There’s something about the way girls and young women watch soccer. There’s an edge – an emotional enthusiasm. Lots of noise, but very different from the gruff, low-pitched singing and swearing that usually ring forth from the BMO Field bleachers during a Toronto FC home game.
Squeals. Yells. The same chants, way up the scale, with all the emotion and none of the scorn.
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The game? Canada’s rebuilt, refocused women’s national team, making their home debut under new head coach Carolina Morace. Japan was supposed to provide the opposition, but they got flu-fear and backed out.
That set off a frantic day of on-edge phone work at the CSA’s Mansion on Metcalfe, which amazingly resulted in the top-ranked United States side coming north on hugely short notice to keep the fixture alive.
It were better as a spectacle than a game. The American Women were ahead on two minutes – a hugely preventable goal from the right diagonal corner of the box. Three well-crafted goals would follow. The
4-0 final was fair, and honourable. And there were some significant positives for Canada, even though the scoreboard kind of collapsed on them.
Morace is moving our gals away from former coach Evan Pellerud’s hit-and-hope long-ball game. The new credo is keep it on the carpet, advancing station-to-station. Biggest problem last night? Hugely shaky link-ups between the midfield and a powerful strike force led by 99-international-goal-scorer Christine Sinclair. There was big buzz around the possibility of her 100th goal, but no good opportunity ever game.
But none of that particularly doused the crowd. It was small – probably in the 7,000 range, though the official number was quite a bit higher – but they never stopped making appreciative noise for every little thing the Canadian women did right.
Very late, down 3-0, a peppy row of 14-year-olds in the back row of the south grandstand let out a very loud, piercing and credible chant of “This is our house!” Ownership of the house was, in fact, never in doubt. The game, however, was all-American.
The girls in the stands provided an amusing contrast to the small band of regular Toronto FC supporters, who turned out to add their voices to the tumult. I was far up on the other side when the Americans went ahead. An instant deep-voice chorus of “2-1! We’re going to win 2-1” was easily audible, all over the sunny, wind-swept stadium.
If there could have been more link-up between the two sets of Canada fans, things could have really taken off. The TFCers chanted “Who are ya?” at every American corner-kick taker, but it didn’t catch on with the girls. The girls countered with a few well-known stadium chestnuts, but the TFCers never really bought in.
Right at the end, with the final score on the board and the added time burning down, a hardy row of TFC fans tried to sing Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen, all the way through. The girls never signed up, and the referee’s final whistle cut the song off right around the “Galileo” part.
Far less fire and attack than I’m used to seeing from the Canadian women’s team, but it’s the first part of a lengthy and ongoing process. Morace wants them to play solid, fundamental football, and they’re already close enough to the top of the world mountain that any rededication to craftsmanship should serve them very well in the years to come.
… And it’s not like the girls in the stands are ever going to stop cheering.
Onward!