Also, Toronto FC, Muskoka United FC, and more.

Literally everyone not associated with the USWNT were cheering for Brazil in the women’s soccer/football gold medal match.

Not so much due to being against the Americans (though I’m sure there was some of that sentiment out there), but because we all wanted to see Brazil’s Marta – one of the all-time greatest players in the game – to walk away as a gold medal champion.

Unfortunately, she’ll be settling for a silver as the US took the match 1-0 on a 51^st goal by Mallory Swanson.

Alas, that’s the way the cookie crumbles at times. Just last year, the GOAT from Canada Christine Sinclair saw her hopes of walking away with a World Cup title dashed much earlier than the final.

At least Marta was given a chance to fight for the Olympic title and gets to celebrate a podium finish with her teammates.

Though I would have preferred a deeper run by Canada, and almost anyone but the US winning, the women’s football/soccer tournament at the Olympics again proved to be much better than their male counterparts.

Since we mentioned the men’s side, Spain stunned the Stade de France crowd with a thrilling 5-3 victory over the home team in the final on Friday.

Morrocco took the bronze medal on Thursday with a 6-0 thumping of Egypt. Both these matches helped prove the point of the Olympic men’s tournament being a watered-down version of a football championship.

To make it better, it should only be U21 teams, and they should expand to 20 teams with the continental U21 finals acting as qualifiers. There should be no overage players allowed either.

Side note: As I mentioned in previous columns, this was pretty much the Summer of Spain (Olympic gold, Euro 2024, Euro U19 men’s and women’s titles). It was only the stalwart defending and quality goalkeeping in the Bronze medal match where the wonderful German women stopped the Spanish women from winning something in Paris. They’re still the defending World Cup champs, so don’t feel too bad for them.

Toronto FC Thoughts

A couple of nights ago, Toronto FC fell 4-3 to Inter Miami in really fun match that had penalty kicks, stunning goals, and a red card (to Miami). It was what this mid-season Leagues Cup tournament should be: fun, open, exciting football with the result in doubt until the end.

The only downside for TFC is that they lost all-star Federico Bernadeschi early (very early) in the match to a foot or ankle injury that saw him take off his boot immediately and signal that he was done.

Hopefully it’s not too bad an injury and the healing period is short. It’s also what I was worried about when writing an earlier column about the Leagues Cup . . . injuries ahead of the home stretch in MLS and a looming Canadian Championship must-win semi-final second leg at BMO Field.

Maybe, as I wrote in a previous column, advancing from the group stage to build confidence but getting knocked out early in the bracket is a good thing for the Reds. They can now focus on getting healthy and being at their very best for the home stretch that kicks-off in Houston on August 24.

The next day, homegrown talent Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, who once garnered attention from a handful of topflight European clubs, was shipped to arch-rival Montreal for over $1 million in General Allocation Money (GAM).

This move is likely a precursor to other moves and the financial flexibility allows TFC’s management to do some more business either during this transfer window or in the winter transfer season.

It’s always sad to see a young talent go elsewhere, but under the circumstances and judging by what seemed to be a stall in his growth, chances are Marshall-Rutty will benefit greatly from the move.

Also, barring an unlikely playoff meeting, Toronto is done with Montreal for the year, so they won’t have to face their former player until next season.

Muskoka United FC

The U14 Boys continued their excellent string of performances this year with an 8-2 win over the Barrie Cardinals on Tuesday night in Barrie. Seven different players found the net for Muskoka with James Habel scoring twice, and single tallies for Alex Bianchi, Callum Leese, Jonah McCreadie, Kyliam Coulombe, Owen Robinson, and Wolfgang Kuehnen.

On Wednesday night, the U16 Boys travelled to Alliston and defeated South Simcoe United 1-0 with Wesley Janas scoring the only goal and Aiden Smith getting the clean sheet in net.

On the same night at Gostick Park, the U13 Girls weren’t so lucky. Missing several starters, including their number one keeper (and playing with three U12 call-ups), the Muskoka team fell 5-1 to North Bay. The score was slightly misleading as two goals were imaginary penalty calls that neither team knew why they were called.

On Thursday night, the U12 Girls lost a really tough match against North Bay, 2-0 at McCulley-Robertson Sports Complex in Huntsville. Neither of their two goalies were available, and despite a lot of possession and several chances, the Muskoka team just couldn’t find a goal. Kudos to Savannah Loates and Sophia Earl for stepping up and playing goalie for the team.

Also on Thursday night, the Muskoka 045 Men’s Team travelled to league leaders Nottawasaga and fought hard in a 2-0 loss. Muskoka played with only 10 men on the field throughout the 90 minutes and were held in the game by a strong goalkeeping performance from Clint Bliss. They’ll get another shot at the league-leading Nottawasaga club in the HDSL Cup final on August 18.

Huntsville Soccer Club

The Huntsville Soccer Club has opened registration for its fall youth program that includes fun games, skills development and scrimmages.

The program runs from September 8 to October 13 weekly on Sundays from noon to 2 p.m. and is for youth born from 2009 to 2018.

To find out more or register for the program visit: https://www.huntsvillesoccer.ca/

European Leagues Starting Soon

Yeah, yeah, I know that some of the lesser-weight leagues (including the EFL pyramid) have already kicked off, and the Coppa Italia had its first-round games this week.

However, the Big Four – sorry, still won’t jump on the Ligue 1 bandwagon – are set to begin in the next few weeks, starting with Serie A, the EPL, and La Liga starting this coming week followed by the Bundesliga a week later (always being difficult in Germany about these things, hahaha).

With that in mind, we’ll do a predictions column next week with my picks for Top 4 in each league, as well as surprise teams, and who I think will be relegated come the spring of 2025.

On that note, thanks for reading and Ciao for Now! Stay tuned for next week’s column and check out our sponsor below!