Now is the winter of CanWNT's discontent

Can the women excel in the face of adversity? Again.

Photo by Pete Nuij on Unsplash

Growing up in the country, as I did, teaches you some important life lessons.

One that comes to mind that is of particular relevance to the current situation with the CanWNT has to do with how to stay safe around black bears.

Stay with me here.

From time to time a black bear would wander into the village that I grew up in. Often, these bears would walk right across the school playground that I spent much of my childhood playing “kick” hockey (i.e. soccer with a tennis ball), racing my bike or generally just wasting away a sunny afternoon in.

These bears were mostly harmless. They really wanted nothing to do with us and didn’t appear to be much of a risk. As kids, we were more focused on how cute they were and how cool it was tat we could see them.

Basically, they were nice. There wasn’t a perceived edge to them. We kind of wanted to pet them. We may have articulated that desire.

Then one day sometime back in that Stranger Things timeline, we woke up to a story about a few of the local “older kids” and how they had decided in a moment of madness to approach one of these bears that had entered the village.

It didn’t go well for them. A story was told to us about bloodshed and carnage. Kids were in hospital. Clinging for their lives. It was very dramatic.

Ok, it’s likely that the adults made this all up to scare us (it was a different time…). In hindsight, there probably would have been some media attention for a mass bear mauling of teenagers in a small Eastern Ontario town, even in the mid-80s. Regardless, the lesson was drilled home to us.

It doesn’t matter how innocent, or cute, a black bear looks, you don’t mess with it. If cornered, it will kick your ass. In fact, the more cornered and attacked it feels the more vicious and strong it becomes.

The Canadian Women’s National Team is the black bear in this analogy, in case it’s not clear.

Backed into a corner, battling what they view as their most important fight of their lives, this is a team that should scare its opposition in 2023.

Yes, that includes the CSA, but for this article we’re going to put that aside. Instead, we’re going to focus on the scoreboard stuff. The thing about this team is that you never want to play them when it seems like they are in an impossible position. Conversely, it’s not a team that excels when things look positive for them.

Their greatest successes have always come when they’ve felt attacked, disrespected and doubted. I’ve been the doubter before. More than once. But, I’ve watched them overcome and shock everyone too many times before to doubt them now.

They are scrappers. They do not play pretty football. I’m not sure they even want to. No, they scratch and claw their way to results. The uglier the game, the more they seem to excel. Since 2012, this is a group that is incredibly tight and that will bleed for each other.

On the surface, this is sports cliché stuff and I normally don’t go for it. This team is different though.

I was high of their chances in 2023 before they took on the federation. They hit this World Cup year with the majority of the roster in its prime and just the right amount young talent and veteran presence.

They might be the best defensive team in the world. You read that right. The world.

Not sure who is going to score, but that’s been the concern for a while. Like I said, they need to be in a scrap to play at their best anyway. So, grinding for a goal and defend for your life it is.

Like I said, I was high on this team before the bigger fight started. Now, I’m really high on them. The sense of purpose that the fight will give them is an intangible that is not to be ignored.

Don’t read this wrong: we’d all rather they weren’t in this situation. Now that they are, however, I know that they will use it as a motivator — it will be their 12th man in Australia.

Do I think Canada can win the World Cup?

Maybe. They are in the mix. They’ll need some bounces like any team does, but absolutely maybe.

And no Canadian team has ever been even close to a maybe before.

Preparation starts tomorrow at the SheBelieves Cup vs the USA.

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