The Result Has A Second Meaning
Christine Sinclair still remembers the weight of it all. The entire nation watching. Fifty-three thousand voices at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium. And the quiet certainty, moments before kickoff, that nothing would ever feel quite this large again.
"I had never been so nervous in my life," Sinclair said. "But it’s a good thing."
The scale is the story here; with 48 teams involved, the calendar starts doing some of the reporting.
She buried the decisive penalty in injury time, the only goal Canada needed against China in that 2015 opener. The relief was immediate. The stress that built for weeks beforehand — different pressure, different stress — finally had somewhere to go.
"If you’re playing somewhere else, you can convince yourself not everyone’s watching," she said. "But those butterflies, honestly, they’re what you make them. It’s a privilege to feel that pressure. It means you care."
The Part Worth Keeping
Canada went on to reach the quarterfinals that year, falling to England in Vancouver. The Americans took gold. But that first night in Edmonton set something in motion — a nation behind a team, a feeling the men’s side will soon discover for themselves.
Canada opens its own World Cup journey in June, hosting Bosnia-Herzegovina at what’s being called Toronto Stadium. The men's program sits 30th in the rankings. Bosnia is 65th. Switzerland and Qatar complete the group.
"It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Sinclair said. "You want to put on displays your country can be proud of. Yes, it is stressful. But it was the absolute best feeling."