It wasn't the prize they had dreamed of. It wasn't the way they'd thought of doing it. And it wasn't the coach they could have imagined they'd do it for.
But after 12 bizarre, tumultuous months in which a new approach and on-field momentum turned into unprecedented hype and hope, a year when a cult-forming coach turned players into pawns ahead of a World Cup meltdown and an unceremonious return to whence she came, and a year in which clutch goals (and a broken nose) finally brought Christine Sinclair into the mainstream sporting consciousness... finally, this.
Gold at the Pan Am Games for the women's national team, with a gut-churning victory on penalty kicks over Brazil. It's not the pinnacle of achievement. But it is a measure of redemption after the ignominy that was Germany 2011.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Now, at the risk of pissing in the team's newly-won Corn Flakes, let's just remember that the Pan Am Games are a regional tournament in which the powerhouse Americans didn't participate. Canada (#9) was the second-highest ranked team in the competition, behind the third-ranked Brazilians -- who were missing all-world star Marta. And, had it not been for a handful of critical saves from Karina LeBlanc (including two in the penalty shootout), chances are the Canadians wouldn't have been the ones hearing their anthem played in Guadalajara following the final.
That's all out of the way, yeah? Okay, then. Ahem.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD, SUCKAS.
Right, now, back to the ostensibly unbiased reportage (provided by the fellow who was booted off of Twitter for exceeding hourly limits, after providing a surplus of such top-shelf observations as "I just swallowed my pancreas. Brazil came close" and "Seriously, if these Brazilians wanna keep going down like bags of bricks, someone oughta hit them with one"). #navelgazing
The game itself was hardly an advertisement for the sport of soccer, though that's largely attributable to the grotesque five-games-in-10-days schedule imposed upon the players. In many cases, first touches were sloppy, passes went nowhere with greater-than-usual frequency and the pace of the game left something to be desired. But in case it needs repeating (it doesn't, but here goes anyway): Five games in 10 days.
Still, Big Red dug deep in a traditionally Canadian way (which is to say with grit, determination and all sorts of other euphemisms for a "piss off, get out of my way, I'm going to find a way to win" mentality) and stayed strong despite a fourth-minute golazo from some Brazilian jerk whose name I won't look up. While Brazil was always a threat on the counterattack, Canada retained the majority of possession throughout, even if there was trouble (and there was) converting that possession into legitimate scoring opportunities.
Once more: Five games in 10 days.
Sinclair, as she does, scored a dramatic late goal as if it were nothing. Yeah, that's 119 total now. A few minutes left in the game, beat the keeper on a high ball, head it home, send game to extra time. Ho hum. She had a gilt-edged chance to win the whole thing in OT too but, once more, five ga--- yeah, you get it.
As for other individual performances, the starting fullback pair of Robyn Gayle (buoyed, no doubt, by scoring her first-ever goal for Canada in the semifinal win over Colombia) and Lauren Sesselmann (settling in quite nicely to the Canadian setup -- too bad she's 28) held things down at both ends of the field, while Sophie "The Engine" Schmidt made her presence felt (as she tends to do) in the midfield once she came on a second-half sub.
All in all, a heart-stopping performance witnessed by whatever number of people were dedicated enough to find some quasi-legal online stream, hilariously narrated in a language most Canadian followers couldn't understand. That's life as a Canadian soccer supporter in a nutshell, actually.
So, what did we learn? What does this mean? What's next?
Well, head coach John Herdman got a pretty good idea of what he's working with. Canada built up some momentum (dangerously misleading as that can be) ahead of the Olympic qualifying tournament being held in Vancouver in January. And as for what's next... what, you missed the last sentence? Olympic qualifying tournament in Vancouver in January.* If you're able to get out to B.C. Place and support the team, do it!
Now, looking ahead to the 2012 Olympics or (gasp) even the 2015 World Cup... well, if nothing else, the last 12 months have taught us not to get too caught up in making predictions. Just get out on the field, put in the hard work and hope for the best.
And sometimes, you'll get it.
*Yeah, there's a closed-door friendly against Sweden somewhere in the U.S. in late November. But whatevs.