Jonelle Filigno (L) of Canada and Kaylyn Kyle (R) smile during the Canada Women national team training session at Mommsen stadium on June 24, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images)Martin Rose/Getty Images
There will be few rah-rah words of motivation from coach Carolina Morace in the final few moments before Canada's women's soccer team marches onto the pitch Sunday.
Remembering just how far they've come is motivation enough.
The Canadians face two-time defending champion Germany in an opening game of the FIFA Women's World Cup that's being billed as a David-versus-Goliath battle, a mighty task that would seem worthy of a pep talk.
But "quiet confidence" has been a catchphrase for a Canadian team that was bounced out of the 2007 World Cup after the opening round, but has been enjoying a newfound sense of assurance over the past two years with Morace at the helm.
"We're motivated by the sacrifices we've made, we're motivated by the opportunity to play for our country, we're motivated by the young kids out there who look up to us," said Canadian veteran goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc, who is making a Canadian-record fourth World Cup appearance.
"We have so much motivation that I think in this newfound passion that we've gotten from Carolina, she doesn't need to step up and say words to us. I think just looking into each other eyes as teammates, we know what we want to do for each other, and we know what we want to do for the coaching staff and for our country," added the 31-year-old 'keeper. "That's pretty much our motivation."
Still, the Canadians have an immensely difficult task before them. Germany has been given 10-1 odds to beat Canada - not counting the two out of eight "oracle" octopuses in Germany who selected Canada to win earlier in the week - they'll be playing in front of a home crowd of some 75,000 people at Berlin's Olympiastadion.
The Germans have beaten Canada all nine times the two have collided, most recently a 5-0 shellacking in Dresden, Germany, less than a year ago.
"For me Germany is the best team in the world, as individuals technically and also as a team," Morace said at a news conference Saturday, following Canada's final practice. "They are very organized, the coach is one of the best coaches on the women's side and we are not on the same level as them.
"It's the first time that we are (ranked) sixth in the world, I think it's maybe 15 years that Germany is top three in the world. This is a big difference."
But soccer is a crazy sport, said the coach, where "at the end of the day, the ball is round. Everything can happen."
She pointed to the 2004 European men's championships, won by underdog Greece.
German coach Sylvia Neid said her team won't take the Canadians lightly.
"It's a really good team, really quick players, really dangerous in the offence," Neid said. "We have to be really concentrated and focused to beat them (Sunday)."
Neid doesn't give a pre-game locker-room speech either, instead appointing a player - a different one every game - to do the honours.
"That's kind of motivation that the team speaks to the team," said Neid, who chooses the individual on the bus en route to the game.
Morace, who's coached Canada to a 10-1-2 record this season and the team's first-ever CONCACAF title, doesn't believe in speeches at all. The work they've put in are their words of encouragement.
"I think the motivation at the high level is inside of all players," said Canada's Italian coach. "What we have to try to do is to maintain the calm because the anxiousness is one of the worst things against performance that we can have. I don't want my player to have the pressure to say something, to motivate her teammates, I think just that we have to believe in what we did and the work in the field.
"After that, I don't think I have to say something about motivation. We are in the World Cup."
Canada's captain Christine Sinclair, who boasts 116 goals in 159 national-team appearances, said it will be crucial that the team keeps its composure in the opening minutes, and not get caught up in the pulsating noise and emotion of the crowd.
"The first 15-20 minutes are going to be huge for us. They're going to have the crowd. They're going to be running on all cylinders," said the 28-year-old Sinclair. "So it's important for us not to give up a goal in those first few minutes."
Germany's star Birgit Prinz will make her final international appearance at this World Cup. The 33-year-old is a household name in Germany, its female version of Michael Ballack. She's the Women's World Cup leader in goals with 14, and has earned a staggering 212 appearances and scored 128 goals in the black, red and gold.
"I am just very happy that the stadium is going to be full and that I can be there in my last major tournament," Prinz said.
A victory against Germany isn't necessary for Canada to move on. The Canadians will face No. 7 France and No. 27 Nigeria next week, with the top two teams in each of the four groups advancing to the knockout quarter-finals.
But a victory would be a mammoth-sized boost to Canada's confidence, especially coming in front of the largest crowd assembled for a Women's World Cup game since 90,185 fans packed into the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., to watch the U.S. defeat China 5-4 in the final of the 1999 tournament.
German President Christian Wulff and FIFA president Sepp Blatter will be among the capacity crowd of 73,680 at the storied Olympiastadion, site of the 2006 men's World Cup - and Zinedine Zidane infamous headbutt on Italy's Marco Materazzi that got the French star ousted from the final.
The stadium, the largest of the nine host World Cup venues, was originally built for the 1936 Olympics but was reconstructed between 2000 and 2002, leaving the natural stone exterior, but building a sporting state-of-the-art interior.
The stadium entrance, with its original Olympic rings suspended between two ominous stone grey towers, has been swathed this week in bright orange banners in celebration of the women's event. Beer gardens and currywurst stands were erected on Saturday, as workers put the finishing touches on the stadium's grounds.
As of Saturday afternoon, only about 200 tickets remained for what's being billed as the official opening match between Canada and Germany. Nigeria and France actually kick off earlier in the day in Frankfurt.