Football is getting a lot of attention in Canada, says U-17 women's coach Humphries

Margao: Football is growing in North America and Canada is living proof of its popularity.
Canada’s senior men’s team recently created history and will make their debut at the FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar next month, while their women’s side made the nation proud with an Olympic gold at the 2022 Summer Games in Tokyo.
Now, Emma Humphries, who is married to Canada women’s English head coach Bev Priestman, is shouldering the responsibility of the U-17 side at the FIFA World Cup in India.
“It is important to keep faith in youth development because the system is going to be healthy,” says Humphries. “We have quite a young senior team already, but you always want to know who is coming next from your systems. Hopefully tonight, you have seen a couple of young stars who will go on to play for the senior team.”
Emma’s side played out a hard-fought 1-1 draw against former champions France in their opening match at the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda on Wednesday, but they are not dejected after surrendering their lead.
“France is a good team, every team in Europe is strong, but we also believe we are Canada and have expectations. And absolutely, every game we are going to get better. We have played a lot of games together as a group and most recently we are still trying to build the rhythm,” says Humphries.
The former New Zealand international believes the recent triumph at the Olympics and men’s participation in the World Cup has brought a lot of attention to them.
“The Olympic triumph is amazing, especially for young kids. They all got up at 5am, men, women, everyone was watching the game and they showed women in the spotlight like that and everyone wanted to see. The best thing about Canada is that our men’s team is fantastic as well, they are getting better and better.
“I think football is getting a lot of attention now. I think women’s football is a big thing in our country.”
There is an ever-growing presence of the Indian community in Canada. They are not just making the numbers but also contributing in uplifting football in the country.
One example is Humphries’s assistant and head coach of Canada’s U-15 team Jasmine Mander who is born to Punjabi parents and was a member of the support staff for the Olympic team.
“There is a lot of talent in the system from the Indian community. We love our soccer. Lot of parents who migrated to Canada loved soccer and brought that into us also,” said Jasmine.
At present, there might not be any Indian-origin players in the team, but Jasmine believes it is about time they will make their mark.
“We have massive summer camps, football tournaments in the Punjabi community. India’s future can be bright if the team is supported well with finance and infrastructure,” said Jasmine.