SINCLAIR GIVING TOMORROW’S STARS REASON TO DREAM
Ageless wonder joined by star-struck teens as she leads Canada into battle yet again
Maya Antoine was an 11-yearold girl sitting on the couch at home in Vaughan, Ont., eyes glued to every televised moment of the national women’s soccer team’s march to Olympic bronze in London in 2012. She was focused on every move by Canada captain Christine Sinclair.
Fast forward slightly more than six years. Antoine is now a brilliant 17-year-old young woman and likely headed to Vanderbilt University. She also happens to be one of Canada’s young guns who will take to the pitch at TD Place Sunday afternoon to make her national team debut, alongside the legendary Sinclair.
Antoine will be one of five teens in the Canadian lineup for the friendly meeting that matches up the Canadians, ranked fifth in the world, against one of their chief rivals, seventh-ranked Brazil. This will be Canada’s final tune-up before the October CONCACAF qualifier in Texas for the opportunity to advance to the FIFA Women’s World Cup scheduled next year in France.
“That was really the first time I became more aware (of the national team), watching the 2012 Olympics,” says Antoine, while enjoying some celebrity status on Parliament Hill this week. “It’s all pretty crazy.”
“I think every girl in Canada has that dream to play for the national team. But getting there has been a real journey for all of us. It’s a real honour now to play for the team.”
Antoine grew up playing her minor soccer at various levels with the Vaughan Soccer Club before her talents took her to the highest levels and now to playing with and against the best in the world.
In her spare time, she’s been doing a little coaching back in Vaughan with girls born in 2008 and ’09, and there’s no disputing who they idolize.
“Watching them, it’s almost scary how good they are,” said Antoine. “But they will ask, ‘Have you played with Christine Sinclair ?’ and all I could say then was, ‘Yes, I met her once.’
“But now I’m playing with her.”
Deanne Rose’s story is similar, but she was 13 watching the 2012 Olympics at home in Alliston and she advanced a little quicker than Antoine to where she was able to score a goal in the bronze-medal game at the 2016 Rio Games to help Canada beat host Brazil 2-1.
It seems those Olympics changed the lives of many young girls across the country.
“I just became a huge fan of (Sinclair),” said Rose. “I never though I would some day play withher.
“At the start, I was nervous, maybe a little star-struck. Even now, after three years, you still get a little that way.”
Heading to the qualifier in October, Canadian coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller has selected a squad that blends both experience and youth. Julia Grosso, Jordyn Huitema and Jayde Riviere join Antoine and Rose to make up the teenage quintet.
The lineup Ottawa fans will see also features two-time Olympic bronze medallists Sinclair, Sophie Schmidt, Desiree Scott and Diana Matheson, as well as London 2012 bronze medallist and goalkeeper Erin McLeod, who missed Rio 2016 with an injury.
Also from the core of the Rio team are Janine Beckie, Kadeisha Buchanan, Allysha Chapman, Jessie Fleming, Stephanie Labbe, Ashley Lawrence, Nichelle Prince and Rebecca Quinn.
National team veterans Lindsay Agnew, Sabrina D’Angelo, Adriana Leon and Shannon Woeller complete the roster.
But the one thing that never gets mentioned around the team is age.
Not if you’re 17 or just turned 35, as in the case of Sinclair.
Sinclair was still three months shy of her 17th birthday when she scored her first goal as a member of the national team. That was in the eighth minute of her second game for Canada on March 14, 2000 at the Algarve Cup in Portugal.
A remarkable 18 seasons later, Sinclair’s resume includes 275 starts, and most importantly, 173 goals wearing the national jersey. She’s just 11 goals from tying retired American legend Abby Wambach as the highest goal scorer in world soccer history, male or female.
“As long as Canada keeps me around, I’ll keep scoring goals,” said Sinclair. “(The record) only comes to mind when people talk about it. It’s never been a goal of mine. But if it happens, great.”
Listing all of Sinclair’s accomplishments is old hat: two Olympic bronze medals, one CONCACAF championship, two NWSL championships, two USL W-League titles, two WPS championships and two NCAA championships at Portland State.
Just as remarkable, or maybe more so, is that on the international stage Sinclair has averaged .64 goals per appearance and, by factoring in her 53 career assists, she has averaged .84 points per national team appearance.
Oh, and all the while becoming an ambassador for women’s soccer, while giving young girls something to dream about.