Olympic podium won't come easy for Canadian soccer women
This isn’t the same team that won bronze at London Olympics
By Gavin Day
They enter the 2016 Rio Olympic Games as defending bronze medallists but when competition begins against Australia two days before the opening ceremony, Canada's soccer women will be in a familiar position as underdog.
The team captured the nation's attention in 2012 with its memorable semifinal loss to the United States before putting the heartbreak aside to beat France with a last gasp winner, capturing Canada's first medal in a team sport in 76 years.
With 12 teams in the Olympics, compared to 24 at last year's FIFA Women's World Cup, the talent is much more concentrated, and 10th-ranked Canada will have to beat a number of higher-seeded teams if it wants another medal.
"For us, it's a story of the underdog again and it's hard for the general Canadian public to see that because we have had that sort of bronze-medal lens that people keep looking through," head coach John Herdman told CBC Sports. "Even in that bronze-medal journey, it was just an amazing circumstance that took us to the bronze. I think we're underdogs and that's realistic and it's factual.
"We're going to end up having to play teams that have got real podium pedigree if we're going to get on the podium, and there are other teams that are going to be ranked ahead of us and deservedly so."
The circumstances in which the Canadians enter the Olympics in Rio couldn't be more different from four years ago when they were still recovering from an embarrassing 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup showing as the team finished dead last despite high expectations.
Fragile state
Herdman was less than a year into his tenure as Canadian head coach and first guided the team to a gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. But the squad was still in recovery mode loaded with veteran players looking for redemption and a purpose to continue.
"As a team, to say we were broken was a complete understatement," said recently retired goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc of the team's fragile state after the 2011 World Cup.
"When John came in, he helped us to discover our why. Why we're here? What can we connect to that would motivate us and inspire more than winning a gold medal? I think that's what we did. We connected and wanted to inspire a generation."
The group heading to Rio still features prominent holdovers like Christine Sinclair and Diana Matheson but the transition to a new generation is very much underway. Teenagers like Deanne Rose and Jessie Fleming will face pressure beyond their years.
The other big transition is in goalkeeping where LeBlanc and Canadian star Erin McLeod are both out through retirement and an ACL injury, respectively. Stephanie Labbe has been understudy to McLeod for a number of years and will now be expected to step into some very big shoes. Sabrina D'Angelo is recovering from a wrist injury but it looks like she'll be ready to backup Labbe in Rio.
What is the same, however, is that drive to not only medal but inspire a nation which creates a connection between the players on and off the field. They hope that extra purpose and connection, rather than their competition, will bring them closer to the medal favourites.
"It's a Canadian team that's in transition," said Herdman "It's young but with it has a huge spirit, a massive amount of grit, some talent that maybe revealed in this tournament and some world-class players that, if they hit their peaks, this team can challenge."