Canadian soccer great Christine Sinclair announces retirement from international play
CBC
After leading Canada to gold at the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021, captain Christine Sinclair came to a realization.
"After Tokyo, deep down inside, I knew I didn't want to play in Paris," she said, referencing the 2024 Olympics. "The way the Tokyo Olympics ended, you can't beat it.
"I wanted to give it one more shot for the World Cup, just because I really thought we could be successful there and we hadn't been successful in a long time at World Cups."
It wasn't to be. Canada came home early from Australia this summer, failing to make the knockout round in Sinclair's sixth trip to the soccer showcase.
It was not the ending she wanted.
So Sinclair kept going, helping Canada qualify for the Paris Olympics last month in a 35-minute cameo off the bench in the second leg of the 4-1 aggregate win over Jamaica. But the 40-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., is now calling time on her Canada career, saying she will retire from international football at the end of the year.
"I can sit here and know that I've literally done everything I can and given all of me to this national team since I was 16 years old," she told The Canadian Press. "In terms of what I've done and knowing the work I've put into it, I have zero regrets. I know I've done everything I can for as long as I can. And the team's in good hands moving forward."
WATCH | 2012 Olympics cemented Sinclair's legend:
While calling an end to her Canada career, Sinclair plans to play one more season for the NWSL Portland Thorns next year.
Sinclair, the world's all-time leading scorer with 190 goals from 327 senior appearances, is expected to play four more games for 10th-ranked Canada, starting with two friendlies later this month against No. 9 Brazil — in Montreal on Oct. 28 and Halifax on Oct. 31.
Four home games will allow Sinclair to say goodbye on home soil.
"That just made my decision very easy,." she said. "Playing for the national team as long as I have, we have not been able to play at home a lot. It will be special for me."
Sinclair is clearly at peace with the decision.
"For me it's just time," she said. "I've started to catch myself thinking about going on vacation, spending time with my family, going to my cabin — that five years ago would never have crossed my mind. But at the same time, it excites me to play professionally [for Portland] but where you have one thing to focus on. It just seemed like time."
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