Sinclair looks for some friendly fire
World Cup tune- up against Germany could be just the ticket to snap funk
It took Christine Sinclair nine games to score her first goal this season for the Portland Thorns in the National Women’s Soccer League.
And the Canadian international from Burnaby has still got just that lone goal in 10 games despite leading the NWSL in shots with 41.
“Sooner of later, Sinc’s going to get hot,” head coach Paul Riley said recently of the woman who tallied eight times last season when she helped lead the Thorns to the inaugural NWSL championship.
“She even said to me that, ‘ I’ve never been in this kind of funk in front of net.’ We’ll get her out of it. I still think she’ll get 13 to 15 goals once she gets to taking over.”
Maybe, another turn in Canada shirt can help the just-turned 31- year- old get out of that funk.
Sinclair, the country’s all- time leader in goals with 148 in 209 international matches, will lead Canada against No. 2- ranked Germany, which features one of her Thorns’ teammates in goalkeeper Natalie Angerer, in a friendly at BC Place on Wednesday.
The game is another in a series of tune- ups for next summer’s seventh FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton.
While Sinclair has struggled to find the net in the NWSL, it’s generally been a good season for the other Canadians allocated to the league, the third attempt at creating a place to play for top U. S., Mexican and Canadian pros.
Veteran midfielder Diana Matheson of the Washington Spirit is tied for fourth in goals with five and tied for second in assists with three. Young forward Adriana Leon, a Mississauga, Ont., native, has a goal and three assists with Chicago.
“I think this year, you’re starting to see some real benefits,” says John Herdman, head coach of the Canadian national team.
“I thought year one was always going to be a challenge. The league started pretty late, people were scurrying around to make sure they got the league off the ground. And with that, there were a few challenges, just internally and making sure world- class athletes were getting a real, professional, worldclass experience.
“This year, there’s definitely been improvements. I think the coaching standards have increased and quality of play in the league has progressively got better. And from what I hear from the players, the experience has been better this year.”
One of those who is enjoying the experience more this year is midfielder Kaylyn Kyle, a Saskatoon native.
She spent last season playing out of position as a centre back with the Seattle Reign before being traded to Boston in the off- season. Just a week into this season, she was traded again to the expansion Houston Dash.
The Dash are the second of the league’s nine franchises — Portland is the other — to be owned by a Major League Soccer team.
“It’s been amazing, it’s like a dream,” Kyle said on Friday after a national team practice session at Trillium Park in Vancouver. “It’s really nice playing for a team that’s run by an MLS team because they know how to run a professional organization from the top down.
“From our recovery drinks to our ice baths, I know it sounds so simple, but it’s the little things that go a long way. And being able to proceed with my playing career, it’s really nice to play ( in the Dash midfield) and then come into camp and be comfortable playing in midfield here.”
The Dash, who also feature Canada’s starting keeper Erin McLeod in goal, had put together a three- game unbeaten streak to improve to 4- 7- 1 before losing 2- 1 to FC Kansas City on Saturday night. They were missing five regulars to international call- ups, including Kyle, McLeod, Whitney Engen and Meghan Klingenberg of the U. S. and Nina Burger of Austria.
Portland was a huge success in 2013, averaging 13,230 fans a game, while the league’s seven other teams averaged just 2,978.
Houston drew 8,097 to its season- opener and has been averaging 4,000 since then.
“I think everyone knows that something special is happening in Portland, but if another club such as Houston can drive success, I think eyebrows will be raised,” Chris Canetti, president of the Dash and MLS Dynamo. “Other MLS teams will start considering what a women’s team can bring to their organization.”
Mike Golub, the Thorns’ chief operating officer, says single entity teams like Kansas City and Seattle look like they can succeed, “but the affiliations ( with an MLS team) are certainly a model that we’ve proven can work very well.”
So could the Vancouver Whitecaps, who had a women’s team in the lower tier W League from 2001 to 2012, have the first Canadian team in the NWSL?
“It’s not on the front burner,” says president Bob Lenarduzzi. “One thing we wouldn’t want to conflict with next season is the women’s World Cup.
“Even from a men’s perspective, we’re not sure how long we’re going to be out of the building ( BC Place), so it’s going to be a difficult enough year.”
The only women’s program the Whitecaps currently support is the Girls Elite U17/ 18 team that plays in the Pacific Coast Soccer League.
“It’s a significant commitment on our part ... in the development side so we can be assisting players to develop their game and to, ideally, play on the national team,” said Lenarduzzi.
He said the Caps’ ownership is supportive of the women’s game and will wait and see how the 2015 World Cup goes and then “assess opportunities after that.”
Herdman said he’d love to see the Caps, plus Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact, support teams in the NWSL.
“It’s been discussed ... people are genuinely interested in taking the women’s game forward, but it’s all about timing.
“Previous versions of the professional ( women’s) league haven’t been that successful, so I think any smart businessman would look at whether or not this is sustainable in the long term and whether it’s worth putting money in if it’s going to fall over.
“With the women’s World Cup, I’m hoping they see that as being the catalyst and there’s an attraction and an interest to jump in.”