Sinclair scores twice in Canada’s win over Korea
LAGOS, PORTUGAL — Christine Sinclair scored twice Monday to help Canada to a 3-0 win over South Korea at the Algarve Cup soccer tournament.
The goals raised Sinclair’s career tally to 172, just 12 behind retired American Abby Wambach’s international record of
184 goals.
Sinclair opened the scoring in the 24th minute, banging home a rebound from her own penalty kick after fullback Allysha Chapman was taken down in the box.
Jessie Fleming, a 19-year-old midfielder earning her 50th cap, made it 2-0 in the 73rd minute with a right-footed shot from the edge of the penalty box from a Sinclair setup. It was her fifth goal for Canada.
The 34-year-old captain from Burnaby, B.C., making her 265th appearance for Canada, then padded the lead in the 79th minute by tapping the ball home after a goalmouth scramble.
Canada, ranked fifth in the world, improved to 2-1-0 at the tournament after losing 3-1 to No. 10 Sweden and beating
No. 25 Russia 1-0. The Koreans are ranked 14th.
Monday’s game at the Estadio Municipal de Lagos marked the first cap and start for forward Jenna Hellstrom. Kailen Sheridan started in goal for Canada.
The Canadian women improved to 7-1-0 against Korea.
U.S. forward Davies retires from soccer at 31
American forward Charlie Davies, whose career was derailed by a car crash in 2009, is retiring from soccer at age 31.
Davies scored four goals in 17 appearances for the U.S. before he was a passenger in a car crash on Oct. 13, 2009 that killed another passenger and left him with two broken bones in his right leg, a dislocated left elbow, a ruptured bladder, bleeding on the brain and broken bones in his nose, forehead and eye socket. The driver was found to be drunk and pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
Loaned from the French club Sochaux to Major League Soccer’s D.C. United, Davies returned to first-team soccer on March 19, 2011, with a pair of goals against Columbus. He went back to Sochaux, but played just two matches in 2011-12, then moved to Denmark’s Randers for 2012-13 and the New England Revolution from 2013-15.
He spent the last two seasons with the Philadelphia Union, failing to score in 11 league matches. Davies had 25 goals in 101 MLS matches, but never regained the pace he showed with the national team. His most significant goal was a go-ahead strike for the U.S. in a 2-1 loss at Mexico in a World Cup qualifier in August 2009.
Davis was diagnosed with liposarcoma in the spring of 2016 and said that summer it was in remission.
In a video statement on his Twitter account Friday, Davies says, “I’ve loved every second of my time on the field, even the desperate lows of injury and cancer that eventually made the highs all that much sweeter.”