‘It’s a see you later’ for Canada’s Christine Sinclair at her last international game tonight

By Natasha O’Neill

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    TORONTO (CTV Network) — Christine Sinclair will be hanging up her Canadian jersey for the last time in front of a huge crowd in Vancouver tonight. The Canadian soccer legend brought world recognition to women’s sports and helped Canada earn three Olympic medals. She is the top international goal scorer in the world, including both men and women, with 190 international goals. “I think that Canada really is a hockey country, but Christine Sinclair has changed that,” Ellen Hyslop, co-found of The Gist, a Canadian online sports publication, told CTV’s Your Morning on Tuesday. “She has changed the number of girls that play sports, boys that play soccer (and) the amount of people that are fans of the Canadian Women’s National Team.” A few months ago, Sinclair announced her retirement from international soccer, meaning she will continue playing with her National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team, the Portland Thorns, this season. However, it means Sinclair will no longer wear the Canadian jersey, ending a major era for fans watching her compete for the country. Sinclair’s last game with Canada is against Australia at 7 p.m. PST at Vancouver’s B.C. Place — renamed Christine Sinclair Place ahead of the match. Along with Sinclair, teammate Sophie Schmidt will also be retiring at the game. Veteran goalkeeper Erin McLeod, who announced her retirement in January, will also be honoured on Tuesday. The game will mark Sinclair’s 331st international game, a streak she started when she joined Canada’s under-18 national team at 16 years old. SINCLAIR’S RISE WITH CANADA During her first game with the young team, “newcomer” Sinclair scored Canada’s only goal to beat the Metro League All-Stars in 2000, the Canada Soccer website reads. This was the first national camp of the year and Coach Even Pellerud’s first game with the team. And it didn’t stop there. Sinclair continued to help her team compete on the world stage by scoring seven goals, at the age of 18, in the 2002 CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup. Canada ultimately lost in the final to the U.S. Later that same year she competed in the FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship, scoring 10 goals in the tournament and earning the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball. Her Olympic career with Team Canada started in Beijing in 2008, where Canada finished 8th. Sinclair captained her first Olympic games in 2012 at the age of 28 and led the team to its first-ever podium finish. At the London 2012 Olympic games, Sinclair was the leading goal scorer with six of the team’s 12 goals, including a hattrick in a “controversial” game against the United States, the Canadian Olympic website reads. “Christine Sinclair has this quiet confidence, she leads by example,” Hyslop said. “But at the same time, when she gets on the pitch, she is a beast.” Her efforts led her to be named the 2012 Closing Ceremony flag bearer and being given the Lou Marsh Award as the Canadian Athlete of the Year, according to the Canadian Olympic website, becoming the first soccer player to achieve this accomplishment. In 2016, Sinclair was back at the Olympics, this time in Rio, beating Brazil and bringing Canada to another third-place finish. After two third-place positions, the team vowed that at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games they would “change the colour” of the medal. During the tournament, Sinclair scored her 187th international goal in her 300th game in the opening match. She was a presence on the field during Canada’s quarterfinal against Brazil, which the team clinched in a penalty shootout. Against Sweden, Sinclair played the first 86 minutes in the gold medal game before cheering her teammates on in a penalty shootout where Canada won its first women’s Olympic gold medal in soccer. The FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2022 was Sinclair’s last international tournament for Canada where the team was knocked out in the group stage. Despite Sinclair no longer playing in international games, Hyslop said, the athlete is still involved in soccer and in numerous charities and organizations including Project 8, a women’s professional soccer league in Canada. “This really does feel like it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later,” Hyslop said.

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