Just how much of an underdog is Canada against the U.S. in that women’s soccer match, here next week?

Consider this: the Yanks’ all-time record against the Maple Leaf is 47-3-5, the last meeting a 1-0 American win in Texas at the end of January.

Of course, the one everyone remembers is the controversial and heartbreaking 4-3 USA win at the Summer Olympics in London.

For many Canadians, that one still stings, a full 21 months after the fact.

“The rivalry really sort of resurfaced after the Olympic Games,” Team Canada head coach John Herdman, taking part in a conference call from Vancouver, said Thursday. “A lot of Canadians felt hard-done by by that game. As a team we’ve sort of had to move on from that. They’re looking different now. They’ve put some new players in. They’ve just lost a coach.”

But it’s still the U.S. of A.

Which means this is anything but a “friendly” for anyone north of the 49th.

As the Brits like to say, it’s a real derby match.

“Whenever you bring the U.S. across the border, it’s a derby match, and we like to see it like that,” Herdman, a product of County Durham, England, said. “And those derby matches just bring that extra fight and spirit and desire and meaning to the game.”

Winnipeggers appear to get it. They’ve snapped up some 25,000 tickets to date, with still a week to go before the home of the Blue Bombers hosts its first-ever “football” game (I know, there’s a joke in there).

It promises to be quite the atmosphere, just what the women’s team needs as it prepares to host the World Cup next year.

“These games are absolute gold for us,” Herdman said. “Because you can’t replicate the feeling of stepping out in front of a truly passionate Canadian crowd that want you to do so well. And that can be a heavy responsibility for players. But the more we experience it, the more we’ll be able to work together with the fans to create our 12th woman in 2015.”

The coach has assembled 21 for this game, including star Christine Sinclair and local favourite Desiree Scott, in the team’s first home game of 2014, and its first together since mid-March.

Holding a reunion in Scott’s backyard is no insignificant matter.

“Believe it or not, this is going to be the first time her mum and family are going to see her play live,” Herdman said. “The team will sense that. It’s a massive thing for Desiree and we’ve all got a big smile on our face that the local kid can come back home and show her talent on the world stage.”

Which brings us to the double-barreled challenge facing the Canucks next week.

As big a deal as this is for Scott, and for Canadian fans who fell in love with their Olympic bronze medalists, it can’t be so big that it overwhelms the players.

If they get their shirts in a knot over having to knock off the big, bad Americans on home soil, their coach worries they’ll be in trouble.

“Because it is quite a burden for the group,” Herdman said. “And when you look at the statistics, they don’t bode very well.”

No kidding.

The Americans recently went 43 matches without a loss.

At a tournament in March, they lost back-to-back for the first time in 13 years, and it cost their head coach his job.

“I know for the U.S. at times they just look at it as another game, and hence they come into the game nice and light and bright,” Herdman said. “Whereas our girls see it as something often bigger than it is.”

While Herdman will play psychologist with his players, he readily acknowledges they are the reason women’s soccer is bigger than it ever has been in this country.

“It’s been absolutely phenomenal,” he said of the growth of the game. “These girls have sort of captured the hearts and minds of different populations, from young players to mums and even dads... these girls are world-class athletes and players, and great role models.

“They represent to a lot of people the last bastions of amateur sport. A group of women who genuinely play for the love of what they do and the love of their country.”

Not to mention the love of trying to knock off their southern neighbours.

paul.friesen@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @friesensunmedia