Christine Sinclair needs to make it happen

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This article was published 19/06/2015 (4123 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada’s national women’s soccer team is a task-oriented group.

At the outset of this Women’s World Cup, they targeted top spot in their section and then went out and claimed it.

They weren’t flashy; they didn’t fill the nets; they rarely brought their fans to the edge of their seats, although a second-half surge from the Netherlands Monday had the faithful frantic for the final whistle.

But on the whole this Canadian team was worth their first-place finish and as a result of their position will face tournament debutantes Switzerland Sunday in the bottom half of the knockout stage.

Had they allowed the Dutch a second goal in Montreal (the match ended 1-1, leaving Canada with a victory and two draws), or had China found a late winner against New Zealand in Winnipeg, they’d have found themselves with a rather more complicated route through the playoffs, along which the likes of France, Germany and the United States would have thrown up one roadblock after another.

Not that the existing path will be a smooth one.

Either Norway or England will await in next weekend’s quarter-final, and a prospective semifinal could involve a showdown with one of reigning champion Japan and heavily favoured Brazil. And that’s only if they see off the Swiss, who will pose a tricky assignment Sunday at BC Place.

Canada, despite winning a World Cup group for the first time in their history, cannot look past their next opponent, and, given their approach at this tournament so far, they won’t. It’s not their style.

While they’ve not been all that impressive these last couple of weeks — their five points represented the lowest total among the group winners and would have had them third in three brackets — they’ve neither panicked nor got ahead of themselves, and their overall display to date has been one of quiet confidence and professionalism.

These are important traits to have in a team of which much is expected, but they can only take it so far, and certainly not to the July 5 final.

No, for Canada to not only contend for the trophy but also win their next match they must finally coax some world-class moments from Christine Sinclair, who has scored just once at this tournament — and from the penalty spot — but whose eight World Cup goals have her joint-11th on the all-time list.

Admittedly, the 32-year-old forward is no longer the offensive dynamo who bagged a hat trick against the United States at the 2012 Olympic Games, but the reality of the matter is her side will exit the competition within the next week unless she ends her mini-slump.

Sinclair has scored just once in her last seven outings and between December 2013 and November 2014 — a run of 13 matches — was kept off the scoresheet altogether.

Against Switzerland she and her teammates will find an unpredictable adversary capable of demolishing its opponents one day and appearing rather ordinary the next. La Nati went through World Cup qualifying unbeaten before narrowly losing to Japan in their Group C opener, but four days after the 1-0 defeat they trounced Ecuador 10-1.

That triumph, and the hat-tricks from Ramona Bachmann and Fabienne Humm that sparked it, seemed to signal Switzerland’s ascension to contender’s status in women’s football. Then they lost 2-1 to Cameroon.

So goes the Swiss, apparently, although their volatility doesn’t make them any less dangerous for the Canadians, who have their own problems.

What the host nation has going for it, however, is a steely resolve — a conviction that their purpose at this World Cup is yet to be fulfilled.

But mental strength might have been enough to win Group A. It will need to be augmented with talent, and goals, in the knockout rounds.

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