Christine Sinclair named Canada’s top female soccer player

Being named Canada’s top female soccer player isn’t getting old for Christine Sinclair.

The 28-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., captured the honour a seventh straight year, giving her an unbroken reign on the award since it was re-introduced in 2005.

“To be honoured like this by your country, it could never get old,” Sinclair said during a conference call Thursday. “I hope that someone else will win this and I hope great things for our national team, and the individual players that I can see winning this award.”

Sinclair described her memorable 2011 season as one with “the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.” She scored a stunning goal while injured at the World Cup, led Canada to victory in the Pan Am Games and was a Women’s Professional Soccer champion with the Western New York Flash.

When asked to pick a personal highlight from the year, Sinclair recalled last summer as she walked on to the pitch for Canada’s opening game against host Germany at the World Cup.

“The moment that sticks out for me for the year, just walking out in front of 80,000 fans in the Berlin Olympic Stadium,” she said. “Not too many athletes get that opportunity. To have scored the goal, that whole game, and the environment around it was just tremendous.”

That game was also memorable to Sinclair for a rather painful reason. The Canadian star forward had her nose broken early in the second half but came out to score a beautifully curled free kick into the corner of Germany’s net.

“I will never forget that moment in my life and my nose will forever be broken because of it,” she said.

It turned out to be one of the few highlights in an otherwise disappointing — and winless — World Cup campaign for Canada. Sinclair was forced to wear a face mask during subsequent games, including a crucial loss to France just days after the opener.

“It’s the funny thing about sports, (my) low point is the very next game, losing to France in a game that mattered most, a game where we didn’t perform,” said Sinclair.

The fallout from the World Cup led to the firing of head coach Carolina Morace, but fortunately for Sinclair she could immediately shift her focus to the WPS.

She led the Flash in assists for the second straight year and was named the MVP of the team’s championship victory over Philadelphia.

In that game, Sinclair scored the Flash’s opening goal and also made good on her penalty kick to help decide the draw. It marked Sinclair’s second straight WPS title.

“To continue to play right after the World Cup and join my club team and win a championship there, it helped ease the pain for the disappointing World Cup we had,” she said.

Sinclair found further redemption at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. Down 0-1 late in Canada’s gold medal final against Brazil, she scored a clutch goal to tie the game.

Sinclair, Canada’s all-time leading goal-scorer, finished the season with eight goals in 20 matches for her country. She has now led the national team in goals scored for 11-of-12 seasons.

Whether Sinclair can maintain her consistency and earn an eighth straight individual title remains to be seen. But she says other players on the national squad deserve recognition too.

Sinclair singled out midfielder Sophie Schmidt as a teammate who could be the next in line.

“She’s one of the those players that I think is the future of this team,” Sinclair said. “More often than not, she plays in positions on the field that don’t get the recognition forwards get. If I was picking a team she would definitely be one of the first on my lineup every time.”

Toronto’s Dwayne De Rosario won the men’s award Wednesday.