“When I picked the Canadian team up, the discipline wasn’t there, because the passion wasn’t there. They’d forgotten what it meant to play for Canada,” he said.

Before the BaoAn Cup, Canadian women’s team coach John Herdman mused that he could approach the game against China in one of two ways — he could play an experimental lineup that might keep the Chinese guessing all the way to June, or play a strong, first-choice team and get the psychological edge by beating the Chinese in their own stadium.

She’s Canada’s all-time leading scorer, but she only scored once for the national team in 2014.

And the Japanese ended up with a 3-2 win, thanks to two terrible defensive mistakes by the Canadian centre backs.

Canada got to the quarter-final stage of the recently completed U-20 Women’s World Cup, losing to the eventual champs from Germany. But, as we rocket towards next year’s Women’s World Cup, we need to be realistic about how our women’s program compares against the global elite...

Sura Yekka is still in high school; and she has the chance to do something that’s a true rarity in either men’s or women’s soccer. She’s already represented Canada at U-17 World Cup; she’s expected to be one of Canada’s stars at this summer’s U-20 World Cup. And, she’s likely to make the senior squad for next year’s Women’s World Cup. Three World Cups at three age levels in just over a year. How many other players could boast such a feat?

Despite a home-field advantage, it wasn’t Canada but rather South Korea whom developed the majority of the scoring chances in the first half. However, a great save made in the eighth minute by Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod set the tone for what was to come for the rest of the half.

“We can’t say yet what will happen over there (Clarke) one way or the other. Will it be changed in time for next year? I can’t say at this point. People have to be aware that our resources are limited and potholes need to be addressed. Though, I do understand the turf at Clarke has potholes as well.”

But, coming out of her Portland Thorns’ 2-0 win in this past weekend’s NWSL championship, in which Sinclair scored the stoppage-time icing-on-the-cake goal, the question: Is it enough to keep her in the lead for the 2013 award? Sure, there’s still a lot of soccer to be played. Sinclair could score three or four vs. South Korea on a late October night and make this column moot.

Meanwhile, even though Alex Morgan — who scored the U.S. winner in that Olympic semifinal — plays for Portland, the Timbers are clearly Canada’s team. Christine Sinclair didn’t score in the Timbers come-from-behind 3-2 extra-time semifinal win over FC Kansas City, but Canada’s all-time leading scorer netted eight times for Timbers this season.