Janine Beckie emerging as next great Canadian scorer

By Nick Murray, CBC Sports

Janine Beckie has already broken one record during these Olympics, and she may be on her way to breaking another.

She scored the fastest goal in Olympic history Wednesday against Australia en route to a 2-0 win, and followed it up with a pair of goals against Zimbabwe Saturday.

Her three tallies in the Games so far puts her halfway to matching the Olympic record for most goals in a single tournament, held by none other than teammate and captain Christine Sinclair.

• Janine Beckie stars as Canadian soccer women advance
• SCHEDULE: Women's soccer at Rio 2016

Records or not, Rio 2016 has been a coming out party for the Burnaby B.C., native. But most impressive beyond the boxscore is the composure the 21-year-old has shown in her Olympic debut.

"She's found a knack of being in the right place at the right time. She's clearly combining well with Sinclair, and I think importantly, Sinclair trusts her," said CBC soccer commentator Nigel Reed.

"In a tournament like the Olympics, for Beckie to show that composure and to be able to pick her spot and not panic in front of the goal, and to score three goals is two games is terrifically encouraging."

Indeed, the chemistry between Sinclair and Beckie is on display in Rio, as Sinclair has assisted on two of Beckie's goals.

Changing of the guard

Reed said Beckie's emergence as a dominant goal scorer does two things for Team Canada moving forward. First, it spreads out the offence and will force opposing teams to have to defend a dual threat, rather than go heavy on guarding Sinclair.

Secondly, it's a changing of the guard of sorts in Canadian soccer.

"Canada's been crying out for a natural goal scorer for a long time, because obviously Christine isn't getting any younger," Reed said.

"I suppose it's symptomatic of what [head coach John] Herdman is trying to do here. He's trying to blend the younger players and the veterans so they're an effective attacking force. Sinclair is still a world-class striker, but somebody sooner or later is going to have to pick up the baton and run with it, and become the 'Sinclair' for the next 10 years."

Too early to draw comparisons to 2012 bronze medallists

Team Canada will battle second-ranked Germany, with the winner finishing atop Group F.

Some could argue the team has already exceeded expectations having clinched a quarter-final berth, as they came into the tournament ranked 10th in the world.

Still, Reed said it's too early to draw comparisons to the 2012 bronze medal-winning team.

"If this team gets to play for a medal again, John Herdman and his staff deserve all the credit in the world," Reed said. "They've had to reshape and remodel this team from London, through the women's World Cup last year, and now onto the Olympics.

"I think all you can say so far is they've come out of the gate fast, they're well prepared, they're playing with confidence, and so far so good. I think it's a danger to start looking too far ahead. Let's get Germany out of the way and see what happens in that game, which might put the tournament into prespective."

Canada wraps up its group stage play against Germany on Tuesday at 3 p.m., ET. Catch the game at CBCSports.ca, on the CBC Rio 2016 app and CBC TV.