Canadians fight for each other

In a deep hole after points deduction, embattled team beats France to keep Olympic hopes alive

- BRUCE ARTHUR

When the legend of this era of Canadian women’s soccer is told, make room for this night in SaintÉtienne. It’s a working-class town far from the lights of Paris, a gritty town, and Sunday night Canada played an Olympic match against the second-ranked French in front of an almost entirely French crowd, for their lives. Or at least that’s what it felt like.

“I mean, the past 72 hours has been the most emotional in my entire footballing career,” said defender Vanessa Gilles, fighting back tears for a solid five minutes. She won gold in Tokyo. A lot of them did.

And their Olympics could have ended here, Sunday, at GeoffroyGuichard Stadium. This match didn’t start Sunday, though. It started earlier this week with the spy drone allegations, the suspension of coach Bev Priestman and two staffers, the resulting furor, the harsh punishment from FIFA. It started with a team that was devastated and had to figure out where to put all those emotions.

“Just 12 hours ago we were in a circle, crying our eyes out after just having read about the news, punching walls, crying our eyes out again, laughing about it in delusion, then crying again,” Gilles said. “It’s been three days. None of us have really slept. None of us have been able to really eat. Lots of tears.

“So yeah, it’s just been a lot. It’s been 72 hours, and we’ve had no control over anything. We were not a part of any of this and we’re getting sanctions as if we all just got caught doping or something. Like, we did nothing, and we’re just so tired of defending ourselves for something that, again, we had no control over.”

The six points FIFA took from this meant a loss to France would end their Olympics after two matches. Priestman, assistant Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi were gone, but the six points were worse.