Given the circumstances, Vanessa Giles scored arguably the biggest Canadian goal since Paul Henderson found the back of the net in Moscow.
For a group of young women whose golden world had turned to brass, it was a gold-medal
performance. One for the ages, as much so as any game played in far less difficult circumstances.
Betrayed by coach Bev Priestman, punished with a six-point penalty by those pillars of rectitude at FIFA, Canada had every reason to surrender meekly to a French team ranked second in the world. Down 1-0 and with les Bleus controlling possession, it appeared there was nothing ahead for Team Canada except a meaningless preliminary-round match against Colombia and a return to face endless questions at home.
They found a way to tie it on Jessie Fleming’s goal in the 58th minute, but a tie would not have helped. Canada had to win it and they did, a full 11 minutes and 17 seconds into added time, when Vanessa Gilles scored The Goal to put Canada up 2-1. There followed five more agonizing minutes before the referee finally blew the whistle, triggering one of the most emotional celebrations you will ever see.
“Just 12 hours ago we were in a circle crying our eyes out after hearing the news,” Gilles said as she poured her guts out after the game. “Punching walls. … It’s been three days where none of us have really been able to really eat. Lots of tears.
“We’re not cheaters, we’re damn good players, we’re a damn good team and we proved that today.”
After all, athletes are trained from an early age to battle through adversity. Skinned knee? Keep running. Bad weather? Hey, it’s bad for both teams. Rotten calls from the referees? Ignore it and keep battling.
Being stabbed in the back by your own coach? That one is out of left field. Every coaching relationship is based on trust. When that trust vanishes, the fall has to be dizzying. Yet after three days when they were punching bags for pretty much everyone, these women prevailed.
For the record, veteran star Janine Beckie created the winning goal with as great a play as you will ever see. The clock was already well over 10 minutes into added time when Beckie couldn’t quite control the ball just outside her own penalty area.
Then with the French team on a jailbreak toward Canada’s goal, Beckie outran four of her teammates as she raced from 10 yards behind the play to steal the ball without fouling, like a talented burglar heisting a diamond necklace.
Beckie got it back to defender Kadeisha Buchanan, then had to hurry to corral a weak return pass. Then from just outside her own penalty area, Beckie’s long, accurate probe found a streaking Adriana Leon far upfield.
Leon got the ball to Jordyn Huitema, whose explosive shot from well outside forced substitute French goalie Constance Picaud into a diving save. The rebound went straight to Gilles, whose left-footed blast ricocheted off the post and into the net.
Given the circumstances, it was arguably the biggest Canadian goal since Paul Henderson scored in Moscow. At a point when it appeared that the entire program was circling the drain, Gilles and Huitema and Leon and Beckie found a way.
There was no apparent reason to send up a drone to film the practice of 28th-ranked New Zealand in Paris. So why, then? Why jeopardize everything? The Olympic tournament, your reputation, the hard-won gold medal from Tokyo, the future of your program — all to gain a minuscule advantage that probably wouldn’t matter once play began.
The drone stunt was as stupid as it gets. Drones are banned in France. Everything you do is under a microscope at the Olympic Games. It makes no sense until you hear what TSN analyst Kevin Kilbane offered as explanation: “It comes down to the insecurities of the coaches.”
So the insecurities of Priestman and Herdman before her became the problem of the players, who had nothing to do with the cheating.
There are no questions about these Canadian women. Those were answered where they should be answered — on the pitch.
Zeros: Bev Priestman, John Herdman, Soccer Canada, FIFA, Jasmine Mander, Joseph Lombardi,
Steven van de Velde, Charlotte Dujardin, the CBC crew at the Opening Ceremonies, Byron MacDonald, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.
Now and forever.