Putting the ball into the back of the net is the goal.
That's the bottom line and last night Canada's bottom line was three goals better than Korea's.
And, that's positive. Getting results has not been the main focus of the women's national them this year and it was important that they not lose focus on the end game — winning football games.
But, man.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
It was not the overall effort that John Herdman was looking for. He said so himself when he told the Canadian Press that it "looked like there was a lot of work to do."
There is. Give Korea another 20-months to prep and that game isn't 3-0 in 2015. In fact, the Asians might have left the stadium on top. Diana Matheson, Christine Sinclair and Erin McLeod aren't getting younger. They desperately need someone else to step up. So far we're mostly still waiting.
To that end, Canadian fans should be hoping from someone from the youth teams to emerge. The women's game is more likely to see the development of wunderkinds. It's possible one day that this country might produce (another) one of them. If they don't then some reevaluation of goals for 2015 should be in order. As it stands, the quarter finals would be a remarkable accomplishment all should be proud of.
Winning would be a miracle.
You can start searching for the next Sinclair today, as the u-17s start their qualifying campaign. The games will be on Sportsnet.ca.