The first rule in a World Cup is to survive to the next round.

It doesn’t matter how, doesn’t matter how well. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a masterpiece or paint-by-numbers.

All that matters is moving on.

Canada’s women’s soccer team did just that, advancing to the round of 16 at the FIFA World Cup as Group A winner.

Normally that would be cause for celebration and in many ways it is. But that’s tempered by how the team advanced.

They were less than spectacular in a group that was less than spectacular. The team scored two goals in three games and didn’t produce enough quality chances to score many more.

Canada needed a last-minute gift penalty to defeat China 1-0 and had its hands full with New Zealand in a 0-0 game that Canada could well have lost, given that the Kiwis missed a penalty. And while Canada scored early in a game against the Netherlands, for whatever reason it couldn’t continue their dominance, eventually giving up a late equalizer.

It’s not the type of performance that gives cause to think Canada will be making a long run in this tournament.

The Canadians lacked offensive imagination, lacked quality movement with and without the ball and couldn’t sustain protracted domination.

That said, none of that matters now.

In a World Cup, once a team survives the group phase, anything can happen — especially if that team is the host.

Still, the truth of the matter is Canada is going to have to pick up its game by at least half to have any hope of beating the better teams. It’s going to have to pick up its game considerably if it wants to beat the mediocre teams left.

There have been some performances that have been disquieting. Most of those came from the veteran players.

Christine Sinclair has been almost invisible. Melissa Tancredi is showing the signs of having missed months of competition to live a real life and Sophie Schmidt, even though she’s been the best offensive player for the Canadians, wastes too many dead ball opportunities.

The good is obvious and it’s the play of the young players. Centreback Kadeisha Buchanan, 19, is world class. It will be scary to contemplate what she will be like if she remains healthy. Ashley Lawrence is showing she’s beginning to find comfort on the big stage. It showed in her performance against the Netherlands.

London’s Jessie Fleming was over-awed in her first start at the World Cup. You could see the talent but it was painfully obvious she is but 17. She too was finding her footing before being substituted.

This team will need everything to go its way if it wants to remain in the tournament. It needs its veteran players to prove they aren’t done.

That’s why it was so vital for Canada to survive into the next round. If the Sinclairs, Schmidts, Tancredis can find a little something more, Canada has a huge advantage because it is playing at home.

FIFA loves home teams to do well at the World Cup. Canada was manipulated into the weak side of the draw while many of the heavyweights, including the United States and Germany, will beat each other’s brains out early in the knockout phases.

It’s also clear that the home team is going to get the benefit of the calls from the officiating. Canada’s already gotten a big one on the late penalty against China and then got away with a couple of stone-cold penalties in their game against the Netherlands.

There are many people willing to push Canada as far in the tournament as possible.

It’s why home teams often have better results than expected.

It won’t be enough to win a championship.

It would be enough to accomplish something that’s vital to the growth of the women’s program and that’s establishing young players who are the future of the team and some of the older players who haven’t had a lot of experience at the international level, as the building blocks for the national team of the future.

That won’t be enough to curtail the disappointment felt if Canada doesn’t play better and start to lift people off their seats. The expectations from the stunning 2012, 4-3 extra time loss to the Americans in the Olympic semifinal are great.

Many would like to see something close to that game again.

But its time Canada did something to help itself