Canada captains Scott Arfield, Christine Sinclair win Canada Soccer monthly awards

TORONTO — Canada captains Scott Arfield and Christine Sinclair have been named Canada Soccer’s players of the month for October.

Both helped their clubs to success with Arfield and Glasgow Rangers opening a seven-point lead in the Scottish Premiership and Sinclair captaining the Portland Thorns to the NWSL League Fall Series title.

Rangers won three league matches in October and posted three wins in Europe. Arfield, who turned 32 on Sunday, scored for Rangers in their UEFA Europa League qualifying match on Oct. 1.

Rangers added to their league lead with a win Nov. 1

Arfield has won 19 caps for Canada. How many more remains to be seen with Rangers boss Steven Gerrard hinting his midfielder may opt to focus on club football.

“I think we arguably had the midfielder in form in the league in Scott Arfield, who thankfully doesn’t go on international duty any more and we can keep an eye on him here and he can train with us,” Gerrard told the Rangers TV channel last month.

Sinclair scored the tying goal for Portland in a 1-1 draw with the Utah Royals on Oct. 3 and had both goals in a 2-1 victory over the OL Reign that sealed the title on Oct. 10. It was Sinclair’s fourth league crown in eight years with Portland.

Sinclair led the Fall Series in scoring with six goals in four matches. Since the NWSL started in 2013, the 37-year-old from Burnaby, B.C, is tied for second in all-time league scoring with 58 goals in 147 matches.

Canada Soccer Players of the Month

January 2020 — Liam Fraser & Christine Sinclair

February 2020 — Kadeisha Buchanan, Jonathan David, Alphonso Davies

July 2020 — Alphonso Davies & Sophie Schmidt

August 2020 — Kadeisha Buchanan & Alphonso Davies

September 2020 — Richie Laryea & Christine Sinclair

October 2020 — Scott Arfield & Christine Sinclair

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2020

The Canadian Press