For Canada, this Gold Cup has lost its lustre

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The biggest event in soccer this year is the Women's World Cup, which kicks off in just over three weeks in Australia and New Zealand. In the meantime, there's a sizable men's tournament happening in this part of the globe. The CONCACAF Gold Cup — the continental championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean — is underway now, primarily in the United States.

The Gold Cup holds a special place in Canadian soccer history. Its precursor, the CONCACAF Championship, once served as the region's qualifying tournament for the World Cup. Canada won it in 1985 to earn its first World Cup appearance the following year. The next generation's defining moment came at the 2000 Gold Cup, where Canada surprised everyone by lifting the trophy for the first (and still only) time with a 2-0 victory over Colombia in the final in L.A.

Canada's chances of reaching its first Gold Cup final since that incredible run seemed pretty strong after the men's team topped CONCACAF's World Cup qualifying tournament en route to its first World Cup appearance since 1986 last year in Qatar. But that effort, along with Canada's run to the CONCACAF Nations League title match in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, ended up sapping the team's Gold Cup hopes.

Coach John Herdman announced shortly after his team's loss to the United States in the Nations League final that most of his best players will not be available for the Gold Cup. They need time to recover from a long European club season with a World Cup dropped into the middle and the Nations League Finals tacked onto the end. Alphonso Davies,