Christine Sinclair’s 180th career international goal proved to be the difference as Canada collected a 1-0 victory over England at a sold-out Academy Stadium in Manchester, UK on Friday.
Sinclair’s 80th-minute strike came on a rebound off a Nichelle Prince shot that hit the crossbar. The goal leaves her five short of the all-time international goal scoring record, held by American Abby Wambach.
“I think we put on a very good performance,” head coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller said following the match “It is part of our DNA not to sit back and we can counter because we have fast players up front. We took the game back, took initiative, and even away from home we want to be that team. This win will definitely give us momentum and I think this was a big step for us. We’ve played some big opponents ahead of this match, but, this was by far our best opponent this year.”
In 2019, the Women’s National Team is undefeated with five straight clean sheets and the win brings Heiner-Moller’s record to 11W-2D-4L since he began his tenure in January 2018
“It was a matter of inches,” Sinclair said. “They made a couple great saves, our keeper made a couple great saves and I think we were fortunate to get one… These are the games you live for, it’s the perfect preparation for us for the FIFA Women’s World Cup and I think you’re looking at two teams that are hopefully going to go pretty far in the tournament.”
Canada’s Starting XI featured Stephanie Labbé in goal, Allysha Chapman, Kadeisha Buchanan, Shelina Zadorsky, and Ashley Lawrence, and Sophie Schmidt, Desiree Scott, Jessie Fleming, Sinclair, Janine Beckie, and Prince in midfield through attack.
The win over England brings Canada’s all-time record against the Lionesses to 6-0-7 over 13 matches. Prior to tonight’s match, Canada had played England 12 times registering five wins, and seven losses. The most recent match had been the quarterfinal of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™.
Canada will now take on Nigeria on Monday in Murcia, Spain as their preparations for this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup continues.