To say that the Ottawa Fury are the favourites to take the W-League Central Conference championship this weekend would actually be a bit of an understatement. The Fury is coming off a perfect 12-0-0 season as the club hosts the Toronto Lady Lynx, the No. 4 seed in the conference, on Saturday. On Sunday, the winner faces the victor of the other semifinal between Laval and Quebec City.

But the Japanese upset will send shockwaves through the Canadian Soccer Association as well. Japan has smashed the idea that the European professionalism can’t be matched.

And the CSA knows that. Guaranteed, next time Morace gives the Association an expensive shopping list, she’ll be met — understandably — with a lot of resistance. It’s like asking dad to borrow the Ferrari after you totalled the Porsche the last time out. Not gonna happen.

Carolina Morace’s skin has been made of Teflon. The Canadian national women’s coach has got what amounts to a free pass from soccer fans and the media in this country. In the wake of Canada’s humiliating 4-0 defeat to France Thursday at the Women’s World Cup, the questions that haven’t been asked of Morace need to come to the surface.

CBC’s broadcast of the Women’s World Cup opener between Canada and the No. 1 ranked Germans got ratings that the men’s program can only dream about — but didn’t come close to the kind of numbers CBC pulled in for major group-stage games of the men’s World Cup last year.

Canada’’s national women’s team drew Switzerland 1-1 in a World Cup warmup match Sunday in Rome. But you’d need to be a decent detective to find out about the game — or be fluent in German. Only the Swiss federation put up a match summary on its site (in German). The Canadian Soccer Association had match stats up, but no report of any kind.

These are signs that the women’s game isn’t getting stronger; in fact, we may be seeing the same trend that we’ve seen with women’s hockey. After a surge in interest in the 2000s, the game is shrinking rather than growing.

A Canadian Soccer Association delegation has delivered the bid book for the 2015 Women's World Cup to FIFA headquarters in Zurich. The delegation, which included federal Minister of State (Sport) Gary Lunn, Canadian Soccer Association President Dominic Maestracci, Vice-President Victor Montagliani and General Secretary Peter Montopoli, met with FIFA officials Tuesday, including President Sepp Blatter.

What is disturbing to average Canadian soccer fan (and taxpayer) is that, if the matter is taken to the lawyers, that Morace would be the second women’s coach in a row brought in front of arbitrator.

The Canadian Soccer Association has called a press conference for Wednesday, in Oakville, Ont., where Kara Lang is expected to end her playing career all too early.