You can use a lot of words to describe Canada’s World Cup run, and most of them should be positive.
Canada getting out of the group stage, complete with one of the World Cup’s great barnstorming performances against Qatar, led an entire nation still curious about the sport to buy into this team’s possibilities. And then, with their first-ever knockout round win against South Africa, Canada showed they deserve to be classified in a different tier of international soccer.
Canada never stopped playing in a way that should have the country believing in their potential in future World Cups.
In the end, it was the cunning game management that Canada lacked, as they have for some time now. That could come with experience.
