Soccer may not be the main sport of Canada, but it’s definitely in the spotlight at the moment. And not for good reasons. Currently, both the men’s and women’s soccer teams are under close scrutiny due to a recent set of behind the scenes scandals. It’s a shame too, because the two teams had been making pretty good headway in recent years. So, what’s the current outlook for these teams?
2024’s Summer of Soccer
Back in the summer of 2024, both teams looked to be going quite well. The Copa America was in full swing — a tournament hosting teams from North and South America. To many people’s surprise, Canada was actually doing well. The men’s team, with their newly appointed manager, Jesse March, managed to reach the semi-finals. To get there, the team had managed to excel, performing well against Peru, Chile and Venezuela in order to get there. They were eventually knocked out by Argentina, but showed promise and a lot of improvement even in defeat. Such a performance has led to high hopes in the coming years when the Copa Ameria rolls round again. It should also be noted that this was Canada’s debut at this event, and the only North American team to win in the quarter finals. It was quite a start.
During the summer, the women’s soccer team also had a good time. In the Olympics they were unbeaten in their group. In a stunning set of victories, the team beat New Zealand, France and Columbia in their own group. They even made it into the quarter finals up against Germany. This match was a gruelling one, the women taking everything and giving it back in spades. Going down the wire, it ended up a game decided on penalties and Canada was on the losing end. This campaign, albeit not a medal success, as the Canadian Women’s team had won gold at the previous 2020 Olympics. Still, there’s a lot of positives and the trajectory for Canadian soccer is definitely on the up.
As such, both teams have made for some truly exciting betting opportunities on multiple sports betting site such as Gembet. Of course, things can, and do change at the drop of the hat which means some of those excellent odds are now gone by the wayside. And a lot of this has to do with the latest controversy hitting the soccer scene in Canada.
Drone Issues
Sadly, despite the success of the women’s team in the Olympics, this success has now been heavily tarnished. In recent months, it was revealed that the staff from the team had used a drone to spy on the NZ soccer team training session. As such, this could have seriously changed the way the team played, leading to their victory against the New Zealand squad. As a response to this news, FIFA suspended the team manager, Bev Priestman, sending her back home. Six points were also deducted from the women’s team before they even began playing. This meant that the rest of their Olympics was heavily impacted. If they had managed to come top of the group, a likelihood without the six point deficit, they would have played against the lower-ranked Brazilians in the quarter finals, rather than Germany. Such a difference could have meant that the Canadian team made it further, possibly even to the final itself. But we will never know.
Money Problems
And the hits keep on coming. While there is now concern over systemic spying practices within Canadian soccer, other issues have arisen. For a few years now, there has been a pay dispute in place between Canada Soccer and its players. An equitable pay structure has been demanded by players and a temporary agreement put in place.
With threats of strikes and more and long-term deal yet to be agreed on, what’s going to happen still remains up in the air. With players still unhappy, it could pave the way for a decline in the number of players coming through the system or even wanting to play at all.
At this point, the future is looking rather rocky as we roll into 2025. And this is a shame for two teams that looked to have such a bright future just one year ago.