Canada – Mexico as a Symptom of Larger Problems

Sunday’s Canadian women’s friendly against Mexico was a disappointment. A 0-0 draw against a team we are accustomed to automatic victories against; according to Wikipedia, our lifetime record against the Mexicans is now 17 wins, two draws, and one loss. This in a rare west coast home friendly, before a raucous crowd that included a fair share of Mexican support but was more pro-Canadian than usual for one of these, and remembering the last time we drew swords against Mexico in anger when we thumped them 3-1 in the same building

Fans are disappointed. The perpetually-optimistic Canadian Soccer Association press release called it “an admittedly lackluster performance.”[3] After the match even John Herdman was wry; he came out to see the Voyageurs tifo calling him a “genius” and replied “not tonight I wasn’t.” The result wasn’t a disaster, and nobody is calling it one, but there are a lot of grim expressions and pursed lips in the Canadian women’s soccer world today.

Canadians aren’t unique in overrating their national teams, but I feel this is more a case of underrating Mexico. Ask the Americans what that’s like. Of course Mexico’s no great guns, but they can play at near-equality with teams like New Zealand, China, and the lesser Scandinavian countries. Time was Mexico was a team we could play fifty times and expect to win 49 of them; this is no longer the case and it’s due to Mexican improvement rather than Canadian deterioration.

Once you get past the unwelcome result Canada did not play badly and generated chances. Sinclair had a few of the looks which, from Christine Sinclair, usually translate into goals, but scuffed a few shots and misplayed one lovely break by dallying too long. Kaylyn Kyle had a first-rate opportunity that was saved and Sophie Schmidt skied a gimme over the crossbar. The Mexican chances, while present, were comparatively inferior and fewer in number. While Mexico our equals in the first thirty minutes Canada’s superior quality gradually imposed itself, particularly in the second half, and just didn’t translate into goals. Defense, particularly centrally, was dicey, but bear in mind this was with Emily Zurrer in place of either veteran Carmelina Moscato or highly promising youngster Kadeisha Buchanan, not helped by an early injury to Rhian Wilkinson and an unusually inconsistent game by Desiree Scott. In short it was a fair 0-0 draw, and full marks to Mexico, but while you might not say Canada “deserved to win” I would contend they were the better team.

Is that good enough? Probably not. It’s still Mexico, and if we want to get more than somewhat-fortuitous Olympic bronze medals we need to be capable of big results against third-tier sides like them. All the same, let’s keep things in perspective.

Scott Ferguson wrote a well-received blog post earlier today gently criticizing Herdman’s tactics and asserting that “the truth is that the rest of the world is catching up to Canada”[4]. This is undeniably true, but where Ferguson errs is in implying this is a recent development. The issue of third-tier national teams catching up to Canada has been present since 2008 at the latest, pushed by inertia in improving player development and aided, bluntly, by the fact that many nascent women’s soccer countries had all the raw materials for good teams but invested so few resources they had nowhere to go but up.

I, and others, have been beating this drum for years: my particular bugbear is the way we have tied our higher-level development structure to the United States so closely that we seem to guarantee we can’t progress more rapidly than them, while other better-informed observers have precise criticisms of youth development at lower ages.

It should be clear that teams like Mexico gaining on Canada can’t be a product of the John Herdman regime. He’s only been with us since 2011 and the majority of the current national team, including every core player except Scott, predates him*. As senior national team coach Herdman certainly can’t be expected to develop a generation of new talent in two years, to the extent such developmental responsibilities are his at all. The introduction of promising but undeveloped new players such as Buchanan, Sura Yekka, and Adrianna Leon indicate he is aware of the problem. The team is trying to pass the ball around and develop attacks rather than classic Even Pellerud hoof and hope. In short, the senior team coaching is doing as much on the player development file as could be expected; the problems lie elsewhere. There is some criticism, as always, that there is a secret crop of international-calibre Canadian players who are kept out of the national setup because of ignorance or politics. Well. I’ve heard that one for years, keep waiting for these players to make a massive impact somewhere in the world with their obvious skills, and yet it doesn’t really happen.

I don’t mean to go too deep down that rabbit hole today, just to defend both Herdman and, to a limited extent, the game we witnessed. The crowd was tremendous fun, with an announced attendance of 21,217 being the second home friendly crowd of 20,000+ this year (along with June’s 22,453 in Toronto for the glamourous rematch friendly against the United States). The Voyageurs section was small, thanks to confusion and technical problems surrounding ticket sales, but it was vociferous for ninety minutes. The players gave their all and many stuck around well after the match signing autographs, Sinclair giving her cleats to star-struck little girls. The performance wasn’t fantastic but it was no debacle, and hopefully it will alert both fans and players to the danger Mexico poses at this stage of their development before the games start to count again.

Canada has work to do if it wishes to become a real world women’s soccer power, and may have a hard time holding onto its current comfortable place in the second rank. But we’ve known that for years and this match, to the extent it stated anything new, was the latest chapter in an old story and as much a compliment to Mexico as a sneer at Canada. Our problems lay outside the senior national team and are beyond any coach, since they involve the very nature of our development system. And even with all these problems Canada is hardly struggling: we just aren’t thriving in the way we would like. I want more but, 0-0 draw and all, I got my money’s worth at that game, and I doubt that’s going to change in games to come.

* — Scott made her national team debut under Carolina Morace but wasn’t really an essential part of the team until the John Herdman era, and particularly the 2012 CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers, so I’m counting her in Herdman’s column.