The day many thought may never come has arrived. On Tuesday night in Vancouver, Christine Sinclair will take the pitch for the final time with the Canadian women’s national team, alongside longtime teammate Sophie Schmidt, before both retire from international duty. At BC Place, which will be temporarily renamed Christine Sinclair Place to honour the longtime Canada captain, Les Rouges will take on Australia in their final international match of the year, bringing to a close their 2023 schedule, and a truly magnificent chapter in the history of both the Canadian national team and two of its best-ever players.
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For Sinclair, it will be the 331st appearance in arguably the greatest international career of them all. With 190 goals and three Olympic medals — one of them gold — Sinclair’s impact on the sport in Canada is immeasurable. Schmidt has been right there alongside her for most of it, making her senior national team debut in 2005, five years after Sinclair. Schmidt is second to only Sinclair in terms of appearances for the women’s national team, making 225 thus far, sits ninth all-time with 20 goals, and was there for all three Olympic medals. Schmidt initially retired from international duty after the Women’s World Cup this summer, but returned for this one final farewell alongside Sinclair. Another longtime teammate, goalkeeper Erin McLeod, will be honoured as well after retiring from the national team in January. Sinclair and Schmidt grew up in British Columbia — in Burnaby and Abbotsford, respectively — so this farewell being in Vancouver is all the more special. More than 45,000 tickets have already been sold for the match, as fans look to send them off in style. The expectation from many is that both will start the match, before being substituted out at some point in the second half — without doubt to a deafening standing ovation.
The focus on Tuesday will be celebrating the careers of Sinclair and Schmidt, but there is also of course a game to be played — the second of two friendlies against World Cup semifinalists Australia. After the Matildas knocked Canada out of that tournament with a 4-0 thrashing, Canada got a bit of revenge on Friday night at Starlight Stadium. Nichelle Prince scored twice in the opening half, before Cloé Lacasse, Simi Awujo, and Adriana Leon each found the back of the net after the interval. The Australians rotated several players in their squad, but it was a dominant performance from the Canadians for a 5-0 win, their largest victory in over a year.
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In a changing of the guard moment in the second half, young forward Latifah Abdu checked into the match at the same time as Sinclair, after Jordyn Huitema had already entered at halftime. With Simi Awujo scoring her first international goal and Jade Rose and Sydney Collins also performing well in the backline, there were signs that the future of the national team could be incredibly bright. Canada will be looking to build on that performance and close 2023 with a bang as they continue to build toward the Concacaf W Gold Cup and Paris 2024 Olympics next year.
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The match is more than just the end of the year, though. It’s the end of an era — and one that has been truly incredible. Humble and reserved as she has been for her entire career, Christine Sinclair hasn’t wanted too much of the spotlight on her. As she gets ready for her final bow, however, she’s trying to soak in every moment. She requested tickets for about 150 friends and family for Tuesday’s match at Christine Sinclair Place, but there will be close to 50,000 people in attendance, looking to honour the greatest player to wear a Canada kit. “I tried to treat the first part of the camp like any other camp we’ve had, trying to focus on beating Australia twice,” Sinclair said during her final press conference on Sunday. sat beside Schmidt. “I knew that once we kind of moved back to Vancouver, things would change. Just the vibe around practice. I think we had like a half-an-hour-long photo shoot so we could all take individual pictures with everyone. “I think it’s kind of sinking in now that this is it.”