By Elias Laradi
After traveling from Houston, Texas to Los Angeles, California on Thursday, Bev Priestman met the media ahead of their quarterfinal with Costa Rica at BMO Stadium.
“It’s a very unique situation”, Priestman answered when asked about playing Costa Rica in back-to-back games. “ It poses a different challenge and it will make for a more interesting match.”
Priestman made the comparison to playing the home and away series against Jamaica when Canada qualified for Paris 2024 when discussing a situation that has never happened before.
“For me personally as a coach, it is very important that we stay focused on the task at hand and not get too far ahead and we know Costa Rica is going to bring a better version of themselves.” - Canada Head Coach, Bev Priestman
Canada is currently 15-0 lifetime against Las Ticas and will look to make it 16 in a game where once again they are heavy favorites to advance.
“Every player has contributed to the team and we have unbelievable depth in this squad and it’s a bit of our X-factor.”
Priestman was asked about mindset and she feels the team needs to get better every game while having a healthy respect for the opposition.
“I think our mindset throughout the group is that we will improve on every game and we focused on making ourselves better whilst respecting the opponent and we feel there are things we could have done better.”
While Costa Rica didn’t have the best start on Wednesday they did show some glimpses late in the game that they can be a dangerous team to play against and Priestman was fully aware of that.
“They are probably going to go up a notch and go into the game with that same mentality and that’s where we need to be our own motivators and it’s about getting better and focus on the game and the team in front of us.”
The winner of the game will face the winner of the quarterfinal between the USA and Colombia.
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