Vanessa Gilles: 'It hasn't been good enough' from Canada
In a 1-on-1 interview, Gilles discusses Canada's poor run of results, the difficult conversations players have had, and much more.
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A familiar face is back in the fold for the Canadian women's team at a time when it needs her the most.
When Canada faces Japan in a pair of friendlies on Nov. 29 and Dec. 2 in Nagasaki, veteran centre back Vanessa Gilles is expected to be front and centre for Les Rouges after missing last month's pair of games through injury.
Gilles, a 29-year-old from Ottawa, hasn't donned the Canadian jersey since a humbling 3-0 loss to the United States in Washington, D.C., on July 2. That was the first of three consecutive losses for the Canadians, their longest losing streak since dropping four in a row from June 20 to Nov. 7, 2019, under former coach Kenneth Heiner-Møller.
It's been a busy few months for Gilles, who joined German club Bayern Munich in May after spending last season on loan at French side Olympique Lyon from NWSL outfit Angel City. The Canadian defender hit the ground running in Germany by scoring three goals in six appearances in all competitions before injuring her calf in a DFB Cup match at Borussia Dortmund on Sept. 29.
Gilles, the reigning Canadian women's player of the year, has returned to full fitness and is ready to help Canada get back on the right track and add to the 54 caps she's collected since making her national team debut in 2019.
In this one-on-one interview with TFC Republic, Gilles discusses Canada's recent run of poor results, the difficult conversations players have had with each other, the Northern Super League, and much more.
John Molinaro
This Q&A has been lightly edited and trimmed for brevity and clarity.
How has camp been going so far in Japan?
Camp has been going good. Obviously, Casey [Stoney] is not with us [due to personal issues], but Natalie [Henderson] has been taking over and we have [U17 coach] Jen Hearst in as an assistant coach to help support her, so I think they've done a really good job of keeping the flow going, keeping the same messaging, and keeping the standards and intensity up.
Obviously, a lot of us are struggling with jet lag, so it's been an adjustment trying to manage loads, training, how much we do, and still try to be prepared for the games. I think we've done a lot of hard but also interesting work in terms of chatting about the last few games, the last few camps, where we want to go as a team, and where we're headed. Those are never easy discussions to have, but we've been having them, and we've been trying to get the training going, and hopefully we can show that in the games against Japan.
It sounds like you and your teammates have had some pretty frank discussions about the team's recent run of form. What direction do you want to see this team head in, not just for this camp, but beyond?
I think we're all aligned in the belief that it hasn't been good enough, that we haven't been good enough as individuals, as a collective, in terms of the standards we set; in terms of what it means to wear this jersey, what it means to represent not only Canada, but your friends, your family, the players who've come before us. We haven't been up to that standard. And I don't think it's been one camp. Obviously, the last camp was disappointing, but it hasn't just been the last camp. It's something that we need to improve, to be quite frank. Obviously, we have the [2027] World Cup in sight, but we're not even qualified for that yet. That's something we have to keep our feet on the ground about in order to be humble and work towards qualifying.
I think when we look at the talent we have, when we look at the staff that we have, when we look at [Canada Soccer] and the relationship we've finally built and worked towards having, I think we have the ingredients for success. It's up to us to kind of mesh them together and get going. We've had a lot of frank discussions. We have self-reflected a lot. It's not a secret that it hasn't been good enough. It's not a secret that we do have things to work on. You guys see it on your end watching games. We see it as well, and we feel it. We never want to lose; we never want to let people down.
But change isn't easy. Change doesn't happen overnight, but it has to start somewhere, and I think we've identified some areas that we do need to be honest about and we need to work on if we are going to qualify for the World Cup, if we are going to hope to do something at the World Cup.
What are some of the reasons as to why it hasn't been good enough from Canada over the last few international windows?
I think we've been going through a lot of change. I think right now the program is in a transition period. Obviously, when you lose a lot of veterans in the space of one or two years, there are leadership roles to fill. There are voices to fill. There are personalities that are missed. I don't think we will ever again get somebody like Christine Sinclair or Desiree Scott or Sophie Schmidt; these people who embodied what it is to be Canadian, embodied what it is to represent something bigger than yourself. I think when they were in a room, we took it for granted a little bit; how we acted around them, the respect that they commanded, the respect on and off the pitch, but it was just the culture that they had created of walking into the room and knowing that we were always in safe hands and they were always guiding us. I think it's new for a lot of us, me included, to go from that middle ground to a leadership role and not have those people around anymore.
So, we're all figuring it out. We're all living this for the first time. But it's pretty obvious we're in a transition period, and to add on to that it's a completely different staff that joined us a few camps ago. So, that's also a transition period for everyone. I think we have the talent. We do have a lot of talent, especially when I see new faces come in, like DB [Pridham], who's done incredibly well for Ottawa this season. Or Annabelle [Chukwu] who's been killing it at university. When I look at the new players like Nyah Rose and Ella Ottey who are going to be coming in; we have the talent, we just need to continue to work on the culture and the standards that were set before us.
And culture is something that we always need to work on. It's not something that's given, even if you are Canadian and we all are very humble, very nice, hard working. But in a high-level sports environment, we need to be very intentional about that, and that's something that we're working on.
As one of the team's veterans, do you have a role to play in taking on more of a leadership role within the team?
I think we all have a role to play to be quite honest. I think when we give that role to one or two people it's like the weight of the world is on them. And so, to be able to have success we need a whole team of leaders. We need everybody pulling their weight. We need everybody doing their part, otherwise it falls apart. It's not just one or two people; it's not one person who makes a difference. It's a whole team from top to bottom. It's everybody. And so, identifying the pieces where we all need to be better, where we all need to be going in the same direction and not 25 different directions, is the thing that we're focusing on.
I hate using the term veteran because that means you're old. But I've been here a little while. I've had the opportunity and the honour to have played under such great leaders, like Sinc, Desi and Sophie. They did the work to create this culture, and we need to continue that work. It's not something that just stays out of nothing. We need to be a lot more intentional in those standards, in the day to day, in what we do out of camp, and how we wear this jersey, and the behaviours and the reactions. There's work to be done, and I think we're all in agreement that we want to move forward, which is already a first step in that we all recognize where we're at.
John Molinaro
January will mark the one-year anniversary of Casey Stoney taking over as coach of the women's team. How has she been able to put her stamp or mark on the program thus far?
One year seems like a lot of time, but when you put it in the international football language, it's not very many camps. But I think with Casey, it's been great to see her honesty. I think that's something in high level sports that is hard to come by, to be quite honest. She's someone who's very, very direct; who's very frank and who tells it how it is, who doesn't sugarcoat stuff – to us, to the media, to the staff. She's very, very direct. And that's something that, as someone who doesn't like fluff, I also appreciate. So, it's been nice to work around, to get straight to the point, to be efficient on the pitch and off the pitch with information, strategy, video analysis. If it's bad, she says it. If it's good, she says it.
And then in terms of standards, obviously, she's played at the international level. She's a legend for England. She's also a centre back. She sees the game incredibly well. She understands the game. She understands what it is to play at this level. I think she also understands what it means for us, the values that we're trying to uphold and what we're trying to portray. It's not only about winning, but it's also about representing Canada, representing our families, representing what it is to be Canadian.
We haven't been able to show that the past few camps; the grit, the hard work, those reactions, that little extra ingredient that the Canadian team has always had. I think she gets that. If anybody watched her play, I think she also embodied that. She is trying to help us bring that back in terms of our culture.
Beyond wins against Japan, what are you hoping that Canada can take away from this international window?
First and foremost, two wins. I think whenever you play these games it's to win, especially off the back of three losses. So, that's our main objective, that's our main focus. That's pretty much what we want and what we need out of this.
On another level there's specific things that we're working on tactically to fine tune. For example, defensively it's no secret that we've let in set piece goals. It's no secret that we haven't been as compact as we usually are. We're usually a team that people hate to play against because of how compact we are and hard it is to break us down. So, we need to get back to that organization. We need to get back to that compactness as a team and that toughness individually. I'm a centre back, so maybe that's especially heightened for me, but defensively, I think we need to be much, much better.
Japan will be showing us really good pictures in terms of their ability on the ball, their rotations, their movement, their vision, their efficiency going forward. They're not a team that shies away from fast attacks, but they are also able to retain the ball and pick their moments. So, it'll be a tough challenge, but it'll be a challenge that'll be exciting and telling of the work that we've been doing in camp.
How are you feeling physically? Are you fully recovered from the injury?
Yeah, my calf is good. I've got some minutes at my club. I've been working my way up, but physically, same as always.
You had a great start to your career at Bayern before the injury. How do you account for that?
At Bayern, I feel very comfortable. I obviously know the coach very well. [Note: Gilles previously played under current Bayern manager José Barcala when he was in charge at FC Girondins de Bordeaux]. I think he is phenomenal in giving players confidence but also making training efficient and fun. I love his training sessions, and I think when you love training and you train how you play, then it translates into the game. It's hard to come into a new club. There's an adjustment period with a new league, but having known the coach, having known the sessions, enjoying the sessions, and the team as well, I think it makes for an easy transition.
And we have a very good team. We have very good players. We have an incredible culture set by the players who've come before and the players who are still there. I think German culture is very similar to Canadian culture in the way they train, but also in the way they behave. They're very humble, they're very hard working, they don't think they're better than anybody, they're very welcoming, surprisingly very open as well. So, it's been very refreshing. I've made a lot of friends. I felt like I was at home, like I've been there for a long time.
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How did the move to Bayern come about?
There were a lot of different components. Obviously, I was very happy at Lyon. I had very good friends there. I love the club. Love, love the club. I love the fans, the city, the country, the food, the weather. But I think change is good sometimes. I was kind of in a place where I had to decide what my priorities were. I was at an age and at a point in my career where I wanted to be valued and seen. And I think at Lyon, like I said, I love the club, but that wasn't something that I was feeling towards the end. And I think when you start feeling that or that starts creeping in, it affects your play. I think it affects your confidence. It affects a lot of things that maybe you don't see on the pitch.
And when I was discussing things with Bayern, it's the complete opposite feeling I was getting, and I had to follow that. And although it's a different challenge, and of course I miss my friends, I miss the club, I wish nothing but the best for them. But for me and where I was at what I needed, my main thing was confidence that I needed, and that's what I was hoping and knew I would get with Bayern
How much did you watch and follow the Northern Super league during its inaugural 2025 season?
I think a lot of us on the team followed the league pretty closely. It's something we've been advocating for a long, long while. It's something as a national team that we've always said that we needed if we wanted to compete and continue competing at the highest levels. We need a successful domestic league, not only for them to develop the game back home in terms of fan bases, sports culture, getting people into the sport, role models in every city, but also in terms of the national team player pool. We need a sustainable league, where players coming up can be playing at home, where players have a place to play as Canadians.
For me, my club career path led me to Cyprus before I ended up in France, and that was only thanks to my French passport. And so, how many people slipped through the cracks because we didn't have this league until now? I don't even want to think about it. As a player in the national team, it's something that we needed, and that's why we've been following a lot to try and support on our end any way that we can, because we need this league to be successful.
And on a personal note, obviously, I'm from Ottawa. A lot of friends and family go to the Ottawa games, also the Montreal games, so it's been fun to see the country rally around this league, just like it was fun watching it with the new hockey league [PWHL] and the women's side. And I hope that it continues.
Reading some of the achievements that Diana Matheson was able to achieve in such a short time in the league's first year was amazing, so hopefully it continues. Hopefully it keeps going up from here and it expands, and we keep seeing new talents keep blossoming and lead to their chances with the national team, because at the end of the day that's what it's all about.
(Top photo courtesy of Canada Soccer)
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