Canadians trying to win for Sinclair
Thirty-one-year-old has carried national team; now the team hopes to carry its star player
John Herdman takes a long pause as he ponders what he is looking forward to most at this summer’s Women’s World Cup, his first as head coach of the Canadian national team.
“Her final in BC Place,” he said of the championship game in Vancouver on July 5.
“I can’t think of another moment in football that would be more visceral, because of everything it means to our country, to our captain.” “Her,” of course, is Christine Sinclair. At 31, Canada’s best soccer player has a list of successes that rival some of the finest in the world. She is the country’s all-time leading goal-scorer with 53. She has played a record 223 times for Canada.
She won the Lou Marsh Trophy in 2012, the first soccer player to ever be named Canada’s athlete of the year. Part of that was due to her remarkable hattrick in the semifinal against the United States at the London Olympics.
When Alex Morgan scored the extra-time goal in the controversial 4-3 U.S. win, Sinclair’s country felt her pain.
And this year, at the first Women’s World Cup on Canadian soil, the squad — like Herdman — doesn’t want Sinclair to hurt.
Among the reasons the players give as to why they want to win the tournament, aside from the glory and the fans, is one common consensus: Do it for Sincy.
“People believe in people, not things. They don’t believe in a World Cup; they believe in people. People they live with, work for,” Herdman says. “They believe in the people in this country, they believe in the kids they feel they can inspire. They believe in Christine, and want her to have a story.”
Even the newest players, like 19-year-old midfielder Ashley Lawrence who is preparing for her first senior World Cup, understand the call.
“Every practice, every game she just brings her ‘A’ game,” Lawrence says. “It’s very contagious how passionate she is about her love for Canada and the team.”
The highest-ranked team in their group with the eyes of a country on them, Canada is facing high expectations come Saturday, when they kick off the tournament against China in Edmonton.
Sinclair is cagier than her teammates about Canada’s chance at winning the World Cup on home turf.
“I think over the past couple of years we’ve shown that we can compete and beat any team in the world. It’s just a matter of us doing it for seven straight games when it matters most,” she told the Star. “So, we’ll see.”
Still, the native of Burnaby, B.C., gets cautiously excited at the prospect of hoisting the trophy 20 minutes from where she grew up. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.” You’ll forgive Sinclair for refraining from getting her hopes too high. The three-time World Cup participant played on the team who came in last place in Germany in 2011. This time, Sinclair doesn’t feel the need to carry the team on her back, a pressure she admits to having dealt with in the past.
“We’re more talented than we’ve ever been, we’re closer than we’ve ever been. I don’t feel that pressure. This is a team in every sense of the word.”
Individually, she’ll be looking to put the ball in the back of the net, driving the strike force for a team that isn’t otherwise known for their offensive dominance.
And though she is a subtle leader at the heart of the squad, coach Herdman continues to issue other challenges to his captain.
“Christine’s challenge is to become a more significant leader,” he says. “When she speaks, people listen so she needs to speak more often. But not too often; that’s always the balance.”
If Sinclair picking up the biggest trophy on the planet for female soccer players doesn’t motivate Canada to get behind the team or the squad to win the World Cup, Herdman doesn’t know what will.
“I don’t think there’s another moment like that that any of us will be able to buy or even experience again in our lifetime.”