Canada take gold
Theyhadrisenfromtheirbedsin
theirmillions,bleary-eyed buthopeful.
Whenthe gold medalmatchatthe
Tokyo Olympicskickedoff,itwas 5 am
inVancouver,6amin Edmontonand
8aminToronto.Nearlythree hourslater- with a lotofstrongcoffeeconsumed,
probablya fewearlybeers,too– there
were4.4millionCanadianswatchingas
JuliaGrossostood,tryingtocalmher
nerves,justinsidethepenaltyarea.
The 20 -year-oldwas abouttotake
the 1 2thshotofa penaltyshootout.With
onlyfourpreviouslyconverted,thescore
wasSweden2,Canada2.Grossoshot
left-footedtotherightofHedvigLindahl.
Theveteran goalkeepergotastrong
handtothe ball butcouldnotkeepit
out.Aftersuccessivebronzemedals,
Canadahad finallywon Olympicgold.
Theirmaidenmajorhonourtastedall
thesweeterfor havingdespatchedthe
UnitedStatesinthe semi-final.Thefirst
victory over their neighboursin 20 years
didnotjustslaya nemesis,itavenged
the bitterlycontroversialsemi-final
defeatatOld Trafford at thesame
stageofthe 2 01 2 Games.
Thequestionnowis whetherCanada
canbuildonthistriumphandestablish
a domesticprofessionalfoothold;at
presentCanadianwomenhaveto leave
toforgeacareer. Of the 22 -woman
Olympicsquad,nineplaysouthof the
borderinthe NWSL,fiveinEngland’s
WSL(DeanneRosejoinedReadingfrom
FloridaGatorsduringthetournament),
fourinFrance,oneinSweden,andthree
inthe US collegesystem– including
Grossowhoplaysfor theTexas Longhorns.
TheCanadianmen,farlesssuccessful
internationally, haveafledglingeight-team
domesticleagueandthreefranchisesin
theUS-basedMajorLeagueSoccer.
“It’snowor never,”saidChristine
Sinclairafter cappinganillustriouscareer
withgold.The38-year-old,theleading
scorerininternationalfootballof either
gender, added:“I’ve been on thepodium
twicebeforeandnothingchanged.Ifa
goldmedaldoesn’tchangesomethings
inourcountry, nothing’s goingto. My plea
isfor Canadatofullysupportthisteam.
It’stimewegetaprofessionalleague
orsomeprofessionalteams.”
Theformerseems unlikely. LisaBaird,
NWSLcommissioner, admitted in August
thatthenine-year-oldleagueisstill
loss-making,inspiteof a third of the
playersbeingpaidthe leagueminimum
$22, 000 [£16,000].Givenhow
successfulthe US teamhasbeen
fordecadesitishard to envisage
themuchsmallerCanadianmarket
beingreadytosupportaleaguesystem
offthebackofonegoldmedal.
Moreprobableis enteringa team or
twointoNWSL.Baird added:“I’ve heard
fromfansinVancouver,Torontoand
otherplacessaythatthey’dlovetohave
a team,andit’scertainlysomethingwe
willseriouslyconsideraswefinalise
ourexpansionplans.”
NWSLwillexpandto 12 teamsnext
yearandis aiming for 14 inthenear
future.NickBontis,presidentofCanadaSoccer, saidlastyear:“I’llworkmybutt
offto getanNWSLteaminCanada,”
andhereiteratedhiscommitment
inthe wake of Tokyo.
“Itjusttakessomewealthyindividuals
inCanadawillingtoinvestin women’s
sportsandwomen’s soccer,”added
Sinclair. Easytoaskfor,lesseasyto
committo,butthose4.4mviewers
shouldhavemadea fewinvestors
ponderthe possibilities.
Backbelowtheborder, thefall-out
wasmoreof an inquest thana
celebrationofthe bronzemedal thatthe
USteamultimatelywon.Thereigning
worldchampions,unbeatensinceJanuary
2019 , were heavilyfancied.Buttheywere
a shadowoftheirusualdominantselves
andfortunate to makethesemi-finals.
Questionswereaskedof Vlatko
Andonovski,inhisfirst test as coach,
butMeganRapinoeputtheonuscloser
tohome:“I just thinktheplayershave
a lottolookatourselvesabout,” shesaid.
“Weneedto performbetter,period.
Wecan deep-diveinto analysing...but
it’sjustgettingitdonefromplayers,
fromallof us.”
TheUS were well beatenintheir
openingmatchbya Swedishsidethat
werethetournament’soutstanding team,
winningall five matchesenroute to the
final.There,however, theymetthe
best-organisedteam.Evenwiththe
kick-off movedto9pm(itwasoriginally
scheduled,duetoUSTVdemands,for
thesteamingheatandhumidity of the
middleofthe day) they couldonlyGlennMooreWomen’sFootballWinners...Canada
playerscelebrate
afterJulia Grosso’s
winningpenaltyDejected...Megan
Rapinoeafterthe
UnitedStates’
semi-finaldefeatSwedensecuresilverafterpenaltyshootoutdefeat,whileabronzemedalfortheUSApromptsaninquestfortheworldchampions