Even back then, I absolutely knew who Christine Sinclair was. By the time I made the national roster in 2003, she had been on the team for three years. She was this incredible up and coming player, who at 16 years old was already scoring goals for Canada.
We always had things in common, starting with the fact that we are both introverts. I was very shy when I joined the national team and I don’t think I really spoke to many people those first couple of years. Christine was equally quiet, so it took us a while to get to know each other. Still, we were part of this exciting cohort of players, a generation coming up.
I think it’s a shame that most Canadians have only seen Sinc play since 2012, when more of our games were televised and streamed. There was literally another full decade before that when Christine was already the best player in the world.
Sinc was world class from the jump. When I came into the game, Mia Hamm was still playing, Abby Wambach was coming into the game as well. Christine Sinclair was always right up there with both of them.
Back then, she made a ton of runs in behind. She could outrun every defender. The type of runs she made in her young twenties were a sight to behold. As she has gotten older, she moved into a deeper forward or midfielder role. More of that connecting player, who obviously still gets in the box afterwards. But at every stage in her career, she has always been brilliant.
