Questions won't stop, but CanWNT's gutsy Paris effort is worth celebrating

One fact about the Canadian women's soccer team in Tokyo that's somewhat lost to history is that it was far from dominant.

That doesn't matter, of course: An Olympic gold medal is the same whether you win a race by a fraction of a second or a minute and a half.

But, still: Canada finished second in its group, after two draws and a one-goal win. It won two knockout-stage games in penalty shootouts and another on a late penalty kick. Number of goals scored from open play in the knockout round: zero.

All of which is to say: The Canadian team's performance at Paris 2024 isn't really a throwback to that Tokyo run; it's much better. Two comeback wins, and another victory on a second-half goal when it was starting to look like the decisive moment wouldn't come. And given that the women have played this way while besieged by controversy, it's nothing short of extraordinary.

How Canadian fans should feel about this is more complicated.

The six-point penalty FIFA handed down for Canada's attempt to film New Zealand's closed practice sessions with a drone, an offense to which Canada Soccer admitted and apologized for, was clearly intended to eliminate the Canadians without the messy business of forfeits. Had FIFA simply booted Canada out, France and Colombia would have had free-pass wins, which would have been unfair to the other teams in the tournament. Instead, FIFA forced Canada to win two games in which their opponents knew they only needed a draw. Again: the Canadian team in Tokyo won just two of six games in regulation time. Now it had to go three for three.

Which it has done. Which means that despite confessing to cheating in these Olympics, Canada's one win away, in the quarterfinal match against Germany, from having a chance to play for a medal in these same Olympics. Canada's women, the villains? It doesn't really compute.

It's a characterization that can also be rejected, of course. The players have insisted they knew nothing of any spying attempts, which is possible but impossible to prove. They've been defiant in victory, notably Vanessa Gilles, who spoke of how difficult it's been to have the world question their honour and integrity, and who's responded by simply banging in a couple of game-winning goals. It's easy to feel sympathy for the players, who plainly wouldn't have been involved in orchestrating whatever the coaching staff was up to but have been punished and tarnished nevertheless.

But it's also true that some kind of punishment was appropriate. Even if there's no evidence players did anything wrong, the coaching staff is part of the team. The coaches didn't send the drones up against New Zealand just to benefit the coaching staff. It was a team offense, and the only recourse was to punish the team's results. If a team nutritionist was found to have loaded smoothies with PEDs, would anyone be arguing that only the nutritionist should be sent home?

Now, would the actual cheating have had much of an impact? Probably not. And do other teams attempt such instances of subterfuge, trying to get information about their opponent's tactics and strategies through nefarious means? Almost certainly. But the everyone-does-it defense falls down on the specifics. The idea that all teams are filming their opponents' practices is undercut by the fact that no one else in Paris (or Tokyo) was caught doing it. Partly that's a result of the incredibly clumsy attempt the Canadian coaches made, flying a drone over an Olympic facility in one of the most high-security zones in the world. Short of sending a drone over the White House, it was as likely as anywhere to be noticed. (Although maybe that's a bad example given recent events in America.)

Look, Canada cheated, and got caught. As anyone who's been dinged for an expensive speeding ticket knows, "others also do it" isn't an effective defense. The punishment was somewhat arbitrary, sure, but only because this kind of thing isn't exactly codified. The punishment may yet be more severe for Canada Soccer, depending on what various investigations uncover.

But FIFA tried to send Canada home without actually sending it home and the Canadian women, demonstrating some truly remarkable resilience, elbowed their way through the narrowest of openings that was left for them. Three wins from three, when even the slightest of wobbles would have ended their gold-medal defense is some truly gutsy play. And worth celebrating.

The questions, though, won't stop. The longer they advance, Canadians will be saluting their never-quit attitude while other countries will be wondering why they're still in Paris.

For Gilles and her teammates, it'll very much be them against the world. It's worked so far.