Canada's Christine Sinclair (12) celebrates her goal over Haiti with teammates Rhian Wilkinson (7) and Christina Julien (10) during the first half of CONCACAF Women's Olympic qualifying soccer at B.C. Place in Vancouver, B.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012.The Canadian Press
Canada's women's soccer team needs only a draw against Costa Rica to move atop its group at the Olympic qualifying tournament.
After securing a spot in the semifinals with a 2-0 win over Cuba on Saturday, Canada heads into the final group game holding a better goal difference than Costa Rica.
The winner will play the other group's second-place team in the semifinal, which decides the two teams that will go to this summer's London Games.
No pressure right?
"I think we've got that little bit of breathing space now with the fact that we've got a better goal difference and a draw will get us through top of the group," Canadian head coach John Herdman on Sunday.
"So that gives you a different slant on things. We may be able to rest players earlier. We could go into the game with a different approach."
Recent history gives Canada the edge. The two teams last met in October at the Pan American Games in Mexico with Canada winning 3-1 before ultimately going on to win the gold medal.
Like Canada, the Costa Ricans have won both their games in the competition. They followed up an opening game 2-0 win over Cuba with a win Saturday over Haiti by the same score.
Currently ranked at 44th in the world compared to seventh-ranked Canada, Costa Rica is a side that is regarded as the fourth best team in the CONCACAF region and is developing into a regional power.
"I don't think you can underestimate them. They're one of the improved teams on the world stage and they've really started to develop some young players that are turning into real threats on the world stage," said Herdman.
"They're certainly, in this group, the major threat and if we're not really careful and the girls aren't on their game, it's one where you could get turned over in."
Size could play a factor in how the Canadians handle their opponents. With some Canadian players like Christine Sinclair towering over much smaller Costa Rican players, Canada should hold the advantage in aerial battles.
That means Canada's efficiency on set-pieces could determine their success, but it's been the one area where the Canadians haven't been as strong compared to otherwise fine performances. It's something Herdman said he is addressing.
"You'll see things tomorrow night a bit differently. We've had a few things up our sleeve ready for this game so hopefully we'll capitalize from that," he said.
Canada got a bit of extra good news after Christina Julien was injured in the tournament opener.
Julien clashed heads with a Haitian player in the dying seconds of the game, and the team was worried she had suffered a concussion.
But Julien was back and training Sunday and appeared to be fit enough to play if called upon.
"I've been doing tests every day. I've been in treatment two or three times a day just trying to make sure I'm good to go," Julien said of the precautions the staff took to make sure there wasn't a serious head injury.
"They're not trying to take any risks, which is good, especially with Sidney Crosby and all this talk about concussions."