Canada boss Casey Stoney “frustrated” after injured Olivia Smith returns to Arsenal | OneFootball

Casey Stoney during her time in charge of Manchester United Copyright: xkevinxWarburtonx-xAxMomentxinxSportx PSI-12782-0042

Canada head coach Casey Stoney had a few words directed at match officials ahead of her team’s friendly against the Netherlands on Tuesday.

Olivia Smith was injured against Switzerland at the weekend, and has since returned to her club Arsenal to recover from a hip problem.

And Stoney hinted that the match officials ought to have been firmer with some of the physicality during the game.

“I get a little bit more frustrated when it comes to player safety and I felt like there was a lot of stuff getting let go that wasn’t protecting players … And I was asking the questions and I was just getting completely ignored,” she said to media. “So in the end I just sat down and shut up because there was zero point in me saying anything.

“It wasn’t good enough.”

Casey Stoney: It’s not an excuse

Canada lost 1-0 to Switzerland, ranked 24th in the world. Their match before that was a 3-0 defeat to the USA in July.

But Stoney is not worried about results at this point – pointing out that Canada have not played a competitive match for over a year, since losing to Germany in the quarter-final of the Paris Olympic Games.

“It’s not an excuse, but it’s a reason, and I knew the Swiss would be very good. They’re a very improved team. They’ve got some fantastic players. Their forward (Sydney Schertenleib) doesn’t play for Barcelona because she’s not good. She’s very good.”

She added: “I’m actually really pleased by the fact that we created so many chances the other night. We haven’t created chances like that in a long time.”

Stoney: Canada have a lot to work on

And she knows that the Netherlands, under new head coach Arjan Veurink – formerly Sarina Wiegman’s assistant – will prove another tough test.

“He’s had one game with them against Poland [which ended 0-0] so that’s all we’ve been able to judge them on.

“It’s a very very good test for us. We’re playing challenging games for a reason. Right now obviously we want to win games, but if we don’t, it’s not the end of the world. It’s a process to get to ’27 (the next Women’s World Cup) and if we have to struggle now and we have to get things wrong to get them right, I’m OK with that. I’m absolutely fine.

“We have new players coming in, a new style of play…There’s positives but there’s still a lot to work on.”