The Canadian women’s national soccer team may be bound for next year’s World Cup, but once again bragging rights belong to its biggest rival.

Canada lost 2-0 to the United States, the world’s top-ranked team, in the final of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship in Frisco, Texas, on Wednesday night. Rose Lavelle scored in the second minute, with Alex Morgan adding another goal late in the second half to seal the victory.

Both teams had already qualified for the Women’s World Cup in France by winning their respective semi-finals of the qualifying tournament. The Americans have now won the CONCACAF title eight times. The only years they failed to win were in 1998, when they didn’t take part due to qualifying directly as hosts of the 1999 Women’s World Cup, and in 2010, when they finished in third place.

“I thought we did amazing,” said rightback Ashley Lawrence. “We grew throughout the tournament, and our number one objective coming in was to qualify for the World Cup. We did that. Of course, to win this tournament would be excellent, but I think we learned so much. We’re going to take those lessons going into the World Cup next year.”

"Just a solid tournament for us," added captain Christine Sinclair. "We scored a bunch of goals, didn't concede many, and our complete roster performed well this tournament."

“I think we left everything we could out there,” said head coach Kenneth Heiner-Møller. “Not that the match had a lot of scoring opportunities, but some (plays) where if the next pass is in, then we’ve got a chance, we didn’t really convert them. I think if you condense it down, it’s more or less the difference between us winning and coming second.”

Canada, ranked fifth in the world, hasn’t beaten the Americans in more than 17 years, going 0-29-6 since its last win in 2001. But according to Heiner-Møller, the Canadians are on equal footing with their rivals.

“I don’t think there is a gap. This was a match, there’s nothing more than that, and we lost it due to a few things. So we’re getting there. No gap.”

Canada finishes 2018 with an 8-4-0 record, with its other three losses all coming against top-10 teams.

Slow start proves to be the difference

For the second straight game, Canada struggled out of the gates, which culminated in Lavelle’s goal less than two minutes after the first whistle. A clearance from Shelina Zadorsky went right to Lavelle at the top of the box, and she sent a low shot past a partially screened Stephanie Labbé.

“One of the key things we can take from this is when you’re one-nil down, stay to the game plan, because you can work yourself into the match,” said Heiner-Møller. “I’ll never say it’s a good thing to concede early, but if there’s any positive, it’s that you’ve got 88 minutes to go towards it.”

From that moment on, the Canadians were playing from behind in every sense. They struggled to sustain any kind of pressure in the final third, only recording two shots. Canada’s best chance of the game came off a set piece in the 24th minute. Kadeisha Buchanan connected on a header off a free kick from Janine Beckie, but American goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher deflected it wide of the net.

"I think we just need to keep being resilient," said Buchanan. "I think our goal is to score more goals against tier one opponents."

Buchanan had been dealing with a toe injury during the tournament, and rested for two straight games in the group stage.

“I really enjoyed watching her on the pitch, said Heiner-Møller. “She definitely left everything out there. She’s a courageous player, isn’t she?”

Another call for video assistant referee

While Canada had more sustained pressure in the second half, that ended with some controversy in the 89th minute. Off an American corner kick, Lindsey Horan sent the ball across the front of the net, and Morgan tapped it past Labbé. However, the replays clearly showed that Morgan was offside on her goal. No official on the field made the call.

There have been a lot of requests for VAR, or Video Assistant Referee, to be used at next year’s Women’s World Cup. American coach Jill Ellis has been one of the strongest voices in support of the system. VAR was used at this year’s men’s World Cup, but there has yet to be an announcement on its implementation for France next year.

"I've always been the type of person that says if it's happening in the men's game, it should be happening in the women's game," said Sinclair. "I think it's up to FIFA to include it in our tournament, because if you look at this game, that goal is called back. It needs to happen, for sure."

Adding a bit more to the controversy: the goal was Morgan’s seventh of the tournament, moving her past Canadian Adriana Leon to give the American the golden boot.

Physical, defensive battle

As is usually the case, it was a physical brawl between the two teams. In total, 27 fouls were called, and five yellow cards were handed out, with four going to the Canadians.

“This is a physical game. It’s soccer,” said Heiner-Møller. “There’s a lot of intensity in the game. The spaces should be as slim as possible when you’re defending, and they’re trying the same thing when we’re attacking. So when the spaces are small, the proximity between players is getting pretty intense.”

Allysha Chapman was one of the recipients of a yellow card, as she was called in the 31st minute for a hard tackle on Tobin Heath. Despite the discipline, Chapman was a force on Canada’s backline, largely shutting down Heath, one of the Americans’ most creative and explosive threats up front.

Besides the early defensive breakdown, Canada’s backline overall performed well in what was essentially a 1-0 defeat to the world’s best team. Chapman and Lawrence were especially strong in mostly neutralizing two of the United States’ big guns, Heath and Megan Rapinoe.

Labbé was solid when called upon, with her best saving coming in the 67th minute, as she made a diving stop on a hard shot from Rapinoe.

Jamaican milestone

Earlier on Wednesday, Jamaica made history by becoming the first Caribbean team to qualify for a Women’s World Cup, beating Panama on penalty kicks in the third-place game.

After Jamaica took the lead in extra time via a 95th minute goal by 16-year-old Jody Brown, Panama responded in the 115th minute, with 17-year-old Lineth Cedeno scoring the equalizer. In an unusual move, Jamaica subbed out goalkeeper Sydney Schneider in the 120th minute, opting to use Nicole McLure for the penalties. The tactic paid off, as McLure stopped the third and fourth Panamanian shooters, and Dominique Bond-Flasza converted Jamaica’s fourth penalty to seal the win for the 64th-ranked Reggae Girlz.

Panama, ranked 66th in the world, will still have a chance to advance to its first-ever Women’s World Cup. The Central Americans will play Argentina in a two-leg playoff, with the winner punching its ticket to France next year. ​