What to know from a busy weekend for Canadian national teams

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Three of Canada's most-followed national teams were in the news over the past few days. Here's what to know:

Women's basketball: Taking the scenic route to the Olympics

Canada already knew that its road to Paris will go through one of the four Olympic qualifying tournaments to be held in February 2024. But the world's fifth-ranked team was hoping to shorten that path at the FIBA Women's AmeriCup in Mexico, where a direct ticket to the Olympic qualifiers was up for grabs for the top finisher other than the United States. The powerhouse Americans clinched an Olympic berth with their victory in last year's Women's Basketball World Cup.

Despite being without WNBA players Kia Nurse, Bridget Carleton and Laeticia Amihere, the Canadians did their part in the preliminary round by going 4-0 with a tournament-best plus-137 point differential to win Group B. That should have allowed them to avoid facing the U.S. until the final, but the top-ranked Americans (also missing their WNBA players) surprisingly placed second in Group A after losing to 13th-ranked Brazil.

As a result, Canada ran into the U.S. in the semifinals and lost 67-63 before rebounding to beat Puerto Rico in Sunday's less-meaningful bronze game. Brazil won the other semifinal to grab the spot in the Olympic qualifiers before upsetting the Americans again in the final to win the continental championship trophy.

Canada must now go through an Olympic "pre-qualifying" event in November in order to reach the qualifying tournaments proper. That shouldn't be a problem, but it will require a bit more work.

Men's soccer: