Sinclair nears one last moment in the spotlight

In the coming weeks, we will see Christine Sinclair walk off the soccer pitch for the final time.

We just don’t know exactly when.

On Friday, nearly a year after Sinclair retired from the international game, the Portland Thorns will honour the star forward in the team’s regular-season finale.

There is also a chance that Friday could mark Sinclair’s final soccer game ever.

Last month, she announced that she was retiring from professional soccer at the end of the current National Women’s Soccer League season. The Thorns are tied for seventh in the standings entering the final week of the regular season, level with Bay FC with 31 points, and three points up on ninth-place Racing Louisville. The top eight teams in the league qualify for the playoffs.

While nothing is guaranteed, Portland does enter this weekend in the driver’s seat – a single point would secure the club a 10th all-time playoff berth, an NWSL record. Even a loss could see them move on if results from Bay FC or Racing’s final matches are favourable to the Thorns.

All of this lends to an anti-climactic air when it comes to saying a final goodbye to Sinclair.

Will it come on Friday? Perhaps, in a cruel double blow to Thorns fans with a playoff elimination. Or it may happen when the playoffs start next week. Or the week after that. Or it may not happen until the end of next month, if the Thorns make a run to the NWSL Championship.

And then there’s the feeling of déjà vu because, yes, this is technically Sinclair’s second retirement.

Last December, Sinclair donned the Canadian colours one last time in an international friendly against Australia. In front of nearly 50,000 fans at Vancouver’s BC Place (renamed Christine Sinclair Place for the occasion), the native of Burnaby, B.C. walked off the pitch one final time for the Canadian national team, subbing out of the match for long-time teammate Sophie Schmidt in the 57th minute.

In many ways, it’s uncharacteristic for Sinclair, ever the picture of humility, to have two retirements, especially when compared with some other recent high-profile players whose retirement tours played out like Groundhog Day. American forward Carli Lloyd announced her retirement in August 2021, and every match for the next three months for both Gotham FC and the U.S. national team fell under the umbrella of the “Carli Lloyd Farewell Tour.”

Sinclair would have been happy to simply disappear from public view, to walk off the pitch with no announcement and no recognition.

But perhaps to her chagrin, she will have one last moment in the spotlight.

While Sinclair’s farewell to professional soccer lacks the finality of her international send-off (barring Portland playing in the NWSL Championship match), let’s focus on what we do know.

First, let’s look at Sinclair’s resume from her 25-year career: 190 international goals, most by a female or male player all-time; three Olympic medals, including gold from the Tokyo Games; six World Cup appearances; a second-place finish and Golden Boot award at the 2002 U-19 Women’s World Championship.

Sinclair also has two NCAA titles and two MAC Hermann Awards as the top collegiate player in women’s soccer, two WPS (Women’s Professional Soccer) titles, three NWSL Championships and 65 NWSL regular-season goals, third-most all-time.

On accolades alone – she’s worthy of a double retirement.

Second, as cherished as Sinclair is by Canadians, she is just as beloved in Portland. She has been a Thorn since the inaugural NWSL season in 2013, and her origin story has become well-known in the women’s soccer circles.

Shortly after the 2012 Olympics, Sinclair was on the verge of hopping on a plane to sign with European giant Paris Saint-Germain when she heard the rumblings of not only a new professional women’s league in the United States (after WPS had folded following the 2011 season), but a team in Portland.

For her, the choice was simple. The chance to play in Portland was too good to pass up.

Her ties to the city run deep. She had two uncles who played for the Portland Timbers. She played four seasons at the University of Portland, scoring 110 goals in 94 games to go along with two national titles.

Before the NWSL’s first season, she and other players were asked to submit a list of their top three choices for an NWSL club. Once again, Sinclair’s choice was simple. She submitted her list of three clubs: Portland. Portland. Portland.

Although Sinclair has played all over the world, her hometown of Burnaby will always be closest to her heart. And right next to it is Portland.

She has spoken at length of her love for her home away from home. She repeats the joke from the TV show Portlandia that Portland is where young people go to retire. But it’s easy to see why Sinclair fell in love with Portland, with its laidback vibe reminiscent of Vancouver.

Sinclair still vividly recalls walking out for her first home game at Providence Park, with the supporters group, the Rose City Riveters, already filling the stands during team warm-ups. Portland averaged just over 13,000 fans in attendance in the NWSL’s inaugural season, almost three times more than the next closest team.

“I knew what was possible in this city, and I knew how the fans loved soccer,” Sinclair said.

While Friday may not mark the definitive finale for Sinclair, it is an opportunity for Portland fans to honour Sinclair for all she has given the city for over a decade. No matter the outcome of the match, Friday will be Sinclair’s last time on the pitch at Providence Park, her last opportunity to receive a celebratory rose from the fanbase.

The past year has felt a bit different when it comes to Sinclair’s impact for both club and country. Canada has a new captain in Jessie Fleming. This past summer, at the Paris Olympics, the national team played in its first major tournament without Sinclair since 1999.

Even in Portland, Sinclair is no longer the main focus. American forward Sophia Smith leads the team with 11 goals and six assists. Becky Sauerbrunn has worn the captain’s armband for most of the season (although Sinclair has still captained her side, most notably in recent matches).

In some ways, it must have felt like a dream season for Sinclair. She has forever tried to duck the spotlight. That’s not easy to do when you’re the world’s top goal scorer.

At 41, perhaps for the first time in her career, she has been able to quietly go about her business. And even though her time on the pitch has been diminished, she is still delivering moments.

Earlier this month, in her penultimate match at Providence Park, she helped Portland to a 2-0 win over the then-undefeated Orlando Pride, keeping the Thorns in the playoff race with a beautiful strike from the top of the box. 

Four days after that goal, Sinclair had one final match in Vancouver, when the Thorns travelled to BC Place to take on the Whitecaps Girls Elite team in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup.

There’s no doubt that Canadian soccer fans – not to mention Sinclair herself – believed that that Dec. 5 match for Canada was the last time Sinclair would lead her team onto the pitch at BC Place. But in a surprise bonus, she was afforded one more opportunity with her beloved Thorns, and captained her side to victory, including netting one last goal on Canadian soil.

Her career is full of these moments for both Canada and Portland. And they’re always backed by an unwavering humility and an incontrovertible commitment to never accept anything less than the best from herself, not because she craves the limelight, but because her drive to see her team succeed is unmatched.

So yes, Canadian fans, Portland fans, and soccer fans at large, get ready to say goodbye to a legend – even if we don’t know exactly when her career swan song is happening, and even if you already said goodbye last year.

Because it’s what she deserves.