Appointed head coach of the Canadian women’s soccer team in October 1999, Even Pellerud recalls essentially being handed a blank piece of paper.
“It was a baby program. It was really nothing to inherit,” he said.
So, after arriving in Canada from his native Norway in early 2000, he left his family in Toronto to scout talent. With help from local coaches, he had three practice games set up in three cities.
One player immediately caught his eye at the game in Vancouver.
“On the right side of the white team there was a player that really stood out with her smartness and speed and skills,” he said. “And of course, it didn’t take a long time before I asked the people ‘Who is this?’ And then they said, ‘This is just a young player.’ And I said ‘Well, give me the name. I want her.”‘
It was Christine Sinclair.
“So that was the first thing I did in Canada,” said Pellerud.
He gave a 16-year-old Sinclair her senior debut that March, making her Canada’s youngest-ever player at the time, at the 2000 Algarve Cup. She opened her account two days later in a 2-1 win over Norway, becoming Canada’s youngest-ever scorer (Kara Lang subsequently broke both records).
‘The player to build the team around’
“Even though she was immature and young and shy, I think I immediately knew this is the player to build the team around,” said Pellerud. “Because it was her and then you had some of the veterans like Andrea Neil and Silvana Burtini around her to build leadership. That was what I built on. Those veteran players with smartness and leadership and then Sinclair. And then you kind of filled out the team around that.”
Sinclair went on to score 15 goals in 2002 and 98 in all during Pellerud’s nine years at the Canadian helm.
“I don’t think I really remember coaching her a lot,” said Pellerud. “I just gave her a position where she could expose her skills. Without over-coaching or over-directing her moves or her decision-making, I think I just gave her a space to be close to the net. Because she was already then a good goal-scorer.”
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Sinclair’s world-record total now stands at 190 goals after 23 years on the Canadian team.
The 40-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., calls time on her international career Tuesday in her backyard, against Australia at B.C. Place Stadium, in what will be her 331st appearance for Canada
While intensely private, Sinclair has helped foster a welcoming and open atmosphere with the women’s team.
Biggest influence off the field
Former Canada coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller, who took over the team in early 2018 when John Herdman switched to the Canadian men, says Sinclair has the biggest influence and impact when “the cameras are shut off and the doors are closed and she can be just herself.”
“She is one of these persons that’s just a connector,” he added. “She doesn’t speak a lot but when she speaks, people listen. But the way she just embraces everyone and takes good care of them, I think she’s got a very high social knowledge and interest in people. So, she can feel or see when people or teammates or staff are not comfortable.”
Former teammate Rhian Wilkinson, a Canada Soccer Hall of Famer who won 181 caps in an international career that stretched from 2003 to 2017, says Sinclair is special off the field as well as on it.
“It’s the gift of some people that they don’t belong to any one group. They belong to all groups because, I think, straight from Day 1 of meeting her, she was easy to be around and talk to,” said Wilkinson, who later coached Sinclair at the NWSL’s Portland Thorns.
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“And then you’d watch her on the field and she’s one of the cool kids through ability. She automatically could do whatever she wants.”
“So, whether you’re at your first camp or whether you’re a friend of hers that’s been around for 20 odd years, she’ll sit with you and have a conversation and it’s not a big deal,” Wilkinson added. “I don’t think it’s ever occurred to her to limit the ability to talk to everyone. It’s a pretty special thing when your best player acts like that because it sets the standard for the whole team around them.”
While Sinclair is stepping away from the international game, her goal-scoring record remains.
Goal-scoring record ‘going to be hard to beat’
And while records are made to be broken, many think it will take a while to surpass — if ever.
“Honesty it’s going to be very hard to beat,” said 28-year-old forward Nichelle Prince, whose two goals in Friday’s 5-0 win over Australia in Langford, B.C., raised her total for Canada to 16 in 95 games. “I’m hoping there is a young girl out there right now that is trying to beat it, but that’s a very difficult thing to accomplish. And so, it just shows how amazing Sinc is.”
Added Beckie: “It’s going to be a very long time; I’m sure it won’t happen for a very long time.”
Said Heiner-Moller: “I can’t see too many players being a part of the game for so many years that Sinc has, I can’t see the record being broke, perhaps forever.”
While Sinclair has earned countless awards, from being named Canada’s Player of the Year 14 times to the Order of Canada, she has never won FIFA’s world player of the year award.
Pellerud still can’t believe it.
“In my opinion she should have had the award somewhere between five and 10 years,” he said.
“She was nominated a couple of times but never got it,” he added. “And every time I’m angry. It drove me crazy to see she didn’t win. But she has a lot of other official awards and she deserves them all.”
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