Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
In the middle of a sprawling Melbourne suburb, there's a rectangular soccer field called Olympic Park. It was built for the 1956 Games and it's also where Team Canada has been holding training sessions ahead of their opening FIFA World Cup match.
First to arrive on the pitch are a handful of training staff. While setting up equipment and mapping out drills, they loudly play pop music from a tucked-away sound system.
Next comes 37-year-old Bev Priestman, who has been the head coach of the women's national soccer team since October 2020.
"We are out here trying to keep things fresh," said Preistman. "We enjoy this and we are also very much focused on the process."
Once Priestman is settled, the players make their way to the field, and as they do, they look comfortable and confident.
"I am not sure the whole world sees us where we should be seen, and that is fine because that drives the team."
Team Canada's head coach, Bev Priestman, leads one of the women's last training sessions before taking on Nigeria in their opening. (Melanie Nagy / CTV News)
Altogether, there are 23 women representing Canada on the FIFA world stage. The roster is a mix of veterans, like Captain Christine Sinclair, and young footballers, such as 18-year-old Olivia Smith.
"What we know from the Olympics is that you take one game and you grow from it and you get better and better," said Priestman.
The team won gold for Canada at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, but heading into this event, they are currently ranked seventh in the world.
"We are really excited to get going and we are ready for the tournament to start,” said starting goalkeeper, Kailen Sheridan.
Sheridan, who grew up in Whitby, Ont., says the squads' expectations are high. She also says the team is fully aware that the competition is stiff.
This will be the first FIFA Women's World Cup to include 32 teams, which is a substantial increase in players since the last tournament in 2019, which was held in France.
"We want to see growth in our sport and we want to see that competitiveness," said Sheridan during practice. "We also as a team want to go all the way."
Starting goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, who grew up in Whitby, Ont., speaks to media after practice in Melbourne. (Melanie Nagy / CTV News)
While the women are the reigning Olympic champions, they have yet to win a World Cup. Their best placement so far was back in 2003 when they finished fourth out of 16 teams.
"We have always underperformed at the World Cup, but we know what we are capable of and we know what our goals are," said midfielder Sophie Schmidt.
When the tournament kicks off, Canada will be in Group B, which also includes Australia, Ireland and Nigeria, the team they will play first.
"I think this team does an excellent job staying present in the moment," said Schmidt, "We also need to get the job done on day one to set us up for success."
Midflielder Sophie Schmidt takes a break from training to discuss her team’s expectations ahead of their first World Cup game. (Melanie Nagy / CTV News)
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.