Morace agrees to stay with CWNT until the 2012 Olympics

Any potential crisis with the Canadian national women’s team has been put off for a little more than a year.

The Canadian Soccer Association announced today, in a short press-release, that “Carolina Morace has agreed to remain in her role as head coach of Canada’s Women’s National Team through to the 2012 London Olympic Games. Morace will also continue in her role as the head coach of the Women’s U-20 National Team.”

No other details of the agreement between Morace and the CSA were made public.

Morace, of course, had been in a dispute with the CSA over a variety of issues, from compensation of women’s national team players to control over the program. Morace had threatened to quit immediately after the World Cup and, earlier this year, her players had threatened to boycott international matches in a show of support for their coach.

Morace, preaching a ball-control style that was in direct contrast to previous coach Even Pellerud’s long-ball system, has raised the level of the women’s game to new heights in Canada, placing the program in the top 10 of the FIFA world rankings.

Obviously, with the Women’s World Cup opening on June 26, this announcement takes a huge burden off the players’ shoulders. They know that the program will be stable for at least another year, which, in the world of women’s soccer, is like an eternity.

The fact that the compromise lasts just until next year’s Olympics proves that there are plenty of issues still on the table.