MELBOURNE, Australia — Experience gets its due Thursday night when Canada opens play against Nigeria at the FIFA Women's World Cup.
There are just two 40-year-old players at the 32-team tournament, and Nigeria's Onome Ebi and Canada's Christine Sinclair are expected to meet as captains at centre field for the coin toss in the Group B game at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
Ebi, a defender, will then be tasked with trying to stop Sinclair, the world's all-time leading goal-scorer with 190 goals.
Ebi will be 40 years 73 days old at kickoff, 35 days older than Sinclair.
"It warms the heart that they're still going (strong)," Canada midfielder Sophie Schmidt, who is appearing at her fifth World Cup, said of the two captains. "The love for the game and the passion is still there.
"And it's just incredible to also the effects and the inspiration that they have on younger players that are now also able to play on the same team as these amazing human beings."
The youngest player at the tournament is South Korean forward Casey Phair, who will be 16 years 21 days old when the tournament opens. Canada's youngest player is forward Olivia Smith (18 years 349 days).
The tournament features just 28 players aged 35 and over. At the other end of the scale, there are 44 teenagers.
Ebi and Sinclair will both be appearing in their sixth World Cup.
Brazil's Formiga leads all women with seven World Cup appearances. Formiga, who also appeared in seven Olympics, retired from international football in November 2021 at the age of 43.
Ebi made her World Cup debut in 2003 in the United States off the bench in a 3-0 loss to North Korea in Philadelphia. The Nigerian veteran made history four years ago in France when she became the first African footballer, male or female, to appear in five World Cups.
Sinclair, meanwhile, joined Brazil's Marta and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo in scoring in five World Cups with a goal in a 2-1 loss to the Netherlands in Reims at the 2019 tournament. The native of Burnaby, B.C., can become the first player to score in six World Cups.
According to FIFA, Canada is the eighth-oldest team at the tournament, tied with Portugal, South Africa and Switzerland with an average age of 27. Nigeria is tied with Norway for 16th oldest at 26.4.
South Korea is the oldest squad with an average age of 28.9 while is the youngest is tournament debutant Haiti at 22.3.
The overall average age at the tournament is 26.3 years.
Of the five oldest players at the tournament, Sinclair is the lone attacker. Two others are goalkeepers (39-year-old Vanina Correa of Argentina and 38-year-old Jungmi Kim of South Korea) with 38-year-old Australian defender Aivi Luik rounding out the top five.
Canada coach Bev Priestman, at 37 years 82 days, is the third-youngest coach at the tournament. Mexico's Ignacio Quintana (35 years 91 days) is the youngest while Vietnam's Mai Duc Chung (73 years 29 days) is the oldest.
---
Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2023.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
