WINNIPEG - Its one thing when your teammates think youre the glue that binds Canadas womens soccer team, but its something else entirely when one of your rivals thinks youre literally the best in the world.Ive said for a long time that I believe, in my humble opinion, that Christine Sinclair is the best player in the world, said Hope Solo, the goalkeeper for the U.S. team Canada will play Thursday in a friendly.You dont always get to see how brilliant she is because she doesnt always have the support players but I think now shes starting to get the support players she needs to really highlight her own play.That means Solo ranks Sinclair above Brazils Marta — a five-time FIFA World Player of the Year — and even her own teammate Abby Wambach, who has scored more goals than Sinclair or anyone else in womens soccer.She plays both sides of the ball, Solo said. Marta, she gets the ball with her feet, she can score goals. But Christine Sinclair, she reads the game, she passes, she gets assists and shes dangerous every time she gets the ball. . . Ive looked up to her and Ive admired her as a player for a really long time.Sinclairs teammates are still in awe of her talent.Shes sort of that pivotal girl for us, said midfielder Desiree Scott, the Winnipeg native playing for the first time live in front of her parents this week.She makes everything tick and shes the one we rely on.Sinclair and Canada will need every bit of talent and skill they can muster to beat the No. 1-ranked Americans. Theyve already lost their first meeting this year and Canada, ranked seventh in the world, hasnt beat the U.S. since 2001.The rivalry between the teams has taken on more of an edge since the U.S. beat Canada in the semifinals at the 2012 Olympics, but Sinclair says the real goal remains peaking when the World Cup is held here in 2015.As for stepping to the spotlight Solo and others would like to shine on her, Sinclair remains reticent as ever.Its not always something Ive embraced because its a team sport and Ive always said that, you know, you cant be the best if you havent won anything, she said after practice Tuesday.I think finally at the Olympics, as a team we were able to show and as a team I think weve started to get the respect we deserve around the world.She is an 11-time winner of the Canada Soccer Player of the Year Award and has been on the national team for 14 years. Despite all that experience, at 30, Sinclair also says her game has improved, and like her team she feels that peak is coming at just the right time for a World Cup in Canada.But defeating the Americans, who have perfected so many aspects of their game, means finding new ways to break free from a defence that did a good job of shutting her down the last time they met.It seemed that every time I got the ball I had two people on me. It was a little frustrating. As a player, in terms of developing . . . I need to learn how to cope with that, she said.Meanwhile, U.S. forward Wambach wasnt too thrilled at the idea of playing on artificial turf like the surface in Winnipeg come 2015, when Canada hosts the World Cup.It will run from June 6 to July 5 and games will be played in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton. Of those, only Monctons tiny 10,000-seat stadium has real grass.The reality is the World Cup would never be played on turf if it were the men, Wambach said after practising on Investors Group Field Tuesday and noting that there were pebbles and even nails as workers renovate parts of the press box and other areas in the stadium that only opened last year.She said she assumes that will be cleaned up, but it isnt her point.Im going to stand by what Ive been saying. We deserve to be treated just like the men do. Carlos Zambrano Jersey . A groundswell for raising the number of playoff qualifiers to seven in each conference figures to get plenty of support from the 32 owners. Most notably, Arizonas Bill Bidwill, who saw his Cardinals go 10-6 and not get in, while Green Bay (8-7-1) qualified by winning the NFC North. Kerry Wood Jersey . Altidore strained his left hamstring in the Americans opener against Ghana on June 16 and didnt play in their next two games. 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He has spent much of his adult life trying to give back to his native South Sudan, the war-torn African nation the Cavaliers forward and his family fled when he was a young boy.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In the dressing room after Brandon Dubinskys late goal forced overtime, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno half-jokingly said hed get the winner. Then he did it. Dubinsky scored with 22.5 seconds left in regulation and Folignos wrist shot just inside the blue line 2:49 into the extra session -- from right over the top of the Stanley Cup painted under the ice -- gave the upstart Columbus Blue Jackets a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night. Asked if he had called the goal, Foligno laughed. "I might have," he said with a wide grin. "I didnt actually think it would work out, but it ended up working. Im going to thank my lucky stars." The Blue Jackets overcame a 3-0 deficit for their first home playoff victory in the franchises 13 seasons, sending the series back to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Saturday night tied 2-2. The defeat left the Penguins, who had rolled over Columbus in all five meetings during the regular season, stunned. "We lost the game, its 2-2 now and we have to have a response from our whole group," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. Craig Adams, Chris Kunitz and James Neal scored in a 5:01 span in the first period to stake the Penguins to a three-goal lead and briefly silence the rowdy crowd of 18,970. But the Blue Jackets, unlike prior teams that had made the franchise a laughing stock by piling up defeats and failing in big games, kept coming. Rookie Boone Jenner scored on a 5-on-3 power play to cut it to 3-1. That was an ominous sign for the Penguins. In the three previous games of the series, a team had scored first on the way to a 3-1 lead -- and then lost the game. This one was no different. Ryan Johansen, who would star on Dubinskys tying shot, then tapped in a goal, also with a man advantage, to make it 3-2 through two periods. It stayed that way, both Marc-Andre Fleury of Pittsburgh and Columbus Sergei Bobrovsky trading big saves, until the final minute. As brilliant as he had been at times, Fleury was the culprit. Without really having to, he elected to go to the back wall to handle Jack Johnsons pass around the boards. He whiffed trying to handle the puck, it hopping over his stick, and he was left out of position. Johansen was there to saucer a quick backhanded pass through the crease where Dubinsky netted it with 22.5 seconds left. "We just dumped it in and went to work," said Dubinsky, acquired in the blockbuster deal that shipped captain and franchise hallmark Rick ;Nash to the New York Rangers two years ago.dddddddddddd "It was a Columbus goal. We forechecked them hard, Joe threw it out front to me. I dont know what happened with Fleury, but a couple of guys went down and I shot through them and it went into the net." That touched off a wild celebration, with dancing in the aisles and the loudest sound heard in the Blue Jackets mostly dismal 13 seasons -- well, for at least a few minutes. Meanwhile Dubinsky slid on one knee on the ice before being mobbed by his teammates. In the overtime, the Blue Jackets had the best of it -- as they had for all but the start. Foligno carried the puck through the neutral zone and was 12 feet across the blue line when he fired a low wrister that he tucked under Fleurys glove. As the players piled on top of Foligno, the crowd went crazy again. "The fans were outstanding," Foligno said. "When we were down 3-0, they stuck with us and they kept cheering us on. And it really gave us a lot of momentum throughout the game." Fleury finished with 42 saves but had no explanation for what happened on the tying goal. "They dumped it in and I thought I would stop it for my (defence)," he said. "I dont know, it just bounced over my stick and went right to their guy (Johansen). And he put it right in front." Penguins captain Sidney Crosby defended his goalie. "I didnt get a good look but, you know what, I trust Marc," he said. "For a puck to come out like that, Im sure it had to take a bounce or some kind of a weird hop." Bylsma also blamed a funny bounce. "It was just a puck that comes off of the stanchion and its a bouncing puck," he said. "Obviously, it leaves them with an open cage and an opportunity." The closing goals buoyed the hopes of the Blue Jackets and called into question the Penguins, who have been playoff busts since winning the Stanley Cup in 2009. "I dont know if you can script a better finish," Richards said. Notes: The NHL announced earlier Wednesday that Game 5 will start at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Pittsburgh. ... Bobrovsky had 22 saves for the Blue Jackets. ... Columbus was without rookie D Ryan Murray, who was wearing a boot after being hit with a puck in practice. Veteran Nick Schultz took his spot. ... Bylsma said he was hopeful C Marcel Goc (ankle) may be able to play in the series. ... Likely NHL MVP Crosby has not scored a goal in his last nine playoff games and Evgeni Malkin hasnt found the net in his last eight. 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