Christine Sinclair is international soccer's new all-time leading goalscorer.
Sinclair scored twice early for the Canada women's national team against Saint Kitts and Nevis during group play of the 2020 Concacaf Women's Olympic Qualifying championship on Wednesday. The goals, scored at H-E-B Park in Edinburg, Texas, take her to 185 all-time international goals, one ahead of former US international Abby Wambach.
It's also well ahead of anyone's total in the men's game. Ali Daei, the top male international scorer, had 109 career goals for Iran.
Sinclair, who plays her club football for the NWSL's Portland Thorns, tied the all-time scoring record on a 7th minute penalty kick, then followed that with a 23rd-minute goal that broke the international record. It was the fourth goal in an 11-0 drubbing of Saint Kitts and Nevis by a strong Canadian side.
The 36-year-old Sinclair started her international scoring run in March 2000 and her total includes 10 goals at FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments and 11 goals at the Olympics. She has scored goals in 21 different countries, against 42 different opponents and Canada have won 76 percent of the matches in which she has scored (99 of 130 matches including the record-breaking match).
The match agains Saint Kitts and Nevis was Canada's Group B opener in the tournament, with games against Jamaica and Mexico to follow. Group A features the US women's national team, which beat Haiti 4-0 in its opening match.
The top two teams in each of the two groups advance to the tournament semifinals, with the winner of each semifinal qualifying to represent Concacaf at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
