Week one of the 2012 London Olympic Games has been completed (while technically the Olympics "started" Friday, but events have been going strong for longer than that) and Canada has been strong on the podium, taking medals in the pool by way of the diving events. A silver medal in rowing and a bronze medal in judo have also been added by the time of this column Wednesday morning.
All of these bronze medal performances in the pool are nice, and Canada is sure to continue to add to their medal collection on the lake during the rowing medal rounds, but Canada has a chance to do something special in a much more marquee event.
Women's football (or soccer for all of those who choose to refer to pigskin as your football of choice) has became a big deal in Canada over the years. The Canadian women have benefited from having a talented group of players in the last decade and have been rewarded with great funding for the women's game. Their funding from the CSA is nearly equal to that of the Canadian Men's National Team, something that is rather unheard of in the world of international football.
This might be a bit more fair in Canada's circumstance as the women continuously qualify for World Cups and Olympic tournaments while the men continuously qualify for making Canadians pick which foreign country they will claim in such tournaments.
But with funding and a No. 7 FIFA World Ranking comes expectations, expectations of deep runs in prestigious tournaments, and because CWNT plays in the lowly CONCACAF these prestigious tournaments come down to the Olympics and the Women's World Cup.
The Women's World Cup in Germany was not a banner moment for Canadian soccer. After a fourth place finish in the 2007 World Cup in the United States and the hype surrounding Christine Sinclair, Canada's women were expected to go out and contend for a spot in the knockout stage, the benchmark for success of a seventh ranked country in such events.
However, despite a world class moment and goal in the now infamous Christine Sinclair free kick against the host Germany that CTV plays daily, Canada's trip to Germany was one to definitely forget. A two-one opening game loss to women's football powerhouses and host nation Germany is nothing to hang your head about, a four-nil loss to France followed by a one-nil loss to Niger is.
The Canadian Women's National Team, one of the best funded and supported women's teams in the entire world, scored one goal in 270 minutes of play and did not get one point in group play. In fact, Canada finished dead last in the tournament.
This was an embarrassment for Canada Soccer, who fought hard to earn Canada the bid to host the 2015 Women's World Cup. This bid gave the CSA the confidence that they can build soccer in Canada by replacing the lack of excitement of the men being permanently behind USA and Mexico with international success from the women's team, who can actually qualify for marquee events.
But, last place finishes and four-nil drubbings don't show signs of improvement so the 2012 Olympics has been marked as a launching pad for the program. Canada has also delivered better results, a hard fought two-one loss to World Cup champion Japan followed by a three-nil win over South Africa put Canada in line to earn second place in the group and a favorable knockout stage position with a win over Sweden. However Canada drew the Swedes two-two in what was one of the most entertaining Canadian events of the Olympics in my extremely biased opinion as Canada's women took pride in playing in famous Newcastle venue St. James Park and came from two-nil down to advance to the next round. This draw kept Canada in the tournament as one of the top third place group finishers, but gave them the matchup against host Great Britain at the Coventry venue.
The draw has now placed Canada's women's program at a crossroads, with another ho-hum showing we will be left to once again admitting that Canada is still well away from becoming top tier in the sport, and their number seven ranking might just be a little inflated by FIFA.
With a win over Great Britain, the host nation who will undoubtedly have a strong supporting contingent at Coventry, Canada can advance to the semi-finals and prove that they are top tier in women's football.
The narrative has been written, the event should be massive (it just might be the biggest game in modern Canadian soccer history) and the Canadian women have a chance to prove going into 2015 that they are not hosts, but contenders. Friday at two thirty p.m. British time Canada has a chance to change its footballing history.
A win sends them to the semi-finals and the medal rounds with one of the stories of the year, a loss and it is just another day in Canada Soccer. Ninety minutes in Coventry will decide years in Canada.
