Big Challenges Ahead for Herdman, Canadian Women's Soccer Team

This story originally appeared on VICE Sports Canada.

It was the word every Canadian had been dreading since the start of the Women's World Cup: eliminated. Canada succumbed to England 2-1 during Saturday's quarterfinal at BC Stadium in Vancouver in front of a record 54,000 lively fans in a match deserving of the result. Canada's errors against lower-ranked sides didn't hurt it throughout the tournament, but against England, it wasn't able to camouflage its mistakes. The Lionesses made the host nation pay the ultimate price with a swift exit decided by two first half goals in 14 minutes.

Looking back on Canada's 2015 World Cup campaign, it was an improvement on the last-place finish of 2011, and was its second-highest finish at a World Cup. On paper, the end result will suggest Canada had a decent World Cup run but, if anything, its run highlighted there's still work to do and gaping holes to fill. There may have been satisfaction that Canada made it to the quarterfinals, although it did kind of feel hollow considering the teams it beat to get there.

Canada's group mates were never going to stack up against any of the top ten teams, with the Netherlands ranked 12th, China at 16th and New Zealand coming in at 17th. Even though Canada finished first in the group and showed glimpses of polish and class, it was a lukewarm group stage performance and the team's lack of goal-kicking firepower was worrisome (two goals in three matches and one of those on a penalty.) In the round of 16, Canada was confronted with Switzerland (ranked 19th) and just scraped through with a 1-0 win thanks to a Josee Belanger goal manufactured from nothing. Then came England, Canada's first real test in five games, and it sunk inside 15 minutes.

One of the big things that went wrong for Canada was head coach John Herdman's possession game plan didn't seem to work as well as he'd hoped. To play a possession style game, like the impeccably skilled players of Barcelona FC, you have to be able to execute passes under World Cup pressure without error. Handling the ball more often means you have more opportunities to cough it up, and Canada seemed to make copious amounts of pressure-filled errors in the back half—errors that may not have existed had the team adopted perhaps a long-ball approach. Herdman tried to squeeze his troops into a blueprint he thought would deliver success more often than not, in a more collaborative effort, instead of trying to formulate a game plan around Canada's main strengths: Christine Sinclair and Sophie Schmidt.

Herdman also had no plan B or C, which was evident when injured stars took the field and when he shifted Kadeisha Buchanan into attack instead of reaching for talent on the bench. Every great team has depth and it was obvious Herdman was too shy to pull the trigger on several subs that didn't appear to be ready, leaving more work to the walking wounded and senior players. The great thing about World Cups is that the intense nature of the competition exposes playing lists. Herdman will spend the following weeks trimming and forming lists on players that he'll keep, players that need to go, positions he needs to fill and players he needs to invest time into.

Goalkeeper Erin McLeod played her heart out, and without her Canada may not have even seen the round of 16. Her decision-making of when to hold and when to go makes her world class. She conceded only one goal before the England match and was left helpless in both goals during the quarterfinal. Defender Buchanan, much like McLeod, played with intent, knew when to attack and was able to nullify those one-on-one contests inside the box time and time again. She should be a shoe-in for the FIFA All-Star team. Then there's Sinclair, who kicked two goals for the tournament. She looked subdued for most of the World Cup, but was involved in three out of the four goals Canada kicked. The veteran says she'll be around for the 2019 World Cup as a 36-year old, but four years away is a long time.

The future is bright for Canada. Midfielder Ashley Lawrence, 20, looks like a fast and skillful player with creative flair. Jessie Fleming, 17, didn't look over-awed at playing at a World Cup. Four years is enough time for her to gain some muscle and size. On the cusp, there's defender Rebecca Quinn, 19, who will be playing at Toronto's Pan Am Games and has all the makings of a future Team Canada player. The team at the 2015 World Cup looked half complete in personnel—it always seemed like it was a forward, midfielder and defender short, playing with heart and grit but only significantly well in patches.

With a quarterfinal berth under its belts, Herdman knows the next four years will be crucial for him to complete his rebuild as Canada looks half done. The biggest headache for Herdman: how will he replace Sinclair?