Sinclair scores 162nd career goal as Canada beats Dutch 2-1 in soccer friendly

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands – Star striker Christine Sinclair scored the 162nd goal of her international career, and Canada defeated the Netherlands 2-1 in a women’s soccer friendly on Sunday.

Janine Beckie also scored for Canada, her eighth goal in 16 international appearances.

Stefanie van der Gragt replied for the Netherlands.

The win improved Canada’s record to 8-0-2 in 10 international matches in 2016 as it readies for the Olympic tournament in less than four months.

“I’m really happy with the performance today,” said Canada head coach John Herdman. “The Dutch are right up there, they’ve had results against France and Japan recently at home, so we knew it would be tough. What I loved about today is that we looked dangerous and I think that’s what we’ve been pushing this Canadian team towards.”

Sinclair opened the scoring in the 34th minute. From a Beckie corner kick, Sinclair escaped the pack in the box and flicked a low pass upwards past the goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal.

Canada made it 2-0 in the 56th minute. A long ball from defender Kadeisha Buchanan fell to Beckie, who beat a pair of Dutch defenders to bump up her scoring streak to three consecutive games.

“John challenged us before the game to bring some individual flare to the game and I think we did that consistently,” Sinclair said. “Holland is a very organised team and I thought we made it difficult for them.”

The Dutch cut Canada’s lead to 2-1 on a 58th minute header by van der Gragt, but they could not find an equalizer in the last 30-plus minutes.

Canada continues its tuneup for the Olympics with two-game series against Brazil, June 4 in Toronto and June 7 in Ottawa.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version stated Canada was readying for an Olympic qualifies, instead of the Olympics.