Kadeisha Buchanan, who has already become a big star at the international level, reckons that the favourites’ tag that has been put on Canada ahead of the Olympic qualification campaign, it’s not a bad thing as it would make the team go into it with a lot of positivity.
Canada’s evolvement as a team in the last 18 months or so has been rapid.
In the World Championship which was held in 2018, nobody was rating them at all, but, they defied all the odds to qualify for the quarters playing on the home soil.
The kind of resilience that they showed in that tournament, it must have made them believe that they belonged to that level and could achieve .
They have gone from strength to strength and have transformed themselves from a minnow to a very strong team in Women’s soccer.
And, it would only be fair to say that Buchanan has been pivotal in that.
The 20-year old, who can now easily be considered one of the best defenders in the world, has been the most consistent player in the team and Canada would again depend a lot on her, not only in the qualification, but, in Rio as well if they do manage to make it there.
Speaking to a Canadian Television channel, Buchanan said, “Being the favourites is not such a bad thing as far as I am concerned.”
“When you are rated high, it gives you the aggressive mentality and you approach the games in the correct way.”
“We would try to achieve the momentum right at the beginning and then hopefully, would continue it.”
Canada’s first Olympic qualification match is against Guyana on 11th of February.