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By Richard Whittall A More Splendid Life

Canadian soccer’s annus horribilis
In honour of the royal visitors Kate and whoseewotsits, this has been an annus horribilis for Canadian soccer.

Our two MLS franchises are stumbling through their respective league seasons. The Canadian national teams crashed in out in the group stages of the U17 World Cup, the Gold Cup, and after today’s 4-0 loss to France, almost certainly the Women’s World Cup in Germany. And the same stuff gets written by soccer bloggers and journos (a lot by yours truly) on the ever present need for “change.” And then we get to the next tournament and the scenery looks exactly the same.

Of course there are many voices in the Canadian soccer media world calling for calm, describing how this game is a one-off and doesn’t reflect the Carolina Morace era. I’m inclined to agree. Trying to pinpoint specific blame for a one-game loss in a major tournament is a fool’s errand, but the pattern of false starts at major international tournaments is a pattern impossible to dismiss.

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