Canada returns west after successful week in Toronto

Canada’s women’s national team reconnected with its fans this week, playing to a 1:1 draw in front of 13,554 fans at BMO Field in Toronto, ON. Captain Christine Sinclair was the star, scoring her 92nd goal with the full national team, still an Association record.



“It was awesome,” says Sinclair. “It’s nice to finally play a home game and see the little kids in the stands cheering for you. They all know all of our names. It’s a perfect atmosphere for soccer.”



Sinclair and her teammates had several chances to meet fans this week. On Tuesday, the team visited the Winners store at College Park in downtown Toronto. All 19 players signed autographs for a steady 90 minutes while also handling questions from the media that was on hand.



On Tuesday afternoon, the team trained in front of select fans and clubs at BMO Field. After the session, the fans came down to the side of the field to get autographs.



At last on Thursday well after the match, the players were still signing autographs for their fans. Sinclair in particular came back out to the field level to sign for fans after completing her post-game press conference.



As for the match, coach Even Pellerud says, “the game finished 1:1 and I’m not going to complain too much about that. It was an even game.”



Sinclair scored first in the 53rd minute to give Canada the lead. Canada had several more chances, but so too did Brazil. Brazil finally scored in the 81st minute to even the score.



Canada’s women’s national team, whose title sponsor is Winners and whose presenting sponsor is Teck Cominco, now returns back to Vancouver to complete their pre-Olympic residency camp. The team will have one last week of training in Vancouver before heading to Asia on Monday 21 July. Canada then opens the 2008 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament against Argentina on 6 August.