Christine Sinclair has won the Lou Marsh Award as Canada’s top athlete of 2012.

But, in FIFA’s eyes — they are both controversial figures. And if there is one thing we have learned about FIFA, black sheep rarely get recognized.

When the result of voting for FIFA’s women’s player of the year is revealed Jan. 7, it will be a referendum of sorts.

“We wanted, heading into this tournament, to leave the sport in a better place than what it was when we got into it,” Sinclair said. “I could never have imagined this would happen.”

“The Canadian Soccer Association supports the work of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and will continue to cooperate fully,” said Victor Montagliani, President of the Canadian Soccer Association, in a release issued Wednesday.

It will be discussed for years to come. For followers of the Canadian national women’s team, it will be simply be known as The Call. Maybe some profanities will be added.

Arsenal midfielder Steph Houghton scored the goal that gave GB a 1-0 win over Brazil on Tuesday. Kim Little, the Scottish star on Team GB, is also Arsenal’s leading scorer. She scored 17 goals in 17 games for the Gunners in 2011-12.

Over the coming days, we will see how well Canada responds to Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to Japan in the group-stage opener of the Olympic tournament in Coventry. You can’t escape some of the parallels to the 2011 World Cup opener, another 2-1 loss to a world-power team.

“We create some technical blueprints in each game,” Herdman said during a conference call with media on Wednesday.

“We’re one goal away from the potential gold medalist, and I think that’s a reality,” he explained. ?“In January, we were four goals away. We’ll try to bridge that gap in the next few weeks.”