HAMILTON

For all the talk of building for the future of Canadian women’s soccer, for all the optimism the senior team has provided over the past three years, there is one glaring, unanswered question these days.

Yes, the brain trust of the sport in this country collectively wonders aloud “Where is the next No. 12?”

As Canada’s Pan Am Games drew to a close Friday night at Tim Horton’s Stadium, with a 2-1 loss to Mexico in the bronze medal match, the decision to go with a young, developmental squad ended with a predictable result.

And no, there wasn’t a No. 12 — as in Christine Sinclair, the world-class striker and heart and soul of the Canadian team for the past several years now.

“What this story has told is that there isn’t another Sinclair in this pipeline at this stage,” John Herdman, director of the women’s national program, said after the loss. “We as coaches have to take the challenge on with the players that get the best out of the individuals we’ve got.

“When you look at the raw instinct of scoring goals, it wasn’t in this group of women.”

With so little scoring, there was even less chance of repeating the Pan Am Games gold the Canadians won four years ago in Guadalajara, Mexico, a fact that has been evident since the team’s lone win in the tournament opener.

When Jessie Fleming finally scored for Canada in the 88th minute, it avoided a fourth consecutive shutout and snapped a goalless drought of 359 minutes. Even with the youthful Canadians pressing and possessing for much of the match — especially in a dominant second half — they just couldn’t produce.

“We’ve had chances this tournament,” Herdman said. “It’s been our story of the year on Canadian teams — we’re just not in clinical in front of the net as we want to be.”

Much easier said than done, obviously. For all the enthusiasm of youth and promising defensive prowess the host nation brought to the tournament, the absence of even a remote scoring threat is of obvious concern to Herdman and Danny Worthington, his head coach here.

That Canada was even in the bronze medal game was a stroke of fortune given they hadn’t scored since the tournament opener — and were shut out in three consecutive games.

At kickoff on Friday, the Canadians hadn’t scored in 281 minutes and when Mexico’s Monica Ocampo beat keeper Stephanie Labbe in the 29th minute, in some ways it felt as thought it was as good as over for the Canadians.

It has been a source of frustration, both for the players and for the coaching staff.

Chances aren’t good enough with no finish, obviously, and the Canadians paid the price for it in these Pan Am Games. Against Brazil in its final group match, they played tough, holding the powerful South American squad to a draw at the half. But the Brazilians never panicked on their way to a 2-0 win, knowing they had little offence to worry about.

In the semifinal contest against Colombia, Canada again had chances — and for parts of the game held an edge in play, yet still were blanked, 1-0.

Part of the problem, of course, is that players like Sinclair aren’t easily found. But with the popularity of soccer at the youth level, surely a player will come along that is capable of putting the ball in the back of the net.

“We’ve developed the structures and strategies to give our players opportunity, but we haven’t unearthed a Sinclair with this group of women,” Herdman said.

To their credit, with a medal on the line on Friday, the Canadians seemed determined to force the play vs. Mexico. When Janine Beckie just missed on a cross, the heart was taken out of the host sice moments later when Ocampo opened the scoring by taking advantage of a defensive breakdown by the Canadians.

Eight minutes later, a Stephany Mayor strike made it 2-0 Mexico and even though the Canadians had a possession edge (59% over the course of the game) that would make Maple Leafs assistant general manager Kyle Dubas smile, they couldn’t cut into the lead until it was too late.

In many ways, the Pan Am tournament was an experiment for Herdman and the Canadian EXCEL program, a project designed to develop promising young woman players. With that in mind, the Canadians gave teenagers — including some as young as 16 and 17-years-old — a shot to play in this tournament.

To judge the result too harshly would be an over reaction. While Canadians favoured youth and deliberately let stars like Sinclair and others rest and recuperate from the gruelling World Cup earlier in the summer, other Pan Am countries — including Mexico — brought their best.

With that in mind, the Canadians were never going to be a threat to add to the country’s bulky gold medal haul at these games. But a goal or two along the way would have been encouraging — and might have even resulted in a medal.