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As a superstar player who has now won the Canadian Female Player of the Year award a remarkable eleven straight times, Christine Sinclair was probably the only person surprised by the fact that she earned the distinction for the twelfth time overall in 2014.
See also: Hutchinson, Sinclair named 2014 Canadian Players of the Year
The 31 year old Canadian Women’s National Team talisman won a very close vote over Houston Dash goalkeeper Erin McLeod and Sky Blue FC midfielder Sophie Schmidt this week and she was plain in admitting that while individual awards are an honour, her focus is 100% on the Canadian Women’s National Team as a whole ahead of the Women’s World Cup that will be held in Canada next summer.
“Some players had incredible years,” Sinclair said via conference call on Thursday. “It’s a huge honour but I’ve never really focused on the individual stuff and the focus right now is completely on next summer.”
While Sinclair downplayed somewhat a run of individual success that now stretches back over a decade, she did admit that the manner in which the vote for the Canadian Player of the Year award played likely bodes well for the Women’s National Team as a whole, citing both her own evolution as a player and the success that her teammates have enjoyed in their own rights.
“You see what your teammates do and they’re incredible soccer players,” Sinclair said. “For me, I’ve always been known as a goalscorer and this year I didn’t score as many as I had in the past so that’s something you think about. (National Team Head Coach John Herdman) reminded me that ‘you do so much more than score goals’ and it is a bit of a surprise (to win POY).”
“(Herdman) recently asked me how I felt the year went,” Sinclair added. “I told him I think I’ve developed into a more complete soccer player as a result of him being the head coach. I think he’s discovered more players that are able to put the ball in the back of the net and I think I do more on the soccer field than what I did five or six years ago when I only scored goals. Now sometimes I’m dropping into midfield to play, linking the play, creating chances for my teammates. I think my biggest step this year has been as a leader on the field—organizing and just being that vocal player on the field for our team.”
In terms of highlights for the team over the past year, the Burnaby, British Columbia native pointed to a couple of instances as the two things that stood out for her and her teammates.
“You have to look at Sophie Schmidt scoring two goals against Japan in B.C. Place, in her hometown,” Sinclair said. “That’s one that definitely jumps out (as a highlight). Unfortunately we couldn’t hold the tie and ended up losing in the last couple seconds. Another is Diana Matheson’s injury and how the team has rallied around that and we’ve seen her reaction to the injury. It’s one of those moments that definitely sticks out.”
As Sinclair and company now look ahead to next summer’s Women’s World Cup, the Canadian superstar was quick to highlight her team’s consistency as the most important quality the squad has going for it as they head into a much hyped Women’s World Cup hosted in Canadian soil.
“It’s more of a year-long process that I’ve witnessed with our national team,” Sinclair explained. “This consistency that we have developed (is vital) and it’s a consistency of high-level performances against the best teams in the world. We just got done two games against Sweden, who are ranked very highly, and we played pretty much two different lineups and we won one and tied one. I don’t think we’ve ever been able to do that in the past. That’s exciting to see knowing that we’re heading into the World Cup and we’re going to need depth, so that was a highlight as well.”
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