By Philip O’Connor
VANCOUVER, June 29 (Reuters) – Canada needed a stoppage-time goal from Stephen Eustaquio to beat South Africa and make it through to the last 16 at the World Cup, but they got an early vote of confidence from Christine Sinclair, the country’s greatest-ever player, who never doubted that they would progress.
“During the first half of the South Africa game, I booked flights to Houston, I knew they were going to win,” a smiling Sinclair told Reuters the morning after the game.
Canada will face the Netherlands or Morocco in Texas in the last 16 of a tournament they are co-hosting with the United States and Mexico, and Sinclair says the event and the team’s success have boosted the status of the sport in the ice hockey-mad country.
“Something’s changed – like, we’ve become like a soccer country, and the fans are incredible and everyone seems happy and totally united. It’s been beyond my expectations, for sure,” Sinclair said.
“Honestly, it has been absolutely amazing. I’ve known all along what the sport can do, and I’ve been fortunate to have played it and played in World Cups and Olympics, and I’ve seen in other places how it can bring people together.”
Sinclair and the Canadian women’s team have long been the standard-bearers for the sport in the country, hosting the World Cup in 2015 and winning Olympic gold in Tokyo, and by getting out of their group the men’s team have won their place in the nation’s hearts.
With 190 goals in 331 caps, the 43-year-old Sinclair from Burnaby is the top scorer in the history of international football, and she was an integral part of the team that won Olympic gold in Tokyo.
Sinclair finds it mildly embarrassing that her voice can be heard on Vancouver’s SkyTrains during the World Cup, giving fans directions to the BC Place stadium and the FIFA fan festival in the city, but she is delighted at the involvement she has had in the tournament.
SKYTRAIN VOICE
“Doing Kia commercials with Thierry Henry and Rio Ferdinand, just things that I would have never thought possible, andthen to be asked to do like the SkyTrain voice … I’m working at the stadium through some of the hospitality aspects of it, I didn’t think I would ever be asked to be involved as much as I am, but it’s an honour and a privilege and I get to go to the games, so it’s great,” she said.
Sinclair is adamant that Canada should now be seen as a football country, but challenges remain.
“We have an infrastructure problem here in this country … we don’t have the right stadiums or training facilities for these professional teams. Obviously our men’s teams in the MLS have appropriate training facilities, as they should, but we lack those 15 to 20,000, 25,000-seat stadiums,” she said.
“Canada is a huge country, and I feel like a lot of the time, if you’re not in Vancouver or Toronto, you slip through the cracks and don’t have the same access that those in Vancouver and Toronto have.
“Canada is full of small communities, so it’s having those grassroots programs, the appropriate coaching, the facilities across the country, not just in your big hubs.”
All of those discussions are on hold as Canada’s march in the tournament continues, but for Sinclair, the legacy is clear.
“We’re creating lifelong soccer fans and future soccer stars dreaming of being the next Jonathan David,” she said.
“Our country has been in love with our women’s team for many years now, and I’m happy that it’s happening to the guys now.”
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor, editing by Ed Osmond)
