Canada head coach Bev Priestman says that Manchester City’s Janine Beckie is performing well at the Arnold Clark Cup as a result of her national team showing their belief in her.
The 27-year-old has endured a challenging campaign for her club which has seen her start just five of Manchester City’s 14 matches in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League. Beckie has been on top form for her country, scoring one goal and assisting another at this month’s Arnold Clark Cup.
When commenting on Beckie’s performances for Canada, Priestman said that the player’s form is off the back of the national team putting their full faith in her ability.
“It is a big ask for players who are not playing to perform at this level against some top world class players,” Priestman told FAWSL Full-Time. “Credit to Janine and I have always said that when Janine believes that you believe in her and her teammates believe in her, that’s when you get the best out of her.
“I think that she always feels the love from Canada and it gets the best out of Janine. I have been really impressed after not knowing what the player was going to come in like given her circumstances. All credit to her, she has put everything out there.”
With Canada top of the Arnold Clark Cup table after two games, Beckie could end the tournament with a winners’ medal. National team boss Priestman went on to explain what it would mean for Canada to win the tournament.
She said “It is only going to help our confidence. Historically, European teams have been a bit of a challenge for us and to come and win this tournament would add a lot of confidence going into a World Cup where you could face any of these three teams in a semi-final or a final. It is only going to help confidence but at the same time, I won’t get carried away because there is work to be done.
“If we win, fantastic and the players thoroughly deserve it for the work that they’ve put in under the circumstances but if we don’t win it, we have still taken some steps forward and that’s the most important thing.”
Canada’s final Arnold Clark Cup match against Spain kicks-off at 2.30pm on Wednesday afternoon.
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