Show me, don’t tell me.
Forget talk of redemption -- that should be the motto of the Canadian women’s soccer team at the Olympics. For years Canadians have been told that this team is ready to breakthrough to the world’s elite. However, the country has been shown a string of poor results at major competitions.
The instinct is to say that changed today. It did. A little.
Canada played its best game at a major championship since 2003 when it stunned China in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. That result has been the basis of much of the hope over the years and it helped hide the fact that it remains the last time that a Canadian team defeated a higher ranked side in the Olympics or World Cup.
That infamous streak was stretched to nine games today.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
As much as the effort and play was exciting to see – and as much as you can argue (likely, rightfully) that they were unlucky not to have won – the bottom line remained a draw. Better than a loss, sure, but when you consider that a win would have put Canada on top of the group there was still wasted opportunity.
Yes, there are a lot of good things to build on. Again, this was as good an effort that Canada has put forth in a long time. However, it illustrates that there is still work to be done. The team still finished third in the group and you never want to be hoping for best third place berths into the knock-out stage. If they can play well against Sweden then why couldn’t they step up against Japan? That’s especially the case when you look at the mediocre way Japan finished the group stage.
This team is still widely inconsistent and it would be foolish of fans to be blinded by one decent (but non-winning) result.
So, we’ll say “good job” today and look to build on it against the hosts in the quarterfinal.
Some will argue that Canada caught a break by avoiding USA or Brazil in the quarters. Maybe. However, Great Britain has been a revelation in this tournament and are playing with an emotion and drive that few teams can match. They will likely be playing in front of a full house and you can be sure that Team GB will be motivated to keep the good vibes going.
Women’s football struggles for attention in the UK and the women must understand that they are looking at a once in a lifetime opportunity to finally get the attention they deserve from the British public. Forget the clichés about Canadian heart and warrior drive that you’ll likely hear from the Canadian media heading into the game. Do not kid yourself, Team GB wants to win this game every bit as badly as Canada and has as much warrior drive as the women wearing red.
If Canada is to win and advance to play for a medal it will need to repeat the effort of today and take it a step further. And if they can do that then the Olympics will truly have been a great job.
If they can’t then it will have been an uneven and largely mediocre job highlighted by a draw.