AP Picture/Julio Cortez

Of all of the tales of Olympic grit that this Canadian girls’s soccer crew has woven through the years, this can be their most compelling but.

The bronze medal at London 2012 was transformative. The gold medal at Tokyo 2020 was rapturous. However the squad’s camaraderie and resilience within the face of adversity at Paris 2024 has been really unprecedented—and it’s given them an opportunity to defend that gold medal.

After a 2-1 win over New Zealand of their opening match, a cloud of controversy surrounded the crew. Head coach Bev Priestman was suspended and the crew handed a six-point deduction within the wake of a drone being flown over a New Zealand coaching session.

Many argued the punishment was unfairly harsh to the gamers, who’d had no involvement within the controversy. Retired stars Christine Sinclair and Stephanie Labbé mentioned they’d by no means seen any drone footage of their lengthy tenures with the nationwide crew.

Nonetheless, the gamers went into what appeared like an not possible scenario on Day 2. They confronted what was abruptly a must-win recreation towards No. 2-ranked France, on French soil, all whereas carrying the burden of the rising controversy on their shoulders.

However, they endured.

Combating for each other

With solely one another to rely on, the gamers turned in considered one of their most tenacious and spirited performances in years.

A primary-half objective by France in entrance of a partisan crowd on the 42,000-seat Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne couldn’t maintain the Canadians down. Jessie Fleming scored within the second half to degree issues, and quite a few delays led to an eye-popping 13 minutes of second-half stoppage time being added on.

The Canadians bombarded the French objective in stoppage time. In any case, with no objective, there was no tomorrow.

Within the dying minutes, an sudden hero emerged. Defender Vanessa Gilles, pushed ahead within the crew’s last-ditch effort to attain, pounced on a rebound and scored the successful objective.

Two wins, six factors, penalty erased.

Nonetheless, Canada wanted a win over Colombia on Day 5 to advance to the quarterfinals. An official attraction of the six-point deduction had been dismissed earlier on Wednesday.

Gilles mentioned the gamers had been “gutted” to be taught of the choice, however that it didn’t change their strategy to the Colombia match.

“We wanted to go in, we would have liked to win,” mentioned Gilles. “We wanted to imagine in one another, and we would have liked to stay via it.”

In that match, Fleming whipped a wonderful free kick into the penalty space within the twentieth minute that was headed simply huge by Jordyn Huitema. The Colombians utilized their very own attacking strain, however the defensive corps of Gilles, Kadeisha Buchanan and Jade Rose held agency.

The addition of Nichelle Prince at halftime gave Canada some offensive spark within the second half. All of it got here to a head (actually) within the 61st minute: one other high quality free kick from Fleming was nodded into the Colombian objective by Gilles.

Famend for his or her organizational skills, the gamers locked issues down defensively and held on for the 1-0 victory.

“Loads has been taken away from us as gamers,” mentioned Gilles. “The one factor that we are able to management, the one factor that’s in our grasp is the pitch. That’s one thing they will’t take away from us.”

Path again to the rostrum

It’s simply the second time, after Rio 2016, that Canada has received all three video games within the group stage. However the level deduction in Paris means they completed second in Group A, incomes a quarterfinal date with Germany on Saturday.

Germany, a standard powerhouse within the sport, is ranked No. 4 on the planet. Canada at the moment sits at No. 8.

The trail again to the rostrum was all the time going to be a tough one for Canada, even earlier than all of the controversy. This yr’s Olympic event is filled with high quality groups, a half dozen of that are critical medal contenders.

So if these Canadian gamers are to retain their title as Olympic champions, they’ll have to hunker down, ignore the noise and emerge victorious in a number of consecutive high-pressure, must-win video games.

READ: Golden technology lifts iconic Sinclair to the Olympic pinnacle

Can they do it? Effectively, they’ve already completed it as soon as.

“We’ve been in knockout rounds for 2 video games now, so we’ve got expertise with it,” mentioned Gilles.

No matter turns into of this crew at Paris 2024, these gamers will certainly be remembered for his or her poise and their perseverance.