Murray Wood: Who's hot and who's not
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Three futsal players and a coach from Saskatoon helped lead Canada Soccer’s first-ever women’s futsal team to a historic championship victory at the inaugural CONCACAF W Futsal Championship in Guatemala this past week.
Goalkeeper Jadyn Steinhauer, defender Jade Houmphanh, winger Erica Hindmarsh and assistant coach Jerson Barandica-Hamilton were part of the new women’s futsal national team that recently booked its ticket to the 2025 FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup in the Philippines, which will be played from Nov. 21 to Dec. 7.
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The Canadian team began group play on April 29 against Costa Rica, and lost 3-2.
The team rebounded the next day, however, defeating Honduras 6-0. Canada qualified for the knockout stages following a 3-1 victory against the United States on Thursday.
Canada faced Mexico on Friday in the semifinal and squeaked out a victory on penalties to clinch a spot at the World Cup, along with a spot in the CONCACAF final.
In the final, Canada rolled over Panama 8-2 to secure its first-ever trophy in women’s futsal.
In the tournament, Hindmarsh scored two goals for Canada and Houmphanh had one.
Steinhauer, Houmphanh and Hindmarsh are all alumni of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s soccer team. Barandica-Hamilton is currently the head coach of the Huskies women’s soccer team.
All of the players currently play for SK Impact FC, which won the national futsal women’s title in Regina last March for the second year in a row.
World Cup bound
Over the next few months, the Canadian team will be preparing to play against the world’s best futsal players at the 2025 FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup in the Philippines.
At that tournament, the Canadian’s will have the opportunity to face teams from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Morocco, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Tanzania.
Brazil is ranked as the top team in both the men’s and women’s futsal standings.
The 2025 FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup is the sport’s first-ever women’s world cup. World cup events have been held on the men’s side since 1989. Brazil has the most titles with six, and Spain is in second place with two titles.
