Canada will play Panama Sunday, with the winner getting one of CONCACAF’s qualification spots at the Women’s World Cup.

Here’s a suggestion. What would be a hell of a lot better than streaming a World Cup qualifying match from a mostly empty 9,700-seat USL stadium in Edinburg, Tex.? Seeing Canada playing World Cup qualifiers in Ottawa or in Toronto or in Vancouver or in Winnipeg or in Edmonton. Or Victoria. Or Moncton. Heck, there’s a decent stadium in Fort Mac.

“I wasn’t thinking about winning a medal after that World Cup,” she recalls. “There were a lot of hardships that our team went through."

Remember, though, FIFA has a rule about senior World Cups. All games must be played on the same surface. Either they’re all on grass, or all on artificial turf. Unless that rule changes, or the Mexicans and Americans agree to tear up a lot of grass, a joint bid would mean that Canadians would be left with the very pricy option of placing grass surfaces in stadiums.

A knee injury and then a broken foot derailed Diana Matheson’s preparations for the Women’s World Cup — her participation at the tourney was reduced to a single sub appearance, in Canada’s quarter-final loss to England. But, now back to full health, the midfield magician has made a major impact on her NWSL club, the Washington Spirit

A senior World Cup played completely on artificial turf. It was part of Canada’s bid for the 2015 Women’s World Cup. A group of international players launched, then aborted, an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal case over the use of turf over grass. Now, with the tournament wrapped up, MARTIN MacMAHON assesses how the surfaces stood up (or not).

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?

Canada’s players had to give the fans at BC Place a teary salute after they lost their Women’s World Cup quarter-final to the English. The success of the team at the London Olympics was a feel-good story that lingered for three years. But did loyalties that were spawned in the Olympic run come back to haunt Canada in 2015? Damn straight they did...

The third-place match is usually the most-criticized game of any World Cup, women or men. The argument: Why make the semifinal losers stick around for another game, when third place isn’t regarded as that big a deal in World Cups? But, England’s win over Germany showed us the other side of the debate; that the game can mean a heck of a lot to the players involved...

Mark Sampson, head coach of the English women’s team, spoke about how vital the rise of the WSL has been to the success of his Lionesses. At the Women’s World Cup, 22 of the 23 players on the English roster came from WSL clubs. The odd one out was striker Jodie Taylor, who plays with the Portland Thorns of the NWSL.