Canada-USA Tonite!

It may not be ‘friendly’ when Canada, U.S. tangle
They may share a love of the beautiful game, but there will be no love lost between the Canadian and U.S. women’s soccer teams when they meet Monday night at Toronto’s BMO Field.

Officially the meeting is a “friendly,” but consider the United States is the defending champion of the Olympics after putting Canada out of the Beijing Games with a win in the 101st minute. Canada finished eighth, while the Americans went on to gold.

Full Story

Morace brings new attitude to Canadian squad
Christine Sinclair’s professional life has undergone a complete makeover just five months into 2009.

After the 25-year-old Canadian striker played her first three post-college seasons for Vancouver of the W-League, she moved south to play for the Bay Area- based FC Gold Pride of the upstart Women’s Professional Soccer league this year.

Full Story

Canada’s Sinclair eyes lofty soccer milestone
Canada’s most prolific soccer scorer is on the verge of another milestone.

Christine Sinclair heads into tonight’s home game against the defending Olympic champion United States one short of 100 goals in an outstanding international career that began as a teenager.

Full Story

Sinclair approaches Neil’s all-time mark
Christine Sinclair already holds a host of Canadian national team records, most notably those that include putting the ball into the back of the net. Most career goals (99), most goals in a season (16), consecutive games in a season with a goal (6), and most career goals at the FIFA Women’s World Cup (6): they are all records held by the Canadian scoring star.

At just 25 years of age, Sinclair is just three games away from setting another record, this one not for goal scoring. With 129 international appearances, she is just three back of all-time leader Andrea Neil (132). On Monday May 25 at BMO Field, Sinclair will tie Charmaine Hooper for second on the all-time list with her 130th career appearance.

Sinclair already surpassed Hooper earlier this year for most career starts. Sinclair has been part of the starting XI in 126 of her 129 appearances. Sinclair also holds the national record for most career minutes, 11,432 and counting.

Captain Sinclair is one of five Canadians to make at least 100 appearances with Canada’s women’s national team. Sinclair was the third player to do so, reaching the mark on August 30, 2007 in Tokyo, Japan just before the FIFA Women’s World Cup China 2007. In what was an interesting twist, Sinclair actually came in as a substitute in that match, one of her three appearances as a substitute. Neil was the starting captain that day, officially breaking the national record with her 131st career appearance.

Sinclair is expected to at least match Neil’s record later this year. After the May 25 match in Toronto, Canada plays USA two more times in 2009: July 19 in Rochester, NY and July 22 in Charleston, SC.

Sinclair, who grew up in Burnaby, BC, is now in her 10th season with the Canadian women’s national team. A rookie at 16, she has since taken part in three CONCACAF Gold Cups, two FIFA Women’s World Cups and one Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

Canadians set to make Canadian debut
Jodi-Ann Robinson is just 20 years old, but she has already made 33 appearances for Canada’s national team. Should she enter the pitch this Monday 25 May for a 34th appearance, it will in fact be her first played in Canada.

Robinson is one of six players making their home debut with the national team. Christina Julien and Alyssa Lagonia are indeed rookies and have yet to play in Canada with the national team. Kaylyn Kyle, Marie-Eve Nault and Stephanie Labbé have also yet to play in Canada at the national level.

Forward Robinson is the most experienced of the group. She was just 15 years old when she first joined the national team in 2004; she was Canada’s second-youngest player ever when she made her first appearance one season later on 21 April 2005.

Robinson is a former Canadian U-20 Player of the Year, winning the award in 2006. Before that she was the Bc Soccer Youth Athlete of the Year in 2004. She has participated in two FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cups (Thailand 2004 and Russia 2006) and won two CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championships (2004 and 2008).

At the youth level, she scored 16 goals in 30 games. She tied Brittany Timko for second-most at that level, four back of all-time leader Christine Sinclair (20). Robinson has already scored six goals at the national level.

Robinson and Timko both rank second all-time in substitutions (27), six back of all-time leader Andrea Neil (33). In 2008, Timko set a national record by being called 16 times as a substitution in one season; Robinson was second after she was called 15 times as a substitution.

Should Robinson play Monday night at BMO Field, it will be her fifth appearance against USA’s top team. At the youth level, she played USA three times, including championship matches in 2004 and 2006.