Canada lost its final group-stage game of the CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship to the United States by a 1-0 scoreline. But, if not for the heroics of Canadian keeper, Anna Karpenko, the scoreline would have been a lot more severe.

Canada resumed play in the CONCACAF Women’s  U-17 Championships on Wednesday, beating Costa Rica by a 2-1 score thanks to a brace from Andersen Williams.

Even though Canada went through Group C place undefeated, it will not proceed to the tournament semifinals.

Just a little more than a year ago, when the United 2026 bid was made official, it felt like CONCACAF had what amounted to a sitter at its feet. A tap-in. There was no way a push to bring a World Cup to the United States, with a little help from Canada and Mexico, could fail, right?

A goal from Noah Verhoeven, a dual citizen who just returned to the Canadian program after spending the last couple of years flirting with the American national set-up, gave Canada a 1-0 win over Turkey on Thursday.

It’s often difficult to take anything out of tournament-opening matches. National teams are still getting used to their systems and their combinations, and there’s often a cautiousness about them.

“I think, for young Canadian players, it will be the same story for them like it was for me,” Radzinski said.

So, yes, I am going to write about Canada’s new home kit — released today by Umbro Canada — because, well, I need to cash in a bit.

“I wasn’t thinking about winning a medal after that World Cup,” she recalls. “There were a lot of hardships that our team went through."

And the glaring, obvious truth is that Canada, despite only having one team in CCL, year after year performs better than the United States, which has four slots in the tournament.