Prior to this week, the last time Canada faced off with Colombia following a tie-breaking coin flip, it was at
The 2-1 win, on goals by second-half substitutes Kaylyn Kyle and Robyn Gayle, sets Canada up to face the powerhouse Brazilians in the gold-medal game on Thursday. Having already drawn the Samba Queens 0-0 earlier in this tournament, Canada can also look back to a four nations tournament in Brazil last December for some inspiration. That, of course, was the venue for one of the finest of Christine Sinclair's 118 goals for her country:
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Now, whether she'll be able to pull off some similar magic this time is yet to be seen, especially considering the rigours of the Pan Am schedule... and the fact that she might be suspended due to yellow card accumulation (awaiting confirmation, as of this writing). While Captain Canada looked her usual dominant self against Colombia, the fatigue of the tournament was showing for players on both sides, in the form of sloppy first touches and poor decision-making. But you make professional footballers play four games in eight days, at any level, and things like that will happen. (The gold medal game will be Canada's fifth in 10 days.)
That's not to say there weren't solid performances in the semi. Candace Chapman showed her customary cool form in the centre of Canada's defence, while Christina "Corky" Julien continued her solid tournament (she's already got two goals to her name) by demonstrating excellent field awareness on both of Canada's goals, executing dummies that led to converted scoring chances.
Kyle's 20-yard blast, three minutes after entering the game, was a sight to see, as was fullback Gayle's composed finish inside the goal area in the game's waning minutes. With the winner, Gayle joined Amelia Pietrangelo in having opened her scoring account for the national team at this tournament.
The reffing was intermittently confusing, and of course the Colombians flopped when the opportunity presented itself. The win was hardly convincing, or aesthetically pleasing, and a person sitting on the couch in their pajamas watching the game from thousands of kilometres away could say that Karina LeBlanc might have done better on Colombia's late equalizer.
For whatever its flaws, though, the victory guarantees Canada a Pan Am medal and, barring some calamitous breakdown against Brazil, ensures that the goals of this tournament -- gaining some momentum and familiarity under new head coach John Herdman -- have already largely been achieved.
But then, gold is always nicer than silver, isn't it?
If Sinclair is eligible, maybe she'll pull something new from her bag of tricks... or, as seems to be the trend, perhaps a new goal-scoring hero will emerge for Big Red. We'll find out Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.
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