Taiwan women are headed home but not before being on the receiving end of an almighty blow out. Canada came into the final game of the Pintar Cup needing a win to be confirmed as tournament champions– and they left no doubt with a swaggering performance from whistle to whistle.

The writing was on the wall as early as the fourth minute when when Marie-Yasmine Alidou slipped away from her marker and poked home Nichelle Prince’s throughball. Alidou would get a second goal ten minutes later from the penalty spot before Canada made it 3-0 when Jordyn Huitema nodded home from a corner.

With only thirty-three minutes played, Alidou picked up her hat-trick when Taiwan failed to clear a set-piece and the midfielder found herself unmarked just outside the six yard box to made it 4-0.

A maddening first-half was closed out with a fifth Canadian goal after Taiwan once again miscued a clearance. With Canada advancing down the right hand side, Jessie Fleming’s cross should have been dealt with calmly. Instead, three Taiwanese defenders swarmed towards the ball as it entered the box only for Prince to get there first. With the ball skidding around, Megan Reid reacted quickest and smashed it home from close range.

Canada continued to pour it on in the second half and soon had a sixth goal when Huitema cooly dispatched another penalty that Wang Yu-ting will feel she might have saved.

A top-drawer performance was capped off when substitute Clarissa Larisey headed home for yet another Canada goal. The move itself was excellent; having advanced from deep, the cross from left-back Jayde Riviere was inch perfect. So too was the timing for Larisey off-ball runto get her the space to get ahead of a despairing Huang Ke-sin. Indeed, as she picked the ball out of her net for the seventh time, Wang could be seen ruefully looking to her bench as if to acknowledge the massive gulf between the two sides.

The game thankfully ended soon after (helped in large part due to Canada going down to nine players because of injuries and no subs left to replace them) but the stats make for difficult reading. Canada enjoyed 70% possession and had 19 shots to Taiwan’s 2. Indeed, the Mulan were effectively locked into their own half for most of the game. Not only were Canada as good as advertised, they played with an efficiency and technical know-how that completely overwhelmed their opponents.

Taiwan deserve credit for taking part in a tournament with a traditionally strong China side and two North American powerhouses but defeats like today underline how big the gulf is between Taiwan and elite womens teams in the world.

Photo Credit: Canada Soccer (c/o: Audrey Magny)