This Canadian team deserved to lose by more. A lot more. And, without Erin McLeod in goal to bail the team out with a highlight reel worth of saves, you can’t help but feel that this team is scarily close to being on the wrong end of a pretty bad beating from one of the top-tier international opponents.

“We had to show the evolution of Canada, that we were a different Canada. No matter who the opponent was, we could never let up. It was a huge opportunity, so we didn’t become complacent. We had to work through different formations, and different partnerships were formed.”

When Canada Soccer tweeted out the starting XI for Sunday’s Olympic qualifying match, it was like a flashback to the early ‘50s. Had Canadian national women’s team coach John Herdman connected with his inner Magical Magyar? The 2-4-4 formation shown on the team sheet would have made Gusztav Sebes proud.

Atiba Hutchinson is anchoring the midfield for Besiktas, currently in first place in the Turkey’s top division. Before that, he spent years as the linchpin for PSV Eindhoven. Hutchinson, who was announced as Canada’s male soccer player of the year Friday, understands that he’s kind of gone where no Canadian has gone before. And, looking at rosters across Europe, we …

Flattered by the success of the Olympic bronze medal in 2012, the Canadian women’s national team may have been as glittery as fool’s gold to casual sports fans. But, really, with the team’s offensive issues and lack of stars in the primes of their careers, was elimination at the quarter-final pretty much inevitable?

Montreal is an event town. And that was shown to be true during the Women’s World Cup, where attendances were small for early games not involving the likes of Canada or the United States. But, when the games grew in importance, so did the crowds at Olympic Stadium

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

I hate writing soccer-attendance stories. They remind me of the times I used to have to lobby and lobby editors to give a soccer story a little more space, or any space at all. So, just the writing this column is making me owly and growly. On Saturday, the Women’s World Cup champions from Japan came to Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium …

The third issue of PLASTIC PITCH, our national soccer magazine, is out as of right now.

It is home to the likes of Michael Cera, Rick Nash and Rohinton Mistry. It was where premier Bill Davis called home. It’s arguably the lacrosse capital of Canada. And, it’s Canada’s most important soccer city. Why is the suburb lovingly known as ‘Flowertown’ our home of footie?