A good read to get ready for our World Cup trip! Christine Sinclair went to the University of Portland, and now plays for the Portland Thorns, so she's a local hero, and also the leading international goal scorer (for men or women. She's a very private person, so this memoir doesn't have many personal details, but lots of info about the Canadian Women's team, and the history of international women's soccer (football). ( )

As anyone who has followed women's soccer at all knows Christine Sinclair hates attention. She even goes so far as to flat-out say within the pages of this book that she doesn't want strangers to know her. If you're going into this memoir thinking you're going to get something deep and personal from Christine, you'll be disappointed: Playing the Long Game is far more of a professional memoir than anything deeply personal.

Christine goes over the highs and lows of her soccer career, being rather diplomatically candid. She opens the book with the triumphant gold medal at the Tokyo, then starts at her beginning and builds back up to gold again.

She has nothing but praise for almost everybody except the US Women's National Team, though even that is couched in terms of how much she respects their drive, ambition, and how they sued their soccer federation for equal pay. But reading between the lines of Canadian politeness and passive aggression, Christine absolutely loathes their arrogance and finds their behaviour borderline unprofessional. She fully admits that being the outspoken mouthpiece that her close friend Megan Rapinoe is just could never be her, but she is dedicated to furthering the cause behind the scenes.

I really liked learning some behind-the-scenes details, like how Christine and Jessie Fleming were once assigned as roommates when Jessie was new to the squad and they both are so shy that they were awkward and quiet with each other the entire time. A lot of Playing the Long Game involves how much John Herdman, the coach of the Canadian Women's National team between 2011 and 2018, influenced and affected her, particularly his kindness and understanding after the death of her father. She credits him with a lot of the success of the team.

Overall it was a solid professional memoir. It's pretty obvious Christine didn't write it out of a desire to be better known by anyone but because she wants to further the cause of equality in soccer. I can't wait to watch her succeed. ( )