Time for Canadians to turn hype into a winning performance

Sunday marks the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, the climax of a yearlong journey into the light, a day to celebrate light’s triumph over darkness.

On this day, Canada’s women’s soccer team will either celebrate its arduous climb to the world stage or will descend into a spiral of gloom in a long, regretful summer. The longest day of the year may well be their longest day of the year, in more ways than one.

Canada’s destiny has yet to be written. The real tournament now begins. Tickets are hot. It’s do or die.

Nineteenth- ranked Switzerland, home to the woeful bureaucratic catastrophe that is FIFA, stand in the way between Canada’s passage into the limelight or descent into Hades. Like clockwork precision, the Swiss have proven to our Vancouver crowd that they possess the skill set, counter- attacking prowess and willpower on defence to give the host nation the battle of its life.

And combat it will be — mostly because we don’t know which Canadian team will show up. For the most part, Canada has been respectable, has possessed the ball better than anytime in its history. But it’s also been flat on attack, has lacked fire.

Canada has John Herdman, the charming, inspirational coach we all love to see smile. It has the kid in the back — Kadeisha Buchanan — who’s only 19 years old, but seemingly going on 133 in dog years in experience, judging by the way she calmly manages the back line. And of course, there’s the poster star Christine Sinclair up front.

But can Canada will itself, and can the home crowd galvanize the team, into the quarterfinals?

When the French lost 2-0 to Colombia, they were beside themselves. They were so bloody disgusted at their performance that they were begging to play the next day. They needed to prove that the loss was an aberration. Thirty-four seconds into their next game against Mexico and the ball was in the net. That 5-0 thrashing could have been more. Before coming to Canada, they repeatedly heard they were the best, they would be champions, that it was their time. And they believed it.

Canada has also enjoyed a long, splendid afterglow since grabbing the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. The players are stars now. The eyelashes are longer, the hair is manicured and the expectations are high.

But it’s not good enough.

One is only as good as one’s last game, and Canada’s stars have yet to match the hype with a performance that is luminous let alone notable. It’s necessary now.

No fun Vancouver will really be no fun Vancouver without Canada still in the World Cup.

The summer solstice represents celebrating the divine awakening of the sun. Let’s hope Sinclair and company have brighter days to come.