PARIS

We do it biennially — usually before or after major soccer tournaments. We discuss, question, eviscerate and tear down Canada’s men’s team.

It’s relevant now insofar as Canada didn’t qualify for this summer’s Copa America. It’s compounded by the fact Iceland is in the last eight of this European Championship.

As Canadian viewers watch Iceland-France on Sunday night in a quarterfinal here at Stade de France, a common question should be pondered: How on earth can a Nordic island nation of 330,000 people compete with the best in the world?

After all, there are roughly one million registered soccer players competing in the Great White North. Canada has decent enough facilities. The weather and landscape isn’t entirely burdensome, as it once was for Iceland.

No, Canada’s issues still reside at the grassroots level, where youth and entry-level coaches rarely seek proper training and aren’t made to. In Canada, coaching standards either don’t exist or aren’t applied evenly on a wide enough scale.

Ex-Canadian captain Jason deVos penned a more in-depth piece on the grassroots issue for TSN. Biennially, it bears repeating: The bottom of Canada’s soccer pyramid is where the real problems exist — where Iceland’s problems were remedied.

At the turn of the millennium, licensed soccer coaches — per capita — were as scarce in Iceland as they are in Canada. Iceland was a non-factor in soccer, finishing just a point ahead of lowly Malta in 2006 World Cup qualifying.

The abbreviated story: In the early 2000s, the Football Association of Iceland (KSI) commissioned a dozen indoor “soccer houses” to be built as training complexes for every young footballer in the country. The KSI made it easier and cheaper — mandatory, most importantly — for youth coaches to receive professional training by bringing UEFA licensing courses to Reykjavík. It boosted quality coaching numbers to the extent there’s now a UEFA B license holder for every 600 people in the country. As a result, every youth player receives high-level training and learns essential qualities and skills that have maximized the potential for a player pool of roughly 20,000 — or, 2% of Canada’s registered players.

Canada’s lack of success has nothing to do with athletes or professional leagues. It has everything to do with the fact Canada’s players are tactically and technically deficient. And will be until all of its provincial bodies create player development paths that are at least partially modeled on what Iceland and Belgium and the Netherlands — countries that emphasize the acquisition of basic skills at a young age over competing for trophies that will eventually collect dust.

Of course, Iceland is about more than youth coaching and soccer houses and the kind of kumbaya many roll their eyes at. They’re a group of players who genuinely enjoy representing their country, their people, their friends and family.

Can the same be said for Canada’s pool of players — the group that got slaughtered in World Cup qualifying four years ago in Honduras? Were they competing for each other and for their country? Did they give up?

“What is special about Iceland is the team unity,” manager Heimir Hallgrimsson said Saturday night inside a packed Stade de France press conference room. “We know our identity. We play according to that identity.”

Which captain Aron Gunnarsson explained: “We’re such a tight unit. We’ve been playing together so many years. It’s a tight group. We’re all mates. That’s how it should be. We’re ready to fight for each other. We never give up and we keep going.”

It’s gotten them this far, which has forced the rest of the world to take notice. If it’s possible for a tiny, isolated nation of Scandinavian islanders to make their mark on this sport, surely it’s possible for Canada.

ICELAND ABOUT MORE THAN LONG THROWS

French manager Didier Deschamps doesn’t need to explain what’s plain to see.

His players watched Wales shock Belgium to reach the final four. They also tuned in to see Iceland stun England — the kind of embarrassment the hosts hope to avoid when they meet this European Championship’s other Cinderella Sunday night at Stade de France.

Say what you will about these Icelandic footballers. They’ve won more times in regulation than Portugal at this Euro. Remember, Cristiano Ronaldo said they’d “do nothing” at this event. He likely still wouldn’t offer them the credit they deserve.

Deschamps, on the other hand, is taking the opposite approach.

“We are well-aware that Iceland aren’t here by chance,” Deschamps said during his pre-match press conference.

“They qualified to get here. Then they beat England in the Last 16. They’ve not stolen anything. They deserve it. They have quality in the side ... The players operating in this team play in the Premier League.

“They’re not small-time players. Iceland is not here by chance. They’ve achieved great things and they deserved to beat England through their attributes and what they produced.”

What’s admirable about Iceland is its tendency to punish complacency. Against both Austria and England, Iceland’s Aron Gunnarsson hurled long throws into the box for 6-foor-3 Kari Arnason.

Iceland’s players have a thirst for second balls inside the penalty area. In both games, they scored off of Gunnarsson’s long throw-ins after Arnason did so brilliantly to flick on.

“They have a thrower who can throw a flat throw, but they have these scenarios every match because they might not have many corners, but there’s often many throw-ins It’s the equivalent to a set piece,” Deschamps said. “We’ve taken measures to bother this aspect of their play. We aren’t suggesting they’re only about long throw-ins. They have a number of attributes that they’ve shown. They don’t just loft the ball forward. They can move it swiftly on the deck.”

For that reason, Iceland won’t be taken lightly. Not after the French watched Iceland shock some of the top sides at this Euro. While the French have an abundance of talent, Deschamps cautioned Sunday’s match will be about Les Bleus, the team.

“The players don’t need to know that,” he said. “That’s the reality of top level football. Individual talent without a team effort leads nowhere.”

Other than, as England well knows, defeat.