When Erin McLeod went down with a career-threatening injury, Canada’s most-assured position — goalkeeper — became the biggest question mark heading into the 2016 Olympics. Who will emerge as Canada’s No. 1 choice heading into the Rio Games?

In the end, you’d have to believe that one bid would sabotage the other — and in the worst-case scenario — both would blow up because of it. Before we get to “official bid” time, Canadians need to decide which they’d rather go for.

“With Sabrina and the recovery on her injury, she’s in great hands,” said Herdman. “She’s got good medical care around her, she’s going to be working around the clock to fit the return-to-play plan, which has her arriving back on the pitch in around the July 20 mark. That’s an eight-week turnaround since (the injury), which is tight. She’s young, it’s not the hand that she’s fractured before, so there’s an anticipation she’ll turn around well as long as we manager her carefully..”

“They have a real fighting spirit, like the Canadians.” And, Herdman says the Aussies can burn you with plenty of scoring threats around the park.

To be frank, it's pretty bad — about as bad as any Canadian fan would imagine. She won't be available for the upcoming Olympics and, in terms of her recovery, we're talking years, not months. And, as you'll see in the statement, she says there are "no guarantees" that she makes a full recovery.

“It’s a tough test for us,” said Canadian women’s team coach John Herdman. “But, certainly, not a team that frightens Canada too much.”

This country’s greatest ever goal scorer added two more beauties to her resume, as Canada beat Costa Rica 3-1 Friday in the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying semifinal. The two finalists in Houston earn Rio berths, so it’s mission accomplished for Canada.

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.

Advanced analytics are helping soccer managers across the world assess their teams’ strengths and weaknesses. But Canada was one of the first national programs to embrace analytics — way back in the early ‘80s

But Herdman stuck to the mantra that the gaps in women’s football are continually closing, and he said the group-stage games will present their own unique challenges. If Canada was to play one of the bigger CONCACAF nations, it could expect a more free-flowing game. But, we can expect to see a lot of parked buses in the games against Guatemala, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.