July 23, 2023
For the sake of Christine Sinclair, perhaps the world’s greatest female soccer player ever, a win by Canada at the 2023 championship currently being staged in Australia and New Zealand would be a perfect capper to Sinclair’s cap-filled career on the pitch.
Sinclair’s skills are still world-class, but the Burnaby, B.C. star is 40 years old and, well, Old Man (or Women) Time always wins in the end. With more than 320 caps (international games while representing her country) to her credit and a world-best 190 goals in those games, Sinclair’s status as the best female soccer player of all time is secure, but her career is missing one important ingredient: a FIFA Women’s World Cup championship.
Canada is not one of the world’s powers in the sport, but our country is not one of the worst, either. Ranked seventh in the world going into the World Cup, it wouldn’t be considered a gigantic upset if Sinclair and Co. were to win. After all, the team reached the quarter-finals when it hosted the World Cup back in 2015. Canada also has a gold and two bronze medals in the past three Olympics.
The Canadian team competed in a pool with Nigeria, Republic of Ireland and Australia, and finishes the round-robin portion of the event July 31. Finishing first or second in their pool would put the Canadians into the playoff round of 16 starting Aug. 4.
A heavy dose of humility comes over Sinclair whenever someone calls her the best player in the world, but the numbers back it up. And winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup in her sixth attempt would settle the ‘world’s-best’ argument for good.
It’s unlikely Sinclair would be around for a seventh Women’s World Cup in 2027, but if she still knows how to put the ball into the net, and is tired of doing commercials for the sandwich chain Subway, retirement might be pushed back. If Gordie Howe can play in the NHL at age 51, Christine Sinclair still scoring big goals on the world stage at age 44 is not out of the question.
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- Phil Mushnick of the New York Post:, who hated the MLB all-star game uniforms: “Once again, the final score in the MLB All Star Game: The team in the blue pajamas 3, the team in the teal pajamas 2.”
- Headline from the Canadian parody website The Beaverton: ““Who gives a (blank) about the CFL?” asks man who recently started watching professional Pickleball”
- Another one from The Beaverton: “Leafs fan only wants most talented player in franchise history to re-sign if it’s at a discount”
- Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg: “Stephen Curry shot a hole-in-one at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. Maybe this will be the key in finally turning things around for poor Steph Curry.”
- Columnist Rick Rielly on Donald Trump after the former president shanked a wedge in a golf clip that went viral: “He chips like Edward Scissorhands. If he's a 3 (handicap), Chris Christie is a high jumper.”
- Columnist Sam Farmer of the San Francisco Chronicle, prior to the men’s final at Wimbledon: “ If Djokovic wins, how many versions of ‘Escape from Alcaraz’ are we going to see?”
- Vancouver funny guy Torben Rolfsen: “Sportsnet intro-ing the Blue Jays fans’ annual takeover of Seattle with ‘Lunatic Fringe’ by Red Rider.”
- Jack Finarelli of the sportscurmudgon.com, on a great Casey Stengel quote: “Casey Stengel knows a few things about winning and losing in MLB. “Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice-versa.”
- RJ Currie again: “According to 3downnation.com, the Edmonton Elks continue to monitor the air quality at Commonwealth Stadium. This may be due to: a) Smoke from Alberta's unusually high number of wildfires; b) How badly the home team stinks.
- Headline at the onion.com: “Lionel Messi Admits He Didn’t Even Know Where America Was Before Signing To Play There”
- fark.com headline: “Mets name official distillery, having already given their fans many reasons to drink”
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- An observation from Sunmedia’s Steve Simmons, on his new ‘favourite player’ in the Canadian Football League: “Carthell Flowers-Lloyd, the special teamer with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. His initials: CFL”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca
