WINNIPEG - Its one thing when your teammates think youre the glue that binds Canadas womens soccer team, but its something else entirely when one of your rivals thinks youre literally the best in the world.
[b]Cheap NFL Jerseys China Team[/b] .Ive said for a long time that I believe, in my humble opinion, that Christine Sinclair is the best player in the world, said Hope Solo, the goalkeeper for the U.S. team Canada will play Thursday in a friendly.You dont always get to see how brilliant she is because she doesnt always have the support players but I think now shes starting to get the support players she needs to really highlight her own play.That means Solo ranks Sinclair above Brazils Marta — a five-time FIFA World Player of the Year — and even her own teammate Abby Wambach, who has scored more goals than Sinclair or anyone else in womens soccer.She plays both sides of the ball, Solo said. Marta, she gets the ball with her feet, she can score goals. But Christine Sinclair, she reads the game, she passes, she gets assists and shes dangerous every time she gets the ball. . . Ive looked up to her and Ive admired her as a player for a really long time.Sinclairs teammates are still in awe of her talent.Shes sort of that pivotal girl for us, said midfielder Desiree Scott, the Winnipeg native playing for the first time live in front of her parents this week.She makes everything tick and shes the one we rely on.Sinclair and Canada will need every bit of talent and skill they can muster to beat the No. 1-ranked Americans. Theyve already lost their first meeting this year and Canada, ranked seventh in the world, hasnt beat the U.S. since 2001.The rivalry between the teams has taken on more of an edge since the U.S. beat Canada in the semifinals at the 2012 Olympics, but Sinclair says the real goal remains peaking when the World Cup is held here in 2015.As for stepping to the spotlight Solo and others would like to shine on her, Sinclair remains reticent as ever.Its not always something Ive embraced because its a team sport and Ive always said that, you know, you cant be the best if you havent won anything, she said after practice Tuesday.I think finally at the Olympics, as a team we were able to show and as a team I think weve started to get the respect we deserve around the world.She is an 11-time winner of the Canada Soccer Player of the Year Award and has been on the national team for 14 years. Despite all that experience, at 30, Sinclair also says her game has improved, and like her team she feels that peak is coming at just the right time for a World Cup in Canada.But defeating the Americans, who have perfected so many aspects of their game, means finding new ways to break free from a defence that did a good job of shutting her down the last time they met.It seemed that every time I got the ball I had two people on me. It was a little frustrating. As a player, in terms of developing . . . I need to learn how to cope with that, she said.Meanwhile, U.S. forward Wambach wasnt too thrilled at the idea of playing on artificial turf like the surface in Winnipeg come 2015, when Canada hosts the World Cup.It will run from June 6 to July 5 and games will be played in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton. Of those, only Monctons tiny 10,000-seat stadium has real grass.The reality is the World Cup would never be played on turf if it were the men, Wambach said after practising on Investors Group Field Tuesday and noting that there were pebbles and even nails as workers renovate parts of the press box and other areas in the stadium that only opened last year.She said she assumes that will be cleaned up, but it isnt her point.Im going to stand by what Ive been saying. We deserve to be treated just like the men do.
[b]Jason Buck[/b] .Y. -- Phil Jackson lost out on his preferred coach, but hes working hard on keeping his star player.
[b]Cheap NFL Jerseys China Discount[/b] . The traditional pre-Masters event was halted early due to inclement weather. Harrington, who tied for first in 2003 and won in 2004, became the first three-time champion of the event.DENVER - Less than a week removed from a 51-point coming out party, Terrence Ross was at it again. Ross had 16 points midway through Fridays game in Denver, connecting on six of his seven field goal attempts, none more memorable than his final bucket of the half. The Raptors guard picked off a pass from Kenneth Faried - one of the Nuggets 26 turnovers - and proceeded to go the length of the floor before throwing down one of the more emphatic one-handed dunks youll ever see directly over the defending Manimal. "I remember I had the ball, (Faried) had sprinted all the way down into the paint," Ross recalled. "So I knew he was kind of at a disadvantage and couldnt jump as high. Im coming full speed (and) he still jumped pretty high but at the same time I had enough room to still finish." The Raptors bench said it all. Jonas Valanciunas had to use most of his seven-foot-four wingspan to hold half his teammates from running on the floor. Ross had gotten their attention. "Man, its got to be a nomination for dunk of the year so far, especially on a guy like that," said All-Star DeMar DeRozan, who was returning from a two-game absence with an ankle injury. "That was big. I damn sure wouldnt have done it." Ross was 11-years-old the last time the Raptors had won in Denver. It was December 30, 2003, over a decade ago. Since then Toronto had dropped nine straight in the Mile High City by an average of 17.8 points per loss. The Raptors snapped that skid on Friday. In fact, it was the third time this season that theyve broken a road losing streak of eight or more games to a specific opponent (winning in Milwaukee for the first time in nine visits and snapping a 10-game slide to the Lakers in Los Angeles). They defeated the Nuggets by double digits and tied a franchise mark for most wins in January with 11. You wouldnt know it after the game. "Well take the W but I was disappointed and I let the players know about it," Dwane Casey said following a 100-90 victory over the depleteed Nuggets.
[b]Charley Brock[/b]. "I was disappointed in the close." Toronto led by as many as 25 early in the fourth before the visitors went ice cold. They went six minutes without scoring and didnt register a field goal over the final 7:44 of the game. "You cant come in and feel like youve got the game won with a 20-point lead," said the Raptors coach, infuriated after the victory. "Youve got to continue to execute, continue to be strong with the ball, continue to execute defensively if you want to be serious about winning in this league and until you grow up and do that, youre going to end up on the short end more times than not." "We cant be satisfied with the way we played in the fourth quarter." Times have changed and so too have the expectations. The bar has been raised, evident in Caseys post-game rant. "You have to respect that," said DeRozan, who tallied 14 of his 19 points in the third quarter. "Its not acceptable how we finished that game off with the turnovers. We have to learn to keep leads and close out games." Caseys team was excellent through three quarters, and to begin the fourth. When it was all said and done they were fortunate to be facing an undermanned Nuggets squad, missing leading scorer Ty Lawson, along with Nate Robinson and Andre Miller. Without a true point guard in the lineup, the Nuggets turned the ball over more than any Raptors opponent this season, resulting in 29 Toronto points. Still, Denver out-rebounded the Raptors by nine and bested them 50-38 in the paint. "They kicked our behinds in the paint and that was one of our focuses going into the game," Casey said. "We were soft going to the ball, slow reacting to the ball." In the end, the Raptors opened a five-game trip with a win, got off the schneid in Denver and welcomed DeRozan back to the lineup 24 hours after he was named a first-time All-Star. "Well take the win," Casey said. "Were happy with the win but we cant be satisfied. ' ' '
Find in Directory
Find in Events
Find in Marketplace