The Sinclair factor

Canada's Christine Sinclair celebrates her first-half goal on Saturday.

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Herdman’s roster juggling didn’t really slow down Canada too much, as the Reds received one goal from captain Christine Sinclair in a 2-0 win over an ultra-defensive Cuba. With the victory, Canada booked its spot in the semifinals and moved one step closer to qualifying for the London Games, so on that front it was mission accomplished.

Interestingly, Herdman subbed out Sinclair at the start of the second half, a move that was the right one to make, albeit 45 minutes too late. This was the perfect game for Herdman to have benched Sinclair right from the start -- not in order to give his star player some rest, but rather to see how his team could have done without her for a full 90 minutes.

Regardless of whether Canada could have collected three points Saturday without Sinclair, the far greater “victory” would have been just seeing Canada’s other players take a larger leadership and creative role on the field in the absence of their influential teammate.

Sinclair’s goal against Cuba increased her career tally to 125 in 169 appearances for the national team. Canada has now outscored the opposition 8-0 this tournament with Sinclair scoring five of the goals and assisting on two others.

Those are statistics that we should all rightly marvel over. They also underline Canada’s biggest problem, though: that this team relies far too much on Sinclair.

To his great credit, Herdman is trying to change that.

At a team training camp in Phoenix last November, Herdman called out his players, challenging them to step up and to find a path towards success that doesn't always necessarily go through Sinclair.

Sinclair has never complained about having to routinely carry the goal-scoring load by herself. She’s much too dignified to do that. That said, she recognizes she can’t do it alone.

"That’s what John does," Sinclair said after Saturday's game. "When you get put on the roster, you better expect to play. He told us heading into this tournament that every player would get to play, and everyone has. It’s about creating that depth because injuries happen in tournaments like this -- in the Olympics, whatever it might be -- and players have to step in."

Clearly there’s work to be done. The difference in Canada’s performance over the two halves against Cuba could not have been more pronounced.

The Canadian team looked bright and positive in the opening 45 minutes, with Kaylyn Kyle and Alyscha Mottershead both contributing to the attack. Still, it was Sinclair who led the charge scoring one goal from the penalty spot, and delivering an accurate cross into the box for Melissa Tancredi to nod home.

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If not for the play of Sinclair, it is conceivable Canada would have entered the interval without a goal.

Canada continued to dominate possession and dictate the pace for duration of the second half, but looked somewhat lost without Sinclair and struggled to break the Cubans down. Scoring chances went begging, Sophie Schmidt (Sinclair’s replacement) lacked a deft touch in front of goal and the team in general was not nearly as ruthless or creative in the final third of the field as it was in the first half.

Herdman can thank his lucky stars that Cuba, ranked 96th in the world, was the opposition or that this wasn’t already the semifinals where an Olympic berth would be on the line. Stronger teams would have made Canada pay with far more serious consequences.

If Canada is ever to really establish itself as a dominant power in the women’s game, it can’t rely on Sinclair so much and it needs to find a way to win without their iconic captain.