You don't see this too often in the soccer world: A coach stating that his team is better than the opposition ... before the match is played.
And when it comes at a World Cup, it raises even more eyebrows.
But that's just how confident Canada women's national team coach John Herdman was at the pregame press conference (WATCH IT HERE) leading up to Thursday night's group stage match against New Zealand (9 pm ET on CTV and TSN2 in Canada; FOX Sports 1 in US).
"Very clearly, we're a better team," he said. "And I think quality for quality, we're a better team than New Zealand."
"And if we connect and we connect like we did against China for periods and we improve on some things and we live the game plan, Canada should win this game. I said this right from the onset, we should win this group."
Here's what might be at the heart of Herdman's confidence: The Englishman led the Football Ferns of New Zealand from 2006 to 2011 before taking over Canada.
The Canadians won their first match against China 1-0 on a late penalty kick. New Zealand lost their opener by the same score against the Netherlands.
