Christine Sinclair stood in silence on the pitch of Old Trafford – her dreams in tatters. It was a gut-wrenching loss. Now it would take courage to re-group her team and travel to Coventry and the Bronze medal match against France.
Captain Canada
Ya gotta love Christine Sinclair.
August 6, 2012. Canada hoped to see Sinclair captain our Women’s Olympic Soccer Team to an improbable victory over the heavily-favoured US team.
Sinclair is a warrior if ever there was one. I watched her compete in Edmonton in the U19 FIFA World Championship in August 2002. She was the standout, game after game for Canada. Even though Canada lost to the US, Sinclair was named the Tournament MVP with 10 goals.
Since then she has become known as one of the most consistent women’s soccer players in the world. She is a multiple season winner as Canadian Soccer Player of the Year and nominated over five times as World Soccer Player of the year.
Our family camped out in an air conditioned Boston Pizza in Sylvan Lake on a 30C August day. The pitch was Old Trafford, home of Manchester United, “The Theatre of Dreams” – aptly named for a Canadian upset. Sinclair was the dominant player for Canada. She won the battles, fearlessly giving her all in scoring three times. Canada couldn’t hold any of the leads. History repeated itself. The US won in overtime.
The game ranked with the greatest sporting moments of history – one of the finest Canadian Olympic efforts in memory.
Olympic Gold
Fast forward to 2020 when Sinclair received an Olympic gold medal as captain of the first Canadian soccer team to be crowned Olympic champions.
In January 2022, Sinclair was awarded with the Best FIFA Special Award, as the world’s all-time leading scorer.
Happy Canada Day, Captain Canada!
Do you have a memory of Christine? Please post in the comment section below.
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