Coach: Carolina Morace (ITA)

Previous appearances: 7 (1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006)

Best finish: Champion (1998)

World Cup qualification: 4 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006)

International honors: Pan American Games silver medal (2003); Pan American Games bronze medal (2007).

Key players: F Christine Sinclair, M Diana Matheson

Canada looks for a fifth straight trip to the Women's World Cup and its first title CONCACAF title since 1998. Carolina Morace, who played 153 times for Italy and also is noted for being the first woman to coach an Italian men's team with Viterbese, assumed control in February 2009 and has overhauled the Canadian women's program in style if not in personnel. Since replacing Norwegian Even Pellerud, who has since taken over the Trinidad & Tobago women's program, Morace has instilled a more possession, pass-oriented game to Canada, which earlier this year won the Cyprus Cup friendly tournament against the likes of Switzerland, England, South Africa and New Zealand. It has not beaten the United States, however, since 2001, a 21-game winless streak.