Christine Sinclair reviews her distinguished soccer career and lays down a challenge for the future in her new memoir B次元官网网址淧laying the Long Game.B次元官网网址�

The Canada captain says itB次元官网网址檚 high time for Canada Soccer, the sportB次元官网网址檚 domestic governing body, to ensure an equal playing field for women. That includes establishing a womenB次元官网网址檚 domestic pro league so the Canadian women donB次元官网网址檛 get passed by other countries.

B次元官网网址淚n Canada we assume that we will be fine,B次元官网网址� Sinclair writes. B次元官网网址淲e assume that because weB次元官网网址檝e been good at this, we will carry on being good. My fear is that we will soon be surpassed by countries that support their youth programs, support their national womenB次元官网网址檚 teams and also support professional womenB次元官网网址檚 leagues.B次元官网网址�

There has been movement since the book was finished earlier this year, the 39-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., said in an interview.

B次元官网网址淧rogress has been made in terms of contract stuff and equal pay. Obviously weB次元官网网址檙e still not closer to a (womenB次元官网网址檚) league. But they have started to address some things,B次元官网网址� she said.

The Canadian menB次元官网网址檚 and womenB次元官网网址檚 teams are in the process of negotiating new deals with Canada Soccer with pay equity a central plank in the talks.

B次元官网网址淚 think it will get done quickly, especially with the menB次元官网网址檚 World Cup just around the corner,B次元官网网址� she said.

While that is good news, Sinclair shakes her head at past missteps. She pointed to recent news that Canada Soccer had struck an images/likeness rights deal with Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 just one of those like little jabs that they told us B次元官网网址業t wasnB次元官网网址檛 possible. It wasnB次元官网网址檛 possible,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淎nd then (with) Alphonso, it is possible. WeB次元官网网址檝e been fighting that battle for 10 years and itB次元官网网址檚 taken Alphonso to pretty much deny them the ability to sell his name.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 just one of those instances where, yeah, this could have been sorted 10 years ago but they told the womenB次元官网网址檚 team it wasnB次元官网网址檛 possible and now theyB次元官网网址檙e changing their tune.B次元官网网址�

Canada Soccer has only recently started to improve travel conditions for the women, she said, and has agreed to make that part of the new contract.

B次元官网网址淚n previous years we would find out that the men were travelling business class. I flat out in a meeting with (Canada Soccer president) Nick (Bontis) said B次元官网网址楴ot once I have travelled business class with this national team.B次元官网网址� And that was earlier this year. But things have changed so I have to give them a little credit.

B次元官网网址淏ut once again we were treated differently for 10, 12 years. And itB次元官网网址檚 taken the menB次元官网网址檚 success for them to start to change how theyB次元官网网址檙e treating the womenB次元官网网址檚 team, which is sad.B次元官网网址�

Sinclair, the worldB次元官网网址檚 all-time leading goal-scorer with 190, said the process of writing the book with Stephen Brunt was akin to therapy at times.

B次元官网网址淚t was painful at times. But IB次元官网网址檓 thankful for doing it,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淏ecause thereB次元官网网址檚 just certain things I havenB次元官网网址檛 thought about in years B次元官网网址� certain tournaments and games and memories that Stephen obviously helped pry into. IB次元官网网址檓 grateful for that because I feel like as athletes weB次元官网网址檙e so focused on the next game and the next tournament that we donB次元官网网址檛 sometimes look back.

B次元官网网址淎nd itB次元官网网址檚 been quite the journey.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淧laying the GameB次元官网网址� is an easy read, focused primarily on her career with Canada. She dishes on all her national team coaches, from Even Pellerud and Carolina Morace to John Herdman, Kenneth Heiner-Moller and Bev Priestman.

She is complimentary towards all, even finding something positive to say about Morace, the Italian coach under whom the Canadian women finished last at a disastrous 2011 World Cup in Germany.

Morace B次元官网网址渃reated real soccer players out of a group who, under Even, just booted the ball and chased it,B次元官网网址� she wrote.

But MoraceB次元官网网址檚 decision to move the team to residency in Italy backfired and the tournament soon showed the Canadian women had no Plan B when it came to strategy. Sinclair, who broke her nose at that World Cup, said the distance between players and staff grew as the tournament progressed.

She gives Pellerud plenty of kudos, from bringing her into the senior team to advocating for the women within Canada Soccer and moving the program forward.

She saves her biggest praise for Herdman, now coach of the menB次元官网网址檚 team, calling him B次元官网网址渢he best coach IB次元官网网址檝e ever had, hands down. He is life-changing.B次元官网网址�

SinclairB次元官网网址檚 memories of CanadaB次元官网网址檚 bronze-medal run at the London Olympics are riveting, perhaps even more than the gold-medal showing in Tokyo.

Heiner-Moller was a soccer brain whose preferred playing style proved to be not a good fit. B次元官网网址淥ne of the kindest, gentlest people IB次元官网网址檝e ever met,B次元官网网址� she writes.

Priestman, she says, understands the teamB次元官网网址檚 strengths and lets it play to them.

Sinclair also reveals her B次元官网网址渓ove-hate relationshipB次元官网网址� with the U.S. national team. She has plenty of respect for what the U.S. women have done on and off the field, but notes they come with a lot of attitude.

B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e obviously the best team in the world and they know it,B次元官网网址� she said with a laugh.

Those hoping to a peek inside SinclairB次元官网网址檚 personal life in the book will be disappointed, While Sinclair, a notoriously private person, opens up about her family, she steers clear when it comes to the rest of her life away from the pitch.

B次元官网网址淎s far as IB次元官网网址檓 concerned, what people see of me on the pitch should be enough,B次元官网网址� she writes.

ItB次元官网网址檚 been a hectic, albeit productive, time for Sinclair of late.

She helped the Portland Thorns win the NWSL championship on Oct. 29 with a 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Current. On Nov. 1, the same day as her book release, the Portland Thorns announced Sinclair would be back for an 11th season in 2023.

After a whirlwind of book appearances, she left Toronto on Sunday for Brazil where the seventh-ranked Canadian women are playing a pair of international friendlies Nov. 11 and 15 against the ninth-ranked Brazilians in Santos and Sao Paulo, respectively.

B次元官网网址淧laying the Long GameB次元官网网址� by Christine Sinclair with Stephen Brunt. Random House Canada, 235 pages, $34.

B次元官网网址擭eil Davidson, The Canadian Press