game of the Shebelyevs Cup on Thursday.
At a time when performance against one’s opponent on the field should be front and centre, women say they are having to fight for equality and transparency off the field.
“We are at our wit’s end as a team,” Sinclair told reporters in a virtual availability from Florida on Tuesday. “This could be our most important battle that we have as players of the national team and it is one that we are determined to win.”
Canadian women’s soccer team boycotts training ahead of labor talks in Florida
Part of the Sun breaks apart and creates a strange vortex, scientists are amazed
Janine Beckie added: “It’s disgusting that we’re just asking to be treated equally. It’s a battle that women all over the world have to take part in every day, but to be honest we really don’t care about it.” Fed up. And it’s something that doesn’t even frustrate me anymore. I get angry on the bus. Because it’s time, it’s 2023.
“We have won the Olympic Games and we are going to the World Cup with a team that can win. So we hope that we will be prepared in every possible way to win the World Cup.”
Sinclair and Becky said American women, who have already fought this battle, expressed their support for the Canadian team.
The sixth-ranked Canadian, upset that her complaints have not been addressed by her governing body, threw down equipment on Friday night and said she would not participate in the four-team tournament. But they reluctantly returned when Canada Soccer threatened legal action against them on Saturday.
The women say they will play the Shebeliv Cup in protest, but will boycott the next international window if there is no progress. Sinclair said the team is still “talking about any planned protests on the field” at Thursday’s game.
“I’m sure there will be something,” she said.
Canada’s women say they want to prepare for this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in the same way the men did before their soccer showdown in Qatar last year. Both teams are protesting cuts to their programs as well as youth national sides, and want Canada Soccer to open its books.
“How is it that at a time when both the men’s and women’s programs are historically at their peak success and interest in soccer has not been high, how are we cutting the budget?” asked veteran Sophie Schmidt. “Not to mention budget cuts in World Cup year.”
Sinclair said the team, which has not been paid for its 2022 national team work, has not been told why the cuts are taking place.
The impasse is chasing Schmidt.
The 34-year-old midfielder from Abbotsford, B.C., who has won 218 caps for Canada, announced she will retire from international soccer after the World Cup.
Schmidt said, “I am angry, I am disappointed, shocked and heartbroken.” “To know that decisions are being made and that the stakes are up against our national teams to be successful on both the men’s and women’s sides is absolutely devastating.”
Canada Soccer becomes latest to join Ottawa’s abuse-free sports program
Exclusive: Widow’s 911 call before James Smith Cree Nation killings reveals prior violence
Schmidt, who plays club soccer for the Houston Dash, said she was going to retire immediately on Saturday and asked to go home but coach Bev Priestman told her to sleep.
An emotional Schmidt said that Sinclair convinced him to stay and continue the fight. “It talked me over the edge,” said Schmidt, who will nonetheless call it quits later this summer, “shook to my core by the situations we’re currently in.”
Schmidt said the women’s youth program only has one camp scheduled this year — “and that’s for all age groups.”
Midfielder Quinn, a name to be reckoned with, says a lack of youth investment will cost Canada the “foreseeable future”.
Four players confirmed their availability by saying they were “legally” not able to comment on certain topics, including possibly speaking before a parliamentary committee.
In a statement on Saturday, Canada Soccer says it is committed to “addressing each of the demands made by the players”. And it promised that the labor agreement, once concluded, would be “a historic deal that will deliver real change and pay equity in Canada Soccer.”
It also stated that the players “were not and are not in a legal strike position under Ontario labor law.”
Becky called the legal threat “very disappointing”.
“We knew we couldn’t put ourselves or our partners in that position going forward. Mostly because we don’t make millions of dollars. So filing suit would put all of us in a very difficult position.
Players would be eligible to strike in the April international window, after sufficient time (17 days) to issue a “no-board” notice. It informs both the parties that a Board of Conciliation will not be appointed.
Sinclair said, “We have said that if things do not go well, we will not go to that (April) camp.”
Becky, who was at the men’s World Cup in Qatar as a TV analyst, said women want their World Cups to have the same staff as the men. The women also want to be active in every international window and bring more players to the camp.
FIFA covers board and lodging “for up to 50 people from each participating member association” in the men’s tournament.
Canada Soccer labor talks will deliver ‘epic, historic’ deal: association president
Google AI chatbot Bard gives wrong answers, sending shares plunging
Following the U.S., the Canadian women play No. 9 Brazil on Sunday in Nashville and No. 11 Japan in the Shebelivs Cup in Frisco, Texas.
Both national teams are currently negotiating labor agreements with Canada Soccer. The women’s previous deal expired at the end of 2021.
The men are negotiating their first formal agreement in the wake of the formation of their own players’ union, the Canada Men’s National Soccer Team Players Association.
The women have their own group, the Canadian Soccer Players Association.
Canadian men boycotted a planned friendly with Panama in Vancouver last June over a labor dispute.