Posted on January 22, 2012

Sinclair again shows she’s the straw that stirs Canada’s drink

By Michael Lewis
TropiGol.com Editor

VANCOUVER — Memo to Canada’s opponents in the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament:

Not ony can striker Christine Sinclair find the back of the net on a regular basis, but she can set up goals as well.

Case in point: the Canadians’ 2-0 victory over Cuba on Saturday night, which clinched a spot for them and Costa Rica in the semifinals of the tournament.

The result, combined with the Costa Ricans’ 2-0 win over Haiti in the first game of the doubleheader at BC Place, set up a Tuesday night confrontation between the two teams for first place. Because Canada has a greater goal

differential than the Ticas (plus eight to plus four), the North Americans need only a tie to clinch and avoid playing the United States (assuming the U.S. finishes first in its group).

“I think generally job done, that’s two games we managed to rest a few players tonight and we only need a draw to qualify for the top of the group with the goal differential that we’re carrying,” Canada coach John Herdman said. “It’s in a good space for Canada now and I think we can take Costa Rica in a different light and make sure that we’ve absolutely got everyone ready to go for game four [semifinal].”

A crowd of 12,417, a record for a CONCACAF women’s Olympic qualifying match, watched the encounter.

Sinclair, who has 125 international goals, converted a penalty kick for the first goal in the 17th minute and her right-wing cross set up Melissa Tancredi for the second goal in the 24th minute.

Herdman, who rested most of his starting lineup after its 6-0 win over Haiti on Thursday night, pulled

Sinclair at the half. He obviously wanted to rest his star player for the Costa Rican encounter.

Only three players who performed against Haiti were in the starting lineup — Christina Julien, Shannon Woeller and Sinclair.

Herdman said that Cuba was difficult to break down.

“You’ve got to accept that in football when a team camps that deep it’s rarity you don’t get that every often they put 11 players or 10 players in a certain part of the pitch and it becomes very different to break down,” he said. “It’s a patience.”

When the final whistle sounded, the Cuban players reacted as though they won the match, hugging each other.

“The team was happy because for it’s the first time that they’ve played in a CONCACAF tournament and they’ve played two World Cup teams so far,” Cuba coach Luis Elejalde said. “The results have been fairly close and we know that can keep working to get better.”
Photo: Christine Sinclair was at it again, scoring the first goal and setting up the second for Canada. Scott Bales/YCJ

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Categories: Canada, Caribbean, Costa Rica, Cuba, Haiti, North America, Olympic Qualifying, Women
Tags: Christine Sinclair, CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying tournament, John Herdman, Melissa Tancredi

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