Sinclair makes 150th appearance for Canada

Canada’s Christine Sinclair has become the first Canadian player to make 150 appearances for the national team. The Canadian captain reached 150 appearances this evening in an international match at the 2011 Yongchuan Cup Four-Nation Women’s Tournament against the world’s number-one ranked USA.



Sinclair was 16 years old when she made her debut with Canada’s national team on 12 March 2000 at the Algarve Cup (an 0:4 loss to China PR). She scored her historic first goal just two days later in a 1:2 loss to Norway.



Sinclair is Canada’s best player, now a six-time Canadian Player of the Year in consecutive seasons since the award was re-introduced in 2005. Her name is also annually on the short list for the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award. Before tonight, she scored 114 goals in her first 149 matches, ranked sixth all-time in women’s international football.



In 2010, Sinclair helped Canada win three tournaments – the Cyprus Women’s Cup in March, the CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifier in November and the Torneio Internacional Cidade de São Paulo in December.



In 2011, Sinclair hopes to make her third appearance in a FIFA Women’s World Cup when Canada faces Germany in the opening match on 26 June in Berlin. She is already Canada’s leader with six goals in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. She previously represented Canada at China 2007 and USA 2003.



She has also participated in one Women’s Olympic Football Tournament (2008), one Pan American Games (2007), and six CONCACAF women’s championships (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010).



Sinclair is one of six players with more than 100 appearances. She was just 24 years old when she became the third player to reach the centennial on 30 August 2007 against Japan. Incidentally, that was the same match that Andrea Neil passed Charmaine Hooper for the all-time national record in appearances.



Sinclair then passed Neil for the all-time record with her 133rd appearance on 20 February 2010. That was the same day that Sinclair became just 10th player to reach 100 career goals.