Canada had that very challenge on Wednesday night at BC Place; a high-profile Women’s World Cup tuneup against the Germans. And, even though the scoreline was a respectable 2-1 for the visitors, you’d have a hard time feeling good about this match if you were a Canadian supporter.

On Wednesday, on the road in Paderborn against another elite national team, the Germans, the Canadians lost 1-0. But even though the scoreline was less severe, it was a more sobering reality check than the match against the U.S.

Goals from Sophie Schmidt and Diana Matheson gave Canada a 2-0 win over Switzerland on Wednesday.

Christine Sinclair, Canada’s all-time leading goal scorer and perennial automatic for the national Women’s Player of the Year award, will be going to Portland Thorns FC.

“We wanted, heading into this tournament, to leave the sport in a better place than what it was when we got into it,” Sinclair said. “I could never have imagined this would happen.”

Herdman has worked miracles with this team in less than a year. Imagine what he could do with three years of prep time before the Women’s World Cup?

It will be discussed for years to come. For followers of the Canadian national women’s team, it will be simply be known as The Call. Maybe some profanities will be added.

After beating Brazil last week in a friendly in Massachussets, the Canadian national women’s team fell 3-1 away to Sweden Saturday in another pre-Olympic tuneup.

Karina LeBlanc became the first goalkeeper in Canadian national-team history to reach 100 caps, and Christine Sinclair scored career goals 132 and 133 as the Canadian women’s team beat Brazil 2-1 Saturday in Foxboro, Mass.

Kelly Parker scored and had a role in setting up two others as the Canadian national women’s team opened the Cyprus Cup Tuesday with a comprehensive 5-1 win over a Scotland side that’s missing its best player.