Alidou takes unconventional path back to women’s national team

When Marie-Yasmine Alidou scored the go-ahead goal for Canada against Spain in a friendly last month, it wasn’t just her first international goal.

It was a sigh of relief after years of frustration and perseverance.

Last season, Mimi, as she’s known, led her club, Benfica, in scoring and helped the Portuguese side to the quarter-finals in the 2023-24 UEFA Women’s Champions League, scoring nine goals in 11 games, including a brace against eventual champions, Barcelona.

But despite her impressive scoring numbers, Alidou constantly found herself on the outside looking in when it came to the Canadian national team.

So, when she found the back of the net against the reigning World Cup champions on their home soil in just her third cap, there was much more behind the milestone moment.

“That goal was a reward, I think, for all my hard work and just never giving up,” Alidou told TSN. “You have a place here. You as a player deserve that, basically, because of everything that you've done and been through in this team.”

Alidou, 29, is back with the national team for a pair of upcoming friendlies. The Canadians, ranked sixth in the world, take on 13th-ranked Iceland on Friday before facing off with 19th-ranked Korea Republic on Tuesday in their last match of the year.

“[Alidou] shines when she has the freedom to find the pockets, get the ball at her feet, and then distance herself from opponents,” Amy Walsh, former Canadian international who has also worked as an analyst in women’s soccer for TSN and OneSoccer, told TSN. “That's the type of player I think that this team so desperately needs. But why it took so long… just bizarre to me that we never saw her utilized in those positions.”

Alidou’s path to the national team has not been conventional by any means. She was 26 when she earned her first cap, having no previous experience with Canada Soccer at the youth levels.

She ultimately decided to play her collegiate soccer for the Université du Québec a Montreal, which led to her first professional opportunity with Marseille.

From there, she bounced around with various European clubs in Sweden, Spain, Norway and Austria. It was while she was with SK Sturm Graz in Austria’s ÖFB Frauen-Bundesliga that she earned her first call-up to Canada from then-head coach, Bev Priestman, at the 2022 Arnold Clark Cup in England.

But to Alidou’s surprise, the national team wanted to use her as a defensive midfielder.

“It was hard because I'm not a six. I don't play that position ever,” she said. “But at the same time, you grab the opportunity. You take what you can get, and you try to do your best in whatever position you get put in.”

On Feb. 23, 2022, Alidou recorded her first international cap, getting the start against Spain in Canada’s last game of the tournament. However, Alidou said the staff came to the realization that she was not best suited as a defensive midfielder.

“I think she is a player who's well-rounded enough that she could slot in there and do a serviceable job, but she's best suited and will excel in a position where she's going to contribute and drive the attack,” Walsh said.

Alidou had a few more call-ups sprinkled throughout the next two years, but nothing that translated to time on the pitch.

While Alidou was never really in contention for the roster for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, she began to garner the attention of Canadian fans shortly after that tournament, once she made the jump to Benfica.

She would finish the season with 35 goals in all competitions, but some of her most memorable performances came on the biggest stage in Champions League. After scoring four times in qualifiers, she helped lead Benfica to the knockout round after a second-place finish in Group A.

In a home match against Frankfurt in December, Alidou scored on a beautiful strike just inside the box, which was the first Women’s Champions League goal ever scored in Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz.

Alidou’s five goals in the group stage and knockout round put her just behind names like Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati and Marie-Antoinette Katoto, the top scorer in this summer’s Olympics.

“I think Champions League games are more open,” she said. “There's more space to play… I can thrive in bigger spaces, and it allows me to maybe contribute more offensively.”

As the calendar turned to 2024, many Canadian fans were eager to see Alidou suit up for the national team. But despite her notable performances for club, Alidou was not named to the initial roster for either the CONCACAF W Gold Cup in February, or April’s SheBelieves Cup, only being brought in as an injury replacement for both competitions.

While Alidou maintained a positive attitude, she admits it wasn’t always easy.

“If it's repeatedly camp after camp that you're only called because of injury, for sure, as a professional athlete, you're thinking, ‘Why am I only getting called because of replacement? Do I not deserve to be on the initial roster?’” she said.

When Priestman was asked about Alidou’s omission from the Gold Cup roster, she told reporters that “she needs to be assessed in the position that she’s playing at club.” Although she has been a midfielder for much of her career, Alidou is primarily deployed as a forward for Benfica.

“She’s done really well at Benfica, but I think there’s a reality in the way that we’re playing in the midfield positions and what we need. It’s different than maybe what Mimi brings when she is looked at as a midfielder,” Priestman told the media in February.

Canadian fans remained confused by the snubs, and even Alidou wasn’t clear on Priestman’s reasons. When asked if she knew why she was not being named to rosters, Alidou’s answer is succinct:

“I don't know,” she said. “When they assessed me as a player higher up the pitch, attacking mid, false nine… these are my positions, so if I'm not selected, then I don't know.”

But despite being overlooked, including for this summer’s Olympic roster, Alidou refused to give up.

“That non-call-up doesn't define you as a person and as a footballer,” she said. “So, just understanding and accepting that helped me mentally being okay with it, because if I get frustrated with things that are not in my control, then I start going in my head, and that's not good for me. What helped me was just to focus on what I could focus on, and it was my club, playing in club, and getting good performances, good training, and eventually it'll pay off.”

Alidou also credits the players on the national team for their support, many of whom sent her messages of encouragement when things weren’t going her way.

“Having the trust from your teammates – it's a nice feeling to have, and it helps me, still to this day, knowing that they trust me, and they know that I can bring a high level intensity on the field,” she said.

Alidou brought that intensity last month, where she was once again an injury replacement after forward Cloé Lacasse tore her ACL. This was Alidou’s first time with the national team since April, and also the first camp without Priestman as head coach, after she was suspended and then let go following the spying scandal in the Olympics.

“If I get called in, even as an injury replacement, I need to be performing in training, because I don't have a chance to play if I don't perform in training,” Alidou said.

“When you see me play… you see a desire to get the ball. You see a desire to take some shots, dribble, not being scared with the ball or without. I think regardless of playing time or not, you could always see those things in training.”

Her passion paid off in last month’s friendly, when interim head coach Andy Spence told her at half-time she would be subbing in.

“I remember Andy told me on the sideline, ‘You had a really good camp. Go out there and enjoy it and have fun and be free.’ And then I think it was three minutes after, I scored. So, I think the trust in your abilities and what you can do helped me to have a clear mind and composed energy on the field,” she said.

She hopes her performance against Spain will lead to a new perspective on what she can offer.

“I don't want to say fresh start, but I think definitely that performance maybe opened some eyes to what [I] can give at that level,” she said. “Whether it's starting, coming off the bench – I think now it's a little bit more clear. This is what she can give to the team.”

The next major tournament for Canada isn’t until the 2027 Women’s World Cup, and while Alidou says it would be a dream to represent her country on that stage, she is keeping her focus on the here and now.

“I'm really excited to see her quality shine on the international level… She’s paid her dues,” Walsh said. “I want to see a player like Mimi make some noise and get some meaningful minutes so that she can show everybody what she can do.”