In a perfect world, Canadian midfielder Diana Matheson would have represented her country at one final Olympics. She would have donned the Canadian red at the Tokyo Games that were meant to be held last summer, returned home, ideally with another medal around her neck, and then called it a career.

But that’s not the way the narrative played out. The COVID-19 pandemic hit, postponing the 2020 Olympics to this summer. Injuries once again flared for Matheson in the off-season, and she said her body was sending her “some pretty clear signals” about considering retirement.

“The decision was made a bit for me but, at the same time, I think I was ready for it and I'm excited to do what's next as well,” Matheson told TSN.

The 37-year-old native of Oakville, Ont., announced her retirement on social media on Wednesday after a lengthy career with Canada that spanned almost two decades.

After making her debut with the Canadian women’s soccer team as an 18-year-old in 2003, Matheson amassed 206 caps, the second-most in team history, behind only Christine Sinclair (299) – although Sophie Schmidt currently has 205 appearances for Canada.

Matheson participated in three Olympics and became a Canadian household name in 2012 when she scored the lone goal in the bronze-medal match in London. Four years later, she and Canada took home bronze again in the Rio Games.

She also played in four World Cups and was part of the squad that finished fourth in 2003, the country’s best-ever finish at the event.

“I've been so lucky to play for so long – 18 years, couple Olympics, incredible teammates, all that,” Matheson said. “I think I'm at as good a place as I could be mentally and personally and everything else to be ready to retire.”

“D’s been an absolute pioneer for Canadian soccer, and not just women’s soccer, but men’s too,” forward Janine Beckie, who has been Matheson’s teammate since 2015, told TSN. “She is not just an incredible player, but she has so much love and passion and respect for the game and where it’s been and where it’s going. She has such a huge eye for what the future of Canadian soccer can be.”

“What she did as a teammate, and I’m kind of getting emotional, because she helped take this program to another level,” Karina Leblanc, Matheson’s teammate from 2003 to 2015, told TSN. “We always said we want to leave the program better than when we went into it, and she did that. I'm so proud of her to have been a teammate. I'm so proud of her as a friend.”

Matheson’s decision to retire stems from her latest bout with injuries. In 2019, she underwent surgery to repair an avulsion fracture in her left foot – the ligament in her toe had pulled off a little piece of bone, which was hitting a nerve and causing her constant pain.

Matheson missed the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup because of the injury, instead joining TSN’s panel as part of the coverage for the tournament. She returned to the Canadian squad in 2020 for the Tournoi de France and also suited up for her former club, Utah Royals FC, at last summer’s NWSL Challenge Cup, netting a goal in her team’s opener.

But in December, the foot that kept her out of the 2019 World Cup was bothering her once again. She was having problems with her sesamoids (bones embedded in tendons in the foot), as well as issues with her joints.

“I just never really could come back from that,” she said. “Every time we tried to ramp up, it would break down again and flare. It became more of a question of – I'd like to be able to run into and past my 40s versus being able to handle the load of an international game. So it was really just my body can't do it anymore.”

Injuries were unfortunately a major part of Matheson’s career. In 2010, she broke a metatarsal bone in her left foot.

A year later, she had surgery to repair torn cartilage in her right knee, recovering in time to play in the 2012 Olympics.

She similarly fought back from injury for the 2015 Women’s World Cup. After tearing her left ACL in 2014, she battled to get named to Canada’s roster for the tournament, but she faced another setback in the months prior to the World Cup after breaking a bone in her right foot.

In 2017, she once again underwent surgery after re-tearing the same ACL she had previously injured.

“It's sad and it's unfortunately the story of a lot of Canadian athletes out there,” Matheson said. “We go and we go until our bodies burn out and that's what's happened.”

While Matheson has felt comfortable with her decision to retire, there were still plenty of moments of doubt.

“There was certainly three, four months there where it was really tough. Where I'm like, ‘Am I done? Do I want to be done? Am I ready to be done?’” she said.

“To retire right before an Olympics is obviously hard… I think especially in a team sport, obviously, where I have teammates… I know it's not true, and they would never say this, but there's a thought in the back of your head: ‘Are you letting them down?’ Because you didn't make it back again. I've bounced back from a lot of injuries. I've set the bar perhaps unreasonably high that I would make it back from this one as well.”

Matheson never had the opportunity to play for her new National Women’s Soccer League expansion team, Kansas City NWSL, this season. She last suited up for Canada on March 10, 2020, subbing into a game against Brazil in the Tournoi de France.

The Canadians were trailing 2-0 before Matheson entered the match. She scored in the 73rd minute – her 19th career international goal – then set up Beckie in the 86th minute to give Canada the 2-2 draw.

“I was happy with the way I performed in that tournament. So at least I went out on a bit of a high,” she said.

Matheson’s resume goes beyond her legendary goal in 2012. She played for Princeton from 2004 to 2007 while majoring in economics and was named Ivy League Player of the Year in 2007.

For club, she won a league title in Norway with Team Strømmen in 2012 before joining the Washington Spirit in the NWSL’s inaugural season in 2013. During that year, Matheson was named to the NWSL All-Star Team and earned Washington’s MVP honours. She still holds the club record for most goals scored with 23.

In 2016, she helped lead the team to the NWSL championship game, where the Spirit would lose in penalties to Western New York Flash. Matheson had the final penalty attempt for Washington, but her shot was saved by fellow Canadian, Sabrina D’Angelo, which Matheson says still “stings a bit.”

“That, I’m a little bitter about. It was an OK penalty and it was OK save” Matheson said dryly. “I wish I'd been able to get that NWSL Championship.”

For country, Matheson was a mainstay in Canada’s midfield for well over a decade, even though she never played for any of the Canadian youth teams. Of her 206 caps for the senior team, 193 were starts. She finished with 23 assists, tied for second-most in team history. Along with her two Olympic bronze medals, she also took home gold at the 2011 Pan American Games.

“Her and Sincy, I would put them in the same bracket,” Rhian Wilkinson, Matheson’s teammate from 2003 to 2017, told TSN. “She was always ahead of her time.”  

“I think when you look at what Diana Matheson did, she brought a skill, a great leadership, communication, the ability to connect on passes and put balls in behind or off the front,” said Leblanc. “She just did things that most midfielders hadn't been able to do…. She adapted her game to where the game was.”

“People know her as someone who never fatigued,” said Wilkinson. “She's actually really irritating to play with because she just never tires – makes everyone else look horrible. She comes off injuries and she's always fitter than everyone else.”

Wilkinson also highlights one of Matheson’s most noticeable features: her height. The diminutive midfielder has always been listed as 5-foot-0, but Wilkinson has her doubts.

“She tells everyone she's five foot tall, but there's no chance. I am convinced that either her [doctor] has been lying to her entire life or she's delusional,” she said with a smile.

“She obviously looks small, and then you meet her and you just can't believe that this person has been able to perform at the top level…. I was like, ‘What an amazing story you are.’ I mean, so many people decide that athletes have to look a certain way or be this big or this tall or this strong or powerful, and she played longer than everyone, pretty much.”

“Her size mattered like nil because she was so powerful. She was such a force,” said Leblanc.

“That wasn't something I ever embraced early on, trying to be a cheerleader for shorter players,” Matheson said. “But I completely recognize that a lot of people looked up to me for that reason,” she paused, adding air quotes around “looked up to me” and laughing. “I'm totally proud of that.”

“It doesn't say much about me that she won headers over me. But it happened, once. I'm still recovering,” said Wilkinson.

“Rhian was notoriously a poor header. That is meaningless,” laughed Matheson.

Of course, all the talk about Matheson inevitably returns to her goal in the 2012 Olympic Games in London – a play that she didn’t initially remember.

“I got interviewed at the side of the field afterwards and they asked me to describe it, and I got it all wrong. I had no idea,” she said.

Facing France in the bronze-medal match, Canada was coming off an emotional loss to their American rivals in the semi-finals, a match that was embroiled with controversial refereeing decisions and a last-second goal in extra time to deny Canada a chance to play for gold.

The Canadians were drained physically and emotionally, and France had them pinned in their own end for much of the bronze-medal match. The French had peppered Canada’s net with shots but were kept off the scoresheet.

In the 92nd minute, with the score still 0-0 and extra time looming, a shot from Schmidt deflected right to Matheson, who was able to calmly slot it into the net.

“It was one of those moments truly where time slows, and you're in the zone,” she said. “I knew the goalkeeper was out of position, and all I had to do is put the ball in, and it was just like a moment of Zen. Then I think I was off celebrating before the ball was even in the back of the net.”

During her celebration, Matheson ran with her arms outstretched, then grabbed the Canadian crest on the front of her jersey.

“She was tapping her heart because it was for the country,” said Leblanc. “And I think that's what summarizes D’s career. It was always the country first.

“Like for me, I have goosebumps just thinking about it, because it was more than a goal. People say that, but it meant so much to the program. It meant so much to us as players and it meant so much to Canadians,” said Leblanc.

That defining moment is also one of Wilkinson’s favourite memories of her good friend, but not for the goal itself. After Matheson scored, Wilkinson picked her up so that she could celebrate in the air, but Matheson ended up slumping over her teammate’s shoulder.

“So a lot of the [pictures in] newspapers are my face and her butt, which worked well for me,” Wilkinson laughed. “But that's a favourite moment, because afterwards, I'm like, ‘Why would you do that? Why would you “sack of potatoes” over me when I was trying to give you your glory moment?’”

“She picked me up wrong,” Matheson responded. “She picked me up so low that I had no choice to go over – that was gravity.”

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Matheson recognizes 2012 as a “watershed moment” for Canadian soccer and one of the reasons she feels like she’s leaving the game in a better place than where she found it.

“The generation that's coming through now certainly was inspired from that 2012 team.,” she said. “I think 2012 was a tipping point, for sure.”

Making an impact off the pitch

As important as Matheson was on the pitch for Canada, she has made just as much of an impact off it. Matheson is the executive director of the Canadian Soccer Players’ Association (CSPA), which was formed in 2016 to help protect and promote women’s players’ rights in Canada. 

The CSPA has taken a stand on several issues regarding social justice and inequality, such as Black Lives Matter, Indigenous rights, and Pride Month.

“It's something as a group, as a team, that we take seriously,” said Matheson. “We want to be role models for Canada. We want to try and represent all Canadians.”

“It wasn’t until I became a player rep that I realized how much work she does behind the scenes to make sure that players get what they need and that we continue to push for better situations, better pay,” said Beckie. “She’s at the forefront of all that and does a really, really incredible job behind the scenes doing way more than anyone would ever know.”

Behind the scenes, Matheson also strived to make the younger players on Canada feel welcome, whether that was in the team locker room, or helping them with contracts and agents.

“As a teammate, my gosh, I don’t think they get much better than Diana,” said Beckie. “Passionate, says it how it is, has high standards, has a really awesome way of having high standards and holding you accountable while doing it in a loving and caring way, not coming off the wrong way, but also telling you what you need to hear maybe when you don’t want to hear it. I think that’s the ultimate teammate.”

“That's something I probably got a lot better at later in my career. I didn't used to be the most talkative when I was a younger player on the team, or the most welcoming. Desi[ree Scott] says I wasn't very nice to her when she made the team,” Matheson said with a smile.

“First and foremost, I'd like to be remembered as a good teammate, and I always added to the environment rather than taking away.”

With her playing days behind her, Matheson is setting her sights on one of her biggest passion projects: bringing professional women’s soccer to Canada. Last year, Nick Bontis, president of Canada Soccer, said one of his priorities was to have an NWSL club north of the border.

“For me, I'd love to be a part of working on the other side of it,” said Matheson. “So an NWSL club, for sure we need that. But that's only going to be half a percentage of women's soccer players who are going to be affected by that – the top one per cent gets to play on an NWSL team. We still need a professional league for the other 99 per cent of women in this country.

“We have such a great starting place. Canada Soccer supports women's soccer, our youth program is incredible... So all the building blocks are there. Now it's just time to build a league. We can make this happen. We can create an industry not just for the players, but for women's coaches, women's referees, women in executive roles with clubs, club presidents. We can build this industry in our country, and we can build it so it's inclusive and diverse, and we can do it from the ground up. I think it's going to be really excited.”

Matheson is working towards her MBA at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. She said while the coaching bug never bit her like it did for other retired players like Wilkinson, who’s currently an assistant with England’s women’s national team, she wants to stay involved in the sport and learn the business side of it.

“We need more women and former players in sport, and I want to try and climb that ladder and get into positions where I can help make decisions. I can help build diverse teams and we can help influence the Canadian landscape,” said Matheson.

“She will be the GM of some kind of club,” said Wilkinson. “She could do it tomorrow, and I mean that in all seriousness. I'm not just promoting my friend. If you've met her, you know how prepared she is, and organized and smart.”

“I mean, look out world, and especially the soccer world, and I mean that in the most exciting way… I think the world is her oyster.”