Canada women look for more balanced performance against Germany at English tournament

Olympic champion Canada is looking for a more balanced performance against third-ranked Germany on Sunday after an uneven showing in its opening 1-1 tie with England at the Arnold Clark Cup.

The sixth-ranked Canadian women were second-best in the first half against No. 8 England on Thursday in Middlesbrough before finding their feet in the second half with Janine Beckie's elegant 55th-minute strike securing the draw.

"That England game, it took us half a game to get into that. Then we started to open up and we started to bring what we really can and take more risks," said Canada coach Bev Priestman. "And that's what we need to do to really push on and hurt Tier 1 teams."

"Going into this next game it's about balancing across 90 minutes," she added.

While Germany hold a 15-1-0 career edge over the Canadians, Priestman believes her team has what it takes to win.

"For us, you actually see how you can hurt Germany," she said in a virtual availability Saturday. "If we bring who we are when we're at our best — second half of that England game, we looked a lot more (like) what I would like us to look like going forward. If we can bring that, there's a massive opportunity as well."

Germany rallied Thursday to tie No. 9 Spain 1-1 on Lea Schueller's 87th-minute goal.

"I'd be surprised, to be honest, if the Germans come out how they did the first game," said Priestman. "I do think we'll face a more aggressive Germany. … We have to be prepared for that."

England takes on Spain in the opening game of Sunday's doubleheader at Carrow Road in Norwich.

The lone Canadian victory over Germany was a 2-0 decision in group play at the 2016 Rio Olympics on the strength of two goals by Melissa Tancredi. Germany avenged that loss a week later