Canadian women’s national soccer team aims to keep building on home soil at upcoming U-20 World Cup

It's a new team, it's a different level of play but the aim is to keep building.

Ask any casual sports fan in Canada as to what comes to mind when they think of the women's game in this country and they are likely to recall London 2012 in the following order.

1. Christine Sinclair's semi-final hat-trick in a thrilling and controversial 4-3 extra-time loss to the United States at Old Trafford.

1b. Canada's ability to regroup from that heart wrenching loss and win the bronze medal match over France which earned the country its first Olympic soccer medal in over 100 years.

With Canada set to host the Women's U-20 World Cup in three weeks, coach Andrew Olivieri sees a golden opportunity to continue pushing the level of the women's game in this country forward so as to ensure that the national teams are always in the upper-echelon, competitive alongside top-flight nations at the highest levels of the sport.

"There is no doubt that players coming through the system saw what the team in London did," he said, after the Canadian Soccer Association unveiled their roster for the upcoming tournament during a press conference in Vaughan, Ont. "We know that it is going to take that and more just to be able to repeat that on a regular basis and sustain that type of result."

Earlier, Olivieri was direct and wasted little time at the podium in outlining the mandate for what he expects from his squad when they open against Ghana in Toronto on Aug. 5.

"The objective for these young ladies isn't to grow interest in the game because that's been done. It isn't to grow the membership, because we have a wonderful membership across our country," he said. "Their objective now is to start growing the quality in which we play the game and the ambition we have as a soccer nation to excel on the world stage."

This year will mark the second time Canada has hosted this tournament (they are the only country to date to do so).

In 2002, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria were the sites for the inaugural under-19 Women's World Cup (it was later changed to U-20 in 2006) in which the Canadians had a stellar showing - finishing in second place after falling to the U.S. on a sudden death goal in the final.

Sinclair netted 10 goals to lead all scorers and four Canadians were named to the All-Star Team. However, in the subsequent five tournaments, Canada has only reached the knockout stage once and that was in 2004.

It is paramount to Olivieri that Canada improves this time around at home

"The realistic goal is to win a quarter-final match," he said. "We haven't gone beyond that first level since 2002. It is important that we are playing all the way to the last days of the tournament."

Olivieri says that Canada will field one of the younger squads in the tournament made up of the most promising players across many age groups and while he will not divulge anything about formations or what style he will employ next month, he wants his team to adopt a clinical approach.

"I've been very clear about developing a new DNA within Canadian players," he said. "What's been lacking over the years is the ability to keep the ball. We have to be patient and very purposeful with what we do with it."

Follow Neil Acharya on Twitter: @Neil_Acharya