The prognosis isn’t exactly of doomsday calibre, but for those within Canadian women’s football, it might as well be. In a decade, Canada – a two-time Olympic bronze medalist, a gold medalist at the most recent Tokyo games, a team ranked sixth in the world according to FIFA and the 2015 Women’s World Cup host – will be irretrievably left behind on the women's football world stage.
The claim, from former Canadian national team midfielder Kaylyn Kyle, is heady, if not disquieting. Less than 100 days stand between the MLS commentator's prophecy and this summer’s Women’s World Cup, a competition in which the Canada national team always promises to be a strong contender but never quite manages to wriggle into the final stages.
And after a tumultuous few months involving strike action, legal threats, protests and intense negotiations following governing body Canada Soccer Association’s (CSA) decision to cut national team programmes and funding five months out from the showpiece event, Kyle does not see Canada’s fate shifting. In fact, the nation’s decade of admirable success on the international stage risks timing out altogether.
