It's December - winter has fully taken its seat on our collective heads, and the omnipresent green/red colour scheme and Christmas-music-radio-loops are in full effect... so it's easy to assume that the Canadian national-team programs have more or less closed up shop for the year.
Buuuuut... fans of the women's national team will be getting a special pre-Christmas treat, as <u><a href="http://canadasoccer.com/canada-wnt-heading-to-brazil-to-conclude-2013-p155603">the team is heading down to Brazil</a></u> to participate in the fifth annual Torneio Internacional Cidade de Sao Paulo, which runs Dec. 11 to 22.
Canada has participated in the tournament once before, in 2010, and won thanks to <u><a href="
But preparing for that competition isn't the only thing on head coach John Herdman's mind as we tick down to the end of 2013.
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He'll also need to decide which 16 players will receive CSA-funded allocation spots in the NWSL for 2014, a decision <u><a href="http://equalizersoccer.com/2013/11/27/canada-mexico-nwsl-allocation-december-deadlines-loom/">he'll reportedly need to make by Dec. 22</a></u>.
Given that Herdman has already said he'd like to add Melissa Tancredi and Jonelle Filigno (who were both busy this year with school) to Canada's list for 2014, and that formerly-retired-but-now-apparently-part-of-the-national-team-plans Kara Lang and Josee Belanger will need a place to play, we could see a quarter of Canada's allocated players from 2013 on the outs for next season.
Most of last year's lineup likely has nothing to worry about - the Sinclairs, Mathesons, Schmidts, Scotts and McLeods of the world aren't going anywhere.
Young striker Adriana Leon is almost surely safe, as she's already made an impact for the national team. But a number of veterans - Carmelina Moscato and Robyn Gayle - may find themselves on the bubble, while Melanie Booth's recent retirement from national-team duty surely means she won't be receiving an allocation spot in 2014 (though she might remain in the league).
Neither Bryanna McCarthy nor Jodi-Ann Robinson turned their NWSL allocations in 2013 into playing time with the national team (or very much playing time for their clubs, as luck would have it), so they're almost locks to be removed from the list.
So the most likely shift would be Tancredi, Filigno and Lang in, with Booth, Robinson and McCarthy out. If Belanger needs a spot as well, though, Herdman will really have a difficult decision to make.
Another tough call will be deciding what role Sinclair should play in Brazil. My colleague Duane Rollins recently suggested on Twitter that Canada's all-time leading scorer should be rested - and looking at things objectively, it's tough to disagree.
While 2012 was one of the finest years of her illustrious career, Sinclair clearly lost a step in 2013 -- and if Herdman wants her in good form for the all-important Women's World Cup in 2015, her days as an automatic full-90 player may be coming to a close.
One way or another, the year is far from done for the Big Red - no matter how much snow might be accumulating on sidewalks all around this nation.
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