National Womens Soccer League

“I’m not (going to) change,” new head coach of the Canada ladies’s nationwide staff (CANWNT) Casey Stoney advised , sprinkled with fun, which suggests Stoney goes to “sit on a cooler.” She goes to sit down on that cooler with “good coats and good blazers” and a few Doc Martens-esque verve.

“I don’t have a pink (blazer), although,” Stoney stated. “So I must get one.”

For Stoney evangelists and Canada followers, the information is sweet. The previous San Diego Wave and England captain is again on the touchline, able to perch pensively on a neon pink drinks cooler in her technical space while sporting a rotating solid of gorgeous outerwear and game-day matches. Extra importantly, Stoney is bidding to do what she does greatest: instill a basis of belief and confidence in an area that has misplaced it.

Stoney, 42, was , taking on from interim head coach Andy Spence, who changed Bev Priestman after she was sacked for her function in Canada’s spying scandal final 12 months — an investigation discovered that senior teaching employees requested members of the teaching staff to spy on the opposition utilizing drones forward of the Paris Olympics.

So the circumstances of her appointment usually are not splendid, however Stoney, who has been out of soccer since San Diego Wave fired her in June 2024, is assured that she may be the supervisor to steer CANWNT into a brand new period.

“My job is a lot extra than simply being a head coach of the senior staff,” Stoney stated. “It’s about wanting on the complete panorama in Canada, and simply having the ability to assist and assist.

“I’ve acquired a number of expertise having been a part of the bidding course of for the WSL (Girls’s Tremendous League) in England, having performed there for thus a few years. I’ve run academies. I’ve labored in laundry. I’ve pushed the minibus and run the primary staff.

“So I need to have the ability to educate myself first, observe, study what is actually good in Canada already, after which ask: What can we modify and improve? How can I assist affect? It’s a top-down, bottom-up strategy.”

In three seasons with the Wave, Stoney gained the NWSL Defend in 2023 and the NWSL Problem Cup the next 12 months, whereas she gained the NWSL Coach of the Yr trophy in 2022. With Manchester United, she guided them to promotion to the WSL within the staff’s first-ever season and two fourth-place WSL finishes earlier than stepping down in Might 2021. Stoney’s operation was one in every of dichotomies: incorporating defensive grit with attacking fluidity, veteran knowledge with youthful effervescence.

With Canada, Stoney sees a panorama ripe for her type.

“This staff is already arduous to beat. They’ve proven that. They’ve completed some unbelievable issues during the last 12 months. What they did throughout the (reaching the quarterfinals), I can solely have admiration for,” Stoney stated.

“It’s my job to construct on that and improve it. What I used to be in a position to present at Manchester United after I went there’s that we may rating objectives. First two seasons at Wave, I believe we had been top-two purpose scorers.

“Now, it’s about how do I carry that to Canada too. It’s an enormous remit for me. If you wish to win issues, you’ve acquired to maintain clear sheets. The USWNT confirmed that within the earlier event, and it’s about how one can now rating objectives in essential moments and create extra alternatives to attain objectives. We’ve acquired an enormous quantity of expertise in our present pool of gamers and the pool coming by way of. It’s about embedding a mode and a philosophy the place we will use the ball successfully.”

Belief is a key phrase for Stoney as she embarks on her newest chapter, significantly following final summer season’s occasions and the controversy that clung to Canada within the subsequent months. The territory is acquainted.

“Once I walked within the door (of the Wave), they didn’t belief coaches,” she stated. “I discovered that constructing belief is so essential. Should you say you’re going to do one thing, do it and be accountable for that. Be the one which exhibits vulnerability, be the one which holds your hand up and owns their errors, in order that gamers can do the identical factor. And it’s about successful video games too. Successful builds belief, confidence, the flexibility to proceed to construct.”

In her first feedback as coach, Stoney stated she wouldn’t have taken the function with Canada if she didn’t belief the path of this system and the management of Canada Soccer CEO and common secretary Kevin Blue.

“I spoke to the gamers in depth about Kevin, I did my very own analysis,” Stoney stated in her preliminary press convention. “I didn’t take this job with out data, they usually spoke very extremely of the distinction that he’s been in a position to make within the quick time that he’s are available in. I felt like our values had been aligned.”

Stoney’s unveiling has recharged the dialog round Canada Soccer’s tradition, significantly whether or not a reset is required.

“Every part I’ve heard about this tradition, it doesn’t want altering,” Stoney says. “It simply wants me to steer it, embrace it and take it in the appropriate path. They’ve acquired a really sturdy unity and tradition of their participant pool. It’s about setting requirements and expectations and having readability round that.”

Stoney underscores the significance of together with former gamers, akin to report goalscorer Christine Sinclair and former worldwide Diana Matheson, into discussions round requirements, whereas not shying away from demarcating between previous and current.

“As a result of my experiences after I performed usually are not going to be the experiences of the England gamers now,” she stated. “And what’s now could be actually essential. As a result of a high-performance atmosphere needs to be led by the gamers. They need to set the requirements and expectations. I assist information and assist that.

“However it’s additionally not shedding the legacy of gamers like that, that had such an influence on the sport that was so essential to the followers.”

Creating younger gamers stays a core tenet of Stoney’s. A well-trotted mantra of hers is, “Should you’re adequate, you’re sufficiently old.” It’s not with out substance. With United, Stoney performed when simply 16 years outdated, offering a launch pad from which the now-Chelsea and England ahead has flourished. With the Wave, Stoney is credited with aiding U.S. worldwide Naomi Girma in changing into one of many world’s greatest younger defenders.

Casting a look on the CANWNT squad, the younger expertise at Stoney’s disposal is tantalising. At point out of Harvard defender Jade Rose, Stoney’s voice rose an octave. “For me, Jade Rose is such an thrilling prospect shifting ahead,” stated Stoney, including that Rose skilled with the Wave throughout her time as supervisor.

Point out of Liverpool ahead Olivia Smith, who has been tipped to be the nation’s subsequent Sinclair, rouses an identical response.

“I used to be fortunate sufficient as a result of I used to be again within the UK for 4 months, and I watched fairly a little bit of Olivia and can proceed to,” she stated. “With gamers like that, it’s about giving them an understanding of what it’s to carry out at worldwide stage, exposing them to it, holding them accountable, however supporting them and difficult them in equal measures. As a result of Olivia’s an distinctive expertise. What she will do with the ball is unbelievable.

“She must study somewhat bit extra of what to do with out the ball, which is a part of my job. And exposing her to as many caps as I can. If she’s going to play in 2027, she must have a bit extra expertise to have the ability to try this. That comes with the subsequent 12 months of video games.”

Stoney’s appointment makes her the newest high-profile girl assigned to the place of nationwide staff supervisor, alongside former Chelsea supervisor Emma Hayes with the USWNT and Sarina Wiegman with the reigning European champions, England. The sight is encouraging however comes with accountability, Stoney stated, particularly because the variety of ladies teaching in dwindles.

“It’s additionally a part of my responsibility as a coach to ensure I’m opening the doorways for different feminine coaches to come back into the atmosphere,” she defined. “Ultimately, hopefully, this job is held by a Canadian feminine and never me. I’ve been within the recreation a very long time. I’ve seen so many common male coaches come into the sport when females don’t even get the chance. However analysis will present you {that a} man will go for a job that he’s not certified for and assume he ought to get it. And a feminine gained’t even enter the room as a result of she doesn’t assume she ought to get it and he or she’s certified.

“Would I prefer to see extra feminine coaches? Completely. You misplaced one at Wave and gained a person. It’s a kind of conditions the place that occurs. However we will solely guarantee that we maintain pushing the agenda for extra females within the recreation in any respect ranges, not simply in teaching, however at government stage, in all roles, to guarantee that it’s accessible to everyone.”

This text initially appeared in .

US Girls’s nationwide staff, Canada, Soccer, UK Girls’s Soccer

2025 The Athletic Media Firm