This past weekend saw us working with the Canadian Soccer Association and CONCACAF on the Women’s Olympic Soccer Qualifying Tournament in Vancouver. Undoubtedly, the highlights were the semi final matches which determined who would move move on to London 2012. Both Costa Rica and Mexico put up valiant efforts but the higher ranked (and bigger) Americans and Canadians prevailed. The excitement when the final whistle blew for Canada to qualify was amazing. Being part of over 20,000 people cheering for a Women’s sporting event makes me wonder why Women’s professional sports has never really developed to a high level. On the other hand, I can now imagine what it will be like in 2015 as the World comes to Canada for the Women’s World Cup. I am certain Canada will be an amazing host and fully embrace the sport. The future is certainly bright for Women’s soccer in Canada. Although on Sunday, at the Final it was evident how far the Canadians team must still progress to compete with the Americans. Despite being overpowered 4-0 the fans in the sold out Stadium remained for the post game Ceremony and cheered on both teams.

In addition to Canada qualifying, highlights of the weekend including meeting a dad of a Mexican player and hearing his stories from the World Cup and sensing his excitement as his daughter was on the pitch trying to qualify for the Olympics. We also spent a large part of Sunday shuttling the trophy to various locations and keeping it suitably shined. It would have been nice if Canada ended up with it at the end of the day.

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