By Troy Langstaff
This past October, Tigers women’s soccer coach Cindy Tye was named head coach of Canada’s U-20 women’s team. Later this week, Tye and her team will be heading to the Dominican Republic to take part in the 2022 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship. The top three teams from the tournament will earn a berth into the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup later this year in August.
This will be Tye’s first head coaching stint with the national team after representing Canada on the pitch in 2001 and 2002. She has served as an assistant at the 2019 World Universiade and was on staff during the 2015 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship “It’s a bit surreal, I never thought that coaching would be something that I would go into like I am right now,” says Tye. “But it’s a neat perspective going from player to coach at that level and I think I can add some valuable experience to the kids in the role I’m in now.”
The impact of COVID on sport in the last two years has resulted in many athletes missing out on the chance to participate on the international stage. This U-20 roster features more 18- and 19-year-olds than a normal year but Tye is confident that the university level of play has been a good primer for international competition.
“In this particular cycle, with this [U-20] group, because we had so many of them miss the last two years of international competition, the roster we have is kids that are primarily in first or second year of university and have had that experience in good training environments,” explains Tye. “So that’s the direction we went.”
The last few months have brought lots of excitement for Tye, especially after last month’s training session where the roster practiced together for the first time. That being said, there are still some nerves surrounding the many challenges that COVID presents.
“We had to go through a lot of…protocols and worrying about athletes and their health…the navigation of all that has made [everyone] a little bit anxious,” says Tye.
Canada is ranked third out of the 20 participating countries heading into this month’s CONCACAF championship. The reigning champion United States, along with Mexico are expected to be the other top teams at the tournament. These three countries are the only nations that have won the tournament since its inception in 2002 and although the confidence will be high for these countries, a strong performance isn’t guaranteed.
“Going into qualifying there’s always going to be a little bit of pressure but that’s good for you,” saysTye. “We feel we have a really solid roster… playing against teams that have different styles, we’re just going to have to adjust, play the way we want to play, and I think we’ll do well.”
With lots to look forward to in the Dominican Republic, Tye kept it simple when asked about what she was most looking forward to.
“Honestly, just that we can train and play,” Tye said. “There’s just so many restrictions… [I’m] really looking forward to getting the team together, training freely, being able to play, and giving them the opportunity to test themselves.”
The CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship gets underway on February 25th and concludes with the gold medal match on March 12th. Canada is in a group with Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago and El Salvador. The top three teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage where they will be joined by Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Curacao and Suriname who made it there via a qualifying