Alright, the next stop for the Baby Reds is actually Saturday's final of the CONCACAF U-17 Women's Championship against Mexico, who upset the United States on penalty kicks on Thursday.
But realistically, teams come into these CONCACAF tournaments with one predominant goal in mind: Qualify for the World Cup. And for Canada, it's mission accomplished.
Canada qualified for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup (March 15-April 5 in Costa Rica) by soundly defeating Jamaica 5-0 on Thursday night in the semifinals of the aforementioned CONCACAF tournament.
The Canadians rarely took their foot off the pedal in a resounding performance against the host Jamaicans (who had finished first in their group), but can afford to relax somewhat in Saturday's final with the pressure of World Cup qualification now relieved.
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Of course, it's unlikely that head coach Beverly Priestman will be telling her young charges to relax -- surely, Canada will be looking to win the CONCACAF tournament for the second time. The Canadians met Mexico in the 2010 CONCACAF final and won 1-0 on a goal from Kinley McNicoll.
On Thursday against Jamaica, the goals came from familiar sources -- Marie-Mychele Metivier (six in the tournament), Emily Borgmann (five), Marie Levasseur (five) and Jessie Fleming (three), while Sarah Kinzner also added her first of the competition. Four goals from Nadya Gill round out what's been a goal-scoring explosion for Canada in these four games.
Of course, Canada was largely stymied against the United States in a 2-0 loss in the group stage, and the team struggled mightily (to put it very kindly) to find the back of the net at the 2012 U-17 Women's World Cup after cruising through qualifying in similar fashion. So while the young Canadians' prolific scoring thus far has been encouraging, it would be dangerous to automatically assume that it's a portent of things to come.
After all, the U-17 game is wildly unpredictable. Canada thumped Jamaica. Jamaica tied Mexico. Mexico beat the USA. And the USA thumped Canada. All in the course of a week. So none of us really know what to expect in Saturday's final against Mexico.
But we do know two things...
This team has a handful of players that know how to find the back of the net. And they are going to a FIFA World Cup.
That should be music to the ears of any Canadian soccer follower.
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