U.S. Soccer adds Canada to women's calendar after Japan cancels U.S. trip

The U.S. Women\'s National Team has added a May 25 friendly against Canada in Toronto to replace two previously canceled matches against Japan. The match will kick off at 7 p.m. ET at BMO Field, Canada’s national stadium and home to Toronto FC of Major League Soccer.

Canada was previously to play host to Japan on May 25, but after the Japanese pulled out of their North American tour, the U.S. will now travel to Canada for the first time since 2001 when the two teams also met in Toronto. That match was played at the old Varsity Stadium and ended in a 2-2 draw in front of 9,023 fans, which at the time was the largest crowd ever to watch the Canadian women’s team in Canada.

"I am grateful that we could put together a game on such short notice and want to thank the WPS teams and officials for their flexibility in this unique situation," said U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage. “We’ve been watching a lot of WPS games and it will be so nice to have all the players together who have performed well in the league. I am very happy that the USA and Canada could get together to organize this match.”

The quick arrangement of the match in Toronto means that the USA and Canada will play three times this summer as the two countries were already scheduled to meet twice in July in the United States, on July 19 in Rochester, N.Y., and on July 22 in Charleston, S.C.

The USA and Canada played five times in 2008, with the USA post a 4-0-1 record that included topping Canada in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Final in penalty kicks. One of the victories came in overtime in a Beijing Olympic quarterfinal, and the U.S. also edged Canada 1-0 in the Peace Queen Cup Final in South Korea.

The match presents an interesting and historic scenario for both teams’ star strikers as the USA’s Abby Wambach and Canada’s Christine Sinclair will each be going for their 100th career international goals in the same match, the first time that has ever happened in soccer history.

The match also marks the return to international play for Wambach for the first time since she suffered a broken leg in the USA’s final pre-Olympic match last July.

While the USA and Canada have played 44 times in their histories, the most meetings with the USA by any country other than Norway (45 games), the USA’s trip to Canada is certainly rare. Of the 44 matches, just four have been played in Canada, 25 have been in the United States and 15 at neutral sites. The USA is 3-0-1 against the Maple Leafs in matches played in Canada.