But, that’s not what I came here to write. It’s important to realize how important the 2002 event was to the sport as a whole in Canada. It was the first time Canadians tuned in to watch Canada play soccer in big numbers. A lot of people believe that the success of 2002 was the biggest reason that Canada was then awarded the 2007 u-20 men, which, in turn lead to the building of BMO Field.

BMO Field begat TFC; TFC begat MLS to Vancouver and Montreal; Those moves begat interest in bringing D2 teams to places like Edmonton, Ottawa and Hamilton…and it goes and goes and goes.

Without those teenage girls at Commonwealth who knows how much further we’d have fallen.

It is interesting to see how far the women’s game has come in CONCACAF since 2002. Canada failed to qualify to the u-20s this time around, with Costa Rica taking its place. The US u-17 team is staying home this fall as well when the world championships kick-off in T&T. In both cases it’s likely a blip and Canada and the US are still clearly the best two women’s programs in the region. However, the idea that either (and especially the US) would have failed to get to a world event prior to now would have been laughable. You can point to the beginning of age group competition as the main reason for the closing gap.