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“That’s obviously going to be our growth over the next eight months if we hope to do well at the Olympics.”

“I told her ‘don’t let this defeat you,’” the Burnaby-raised athlete said of her post-game discussion with Beckie, who had three goals in Canada’s last bronze-medal showing at the Olympics.

“I’ve missed massive PKs in my career — it’s part of it. It takes guts to even consider to take one in a moment like that. She’s fearless. And this was just the beginning for so many of these youngsters. They’ll be better for it.”

The game ended Canada’s World Cup run, but the 36-year-old Sinclair still sees it as a beginning of a new era in women’s soccer, not just nationally, but globally.

“What struck me with the World Cup — obviously the No. 1 team in the world won it — but what struck me was how many quality teams there are now in the world, that have legitimate chances of winning major tournaments,” said Sinclair, who is still just two goals away from tying Abby Wambach’s all-time record of 186.

“You walk away from the tournament proud of the women’s game, and where it’s come from. The women’s game is changing so much. You have to perform game after game after game to have a chance. And we didn’t.”

Canada’s team has dropped two places from its pre-World Cup ranking of No. 5 globally, behind five European countries and the top-ranked U.S.

But only Netherlands (No. 3), Sweden (No. 5) and England (No. 5) will play at next year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo, with France (No. 4) and the defending champion Germans (No. 2) missing out with only three European spots available.