Could it be this country is passionate about something other than hockey? We Canadians still can’t decide whether to fulminate or to celebrate today.

Our battered soccer squad has scored a bronze — the first team medal in a summer sport since 1936 — which helps move the goalposts in the right direction. But it’s hard to get over the fact we should’ve been going for gold. It’s been four days since the Thriller in Manchester and Canada remains up in arms about football (the real moniker for soccer). Women’s soccer, to boot.

Forget the fact we felled the feisty French, although they outplayed us. The crux of the matter is that we lost unfairly to the Americans after outplaying them, which is the worst thing that could possibly happen. It’ll take the rest of the summer for our collective blood pressure to come down after that one.

The amazing thing is that the average Canadian woman, child and man has become a fan. Again, keep in mind we are not talking about hockey. And yet everybody knows the referee ruined our chances for gold on Monday by making the most anal decision in the annals of the sport. This newspaper even devoted half an acre of sports space to help explain the arcane rule that led to the mother of all officiating controversies.

Then there are the lesser controversies that arose out of the Olympic semi-final, which pundits are dubbing the greatest match in the history of women’s soccer. The American handball that was never called. The Canadian player who stomped — deliberately? — on a rival’s head. The video evidence is on YouTube. You be the judge.

Everybody, it seems, also has an opinion about whether the Canadian women played too rough in denouncing the Norwegian ref in the aftermath of the game. Accusing her of bad judgment is one thing; blatant pro-American bias is quite another.

There is growing consensus about one thing, however — that Canadian captain Christine Sinclair, who scored a hat trick in the heroic effort against the U.S., deserves to be our flag-bearer at the closing ceremonies. She may eventually be suspended by FIFA brass for mouthing off, but it’s her lion-hearted performance on the field of play that speaks loudest for Canada.

What does all this tell me? That women’s soccer has truly arrived as a spectator sport. Unfortunately, it won’t arrive here in Halifax any time soon.

The stage is set for a potential grudge match between Canada and the U.S. in three years, not to mention clashes between titans like Japan, Brazil, France and Great Britain. Canada is hosting the Women’s World Cup in 2015 and the under-20 world championship the previous year.

But there is zero potential for any of this action to take place on Bluenose soil. Something about a sports stadium Halifax won’t get around to building because apparently it’s too rich for our blood. Halifax is the unrivalled regional capital, but it can’t be getting too big for its britches, you see, so Moncton will be your friendly neighbourhood host city.

You have to wonder if and when the cleat will ever be on the other foot. One of the stadium feasibility studies prepared for city council points out that “the HRM population has been growing and is projected to grow by 65,280 persons from 2006 to 2026” and that “a total of almost 700,000 people live within a two-hour drive time of HRM.”

In other words, shouldn’t Monctonians be driving to Halifax? And if Halifax is attracting new residents by the arena-full, why can’t it fill an arena on a semi-regular basis?

Based on population trends alone, I’d say the business case for a multi-purpose stadium grows stronger with each passing year. But the leadership of this province rarely seems to get ahead of the game. This time around, the city failed to convince the province or the feds to cost-share with $20 million apiece, and so another opportunity to adequately equip the city has been punted down the road.

Team Canada learned the hard way that the penalty for delay of game is a free kick to your opponent. As for Halifax, it can never seem to put its ball in play, so guess who’s having yet another field day?

(llepierres@herald.ca)