Still some work to do

The primary goal was always to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics, so let's not lose sight of that and wring our hands so much that they start bleeding.

Still, Canada's humbling 4-0 loss to the United States in Sunday's final of the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament showed just how much work the national team has to do before jetting off to London.

It was always going to be a tough task for the Canadians to beat the Americans, a team that boasts a 42-3-5 record in the all-time series between the two nations and has not lost to the Reds since 2001. But it would have been nice to see the Canadian women take advantage of some lively and boisterous support (25,427 fans filled BC Place) and at least give the U.S. a game.

It wasn't to be, though, and the simple reason is because for all the progress made by Canada since John Herdman took over as coach in September, the Reds are simply not good enough to compete against teams in the upper echelon of the women's game.

"We're just not close enough," Herdman conceded in a post-match interview with Sportsnet.

This was never more evident than on Sunday when the world No. 1 ranked U.S. didn't even shift out of second gear but still managed to easily outclass and outplay a meager Canadian side (ranked seventh in the world) for a full 90 minutes.

For all the talk about the Canadian back line's prowess at this tournament, the team's defensive frailties that were cruelly exposed at last year's World Cup resurfaced again Sunday night. Alex Morgan routinely roasted the Canadian fullbacks, showing them a clean pair of cleats as she blew by them on countless occasions.

Not only were the likes of Candace Chapman and her defensive cohorts unable to deal with Morgan's blinding speed, but their sloppy and haphazard defending was akin to throwing bloody meat at a hungry shark.

Canada's defending reached comical levels on the fourth goal by the U.S. After being sent in by Lauren Cheney, Morgan slalomed her way through the defence, touching the ball past a desperate McLeod before easily side-stepping another defender and slotting it home into an empty net.

Another major concern is Canada's unhealthy reliance on Christine Sinclair. The Canadian captain accounted for nine of the team's 16 goals in this competition and it's telling that all nine came against the likes of Haiti, Cuba, Costa Rica and Mexico -- all teams that are not on Canada's level.

But against the U.S., Canada's first real tough test in this tournament, Sinclair barely received a sniff of the ball and was marked completely out of the game by the American defence. It's been said so many times before: if opponents can contain Sinclair they can effectively shut down Canada's attack. So it came to pass in Vancouver.

And what about Herdman?

From not starting Mellissa Tancredi right from the start, to deploying Sinclair up front instead of dropping her back into midfield where she could exert greater influence on the game, the Canadian coach got his tactics spectacularly wrong on the night.

You also have to wonder why he did not employ two holding midfielders to sit in front of the back four and act as a defensive shield. Surely, the Englishman should have anticipated his defenders would have a hard time with the American forwards' size, strength and speed to handle them on their own.

Without question, Canada does not have the same depth of quality players compared to the mighty Americans, so Herdman was limited in his options. But he should have made smarter personnel choices (Kaylyn Kyle, Robyn Gayle and Erin McLeod in for Tancredi, Rhian Wilkinson and Karina LeBlanc?) and used a more compact 4-5-1 formation that would have at least slowed down the U.S. a bit.

No doubt his players let him down on the night, but Herdman also let his players down with his flawed tactics.

"We've got some work to do ahead of the Olympics," Sinclair told Sportsnet after the game.

Indeed.