MARSEILLE, France – On Friday, Kailen Sheridan was asked what it was like to field questions about soccer instead of drone spying and FIFA sanctions for once.
“Weird,” the Canadian women’s national goalkeeper said.
It goes with the territory. The defending champs qualified for the knockout stage of the Olympic tournament despite being docked six points in the standings, losing their head coach and two other staff members and most of them crying their eyes out before that defining outing last week against host France.
They have already survived two do-or-die games. They will take those experiences with them into the quarterfinal against world No. 4 ranked Germany Saturday (1 p.m. ET) at the Orange Velodrome.
“It’s the resilience of the group,” Sheridan said. “I think we could go with less, but it’s just the ability to bounce back every time, to prove a lot of people wrong and to make sure we don’t leave this tournament with any regrets.”
Sheridan has only allowed two goals in the first three matches and has already made the most important save so far. Last Sunday, the 29-year-old from Whitby denied Olympic-leading goal scorer Marie-Antoinette Katoto of France with her right leg from point-blank range moments before centre-back Vanessa Gilles scored her first of two straight game-winners.
Katoto immediately keeled over in disbelief.
“I’m just trying to make myself as big as possible and keep everything forward to make the ball go (that way) so that if it does hit me, it’s going back onto the field,” Sheridan said. “Honestly, we were in the right place at the right time. We needed that. It really boosted the team.”
She essentially backed up a pre-match locker room speech. Despite all the veteran voices on the team, they often turn to their No. 1 keeper for inspiration.
“Ultimately, it’s not a big pressure,” she said. “Everybody has stepped up at really important times and (in) different ways. That’s what makes this team so special.
“It’s not one or two people leading the charge. It’s 22.”
Sheridan’s France game speech was off the cuff. Everyone was having an emotional day and it got to her.
“It came out in that moment,” she said. “It ended up pretty good and pretty passionate and I think everybody got pretty riled up from it. Sometimes, I do plan ahead. I’ll have something I want to talk to them about, something we’ve been working on in the days leading up to the game.
“Sometimes, it’s feeling the moment and feeling the energy.”
Sheridan, the National Women’s Soccer League keeper of the year in 2022 with San Diego, wasn’t feeling it at the women’s World Cup last year in Australia. The Canadians exited the event early and never made it out of the group.
Her play so far is a welcome response to that disappointment.
“It was definitely a challenge in the months post-tournament,” she said. “It was rough. We all took it hard and in different ways. The thing I’ve seen the most is how we’ve come together and really adapted going forward.”
The Germans have proven they can generate offence from plenty of sources. But will they be able to score late if it’s a nail-biter? Sheridan, the backup in Tokyo three years ago, didn’t allow a single second-half goal in the group stage.
“They have a lot of threats,” the 5-foot-7 stopper said of the Germans. “I think we are able to manage those. I think we have the best back line in the world, so limiting those (quality chances) and creating more predictable chances is what we want to do.
“We’re really grateful to have a strong group of players at the back defending Canada.”
It starts in net. Every Canadian starting keeper with Olympic medals seems to have their spotlight. Erin McLeod had a clean sheet in a 2012 bronze-medal shooting gallery against France. Steph Labbe was a penalty kick-stopping machine in Tokyo.
Starting with this quarterfinal, there will be a time Canada leans on Sheridan to keep them afloat – like she managed last week.
“Always, we all want that,” she said, “but honestly, I just want to be on the top of the podium with that team. I don’t care if I get my shining moment or not. I just want the medal around my neck.”
Nothing weird about that.