VANCOUVER

When they arrived here Tuesday afternoon, the Canadian girls emerged from the plane and were each presented with a long stem rose.

Then they were presented with the news that within the first hour after they clinched first place in Group A to bring them back to the city where they’ve trained together for the past two years, 4,000 tickets had been sold.

There is the sense with a significant percentage of the population that this team has been a disappointment in the first round of the FIFA Women’s World Cup with one goal in the flow of play and back-to-back draws against New Zealand and the Netherlands.

If you were at their arrival here, you could tell it’s pretty much lost on these girls. But not their coach.

“In terms of any disappointment we don’t care what anybody thinks outside of our circle,” said Christine Sinclair. “We know we got the job done. Our goal was to win our group.”

Coach John Herdman handled it a different way.

“We were desperate to come back here. Let’s just fill B.C. Place and get the right people in there, the people who want to get behind our team and support our team regardless of how many goals we score, regardless of how many passes we create -- the people who just genuinely want to see Canada get a result.”

There are those who also seem fixated on what they’ve decided is Sinclair’s falling star at just-turned 32. That’s after two draws. She won the first one with a penalty kick.

Sinclair -- because she hasn’t had the supporting cast of players such as Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Birgit Prinz or Marta -- may be the greatest female soccer player in history.

Heading to play elimination games in Vancouver, it seems there’s the belief with some and even the declaration by others, that she’s washed up.

There’s also the expectation by others that she’s coming home to emerge with some greatness again in the games you can’t draw.

It’s going to make her a very interesting study all week in her hometown.

She’s been a study for Herdman since day one.

“We’ve seen her grow massively behind the scenes. We’ve seen her evolve into a confident leader who speaks well. She’d not frightened to show her emotions now and show that she is vulnerable. I think in the past everyone just thought she was super human and now she’s prepared to be just Christine. That’s pretty cool.

“She’s also taken on the roll of an on-field leader and worked through some of the tactical detail with players and helps establish some of the technical framework.

“So it’s really good to see her growth with the team. It looks like she is enjoying herself. That’s the main thing,” he said at the team arrival.

Sinclair was certainly enjoying herself as the team arrived at Landmark Aviation on their six-hour charter flight from Montreal as she not only did her own interview sessions but joined the media scrum herself to tape interviews of her teammates.

Sinclair grew up here. But for the past two years, and prior to several other events in the past, the team has trained here.

People don’t seem to get that. This is where they want to be for the two elimination games which will probably result in how they end up being viewed, not the three games that got them here.

“We’re comfortable here,” said Sinclair.

“Obviously I’m from here. But we’ve all spent many, many months here. It’s a second home for all the players. I think everyone was looking forward to coming back here.

“It’ll be exciting. Like I’ve said before, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play a World Cup at home, and in my case, a game in my back yard.

“There’s something about knowing your friends and family are in the stands. My parents are going to be in the stands. My brother is going to be in the stands. That’s pretty special. Not many people get that chance.

“And we get an extra couple of extra days,” she added of the Round of 16 elimination game which is scheduled for Sunday here.

“We’re back home,” said Herdman. “When you’re coming over the mountains you can see your house over the horizon. It’s fantastic for this team. It’s definitely a special feeling for the girls. Everyone is uplifted and you can see it. Refreshed.”

“This is what we hoped would happen. This is what we planned would happen. And we’ll find out tomorrow who our opponent is going to be.”

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terry.jones@sunmedia.ca