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Canada’s women’s U-20 team provided the Association’s youth program’s moment of the year when it won the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship in June. It was Canada’s second confederation championship in three tries against USA since 2004.
Karla Schacher scored the winning goal in the 1:0 victory on 28 June in Puebla, Mexico. Goalkeeper Erin McNulty provided the clean sheet with defenders Rheanne Sleiman, Lexi Marton, Myriam Bouchard and Allysha Chapman in front of her.
Coaches and media have one week left to make their selections for the 2008 Canadian Players of the Year. Coaches and media are each making top-three selections in the men’s and women’s 2008 adidas Canadian Players of the Year categories while coaches are making top-three selections in the men’s and women’s U-20 and U-17 categories. Voting concludes this 3 January.
Fans, of course, are also making their own selections for the CanadaSoccer.com Fans’ Choices. Fans have up until 9 January to pick their favourite players from the 2008 season (no rhyme or reason required). So far, fan favourites include Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario, Ali Gerba and Tomasz Radzinski in the male category and Kara Lang, Christine Sinclair, Melissa Tancredi and Rhian Wilkinson in the female category.
This year’s CanadaSoccer.com Fans’ Choices voting has identified eight favourites for the 2008 season: four men and four women. Those eight fan favourites have captured more than 80% of the vote less than half way through the voting period. The eight stars are Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario, Ali Gerba, Tomasz Radzinski, Kara Lang, Christine Sinclair, Melissa Tancredi and Rhian Wilkinson.
The votes have been coming in steadily this past first week in the 2008 CanadaSoccer.com Fans’ Choices popular poll. Kara Lang, Christine Sinclair, Melissa Tancredi and Rhian Wilkinson are leading the way in the women’s category while Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario, Ali Gerba and Tomasz Radzinski are leading the way in the men’s category. Fans have up until 9 January to make their vote for their favourite male and female soccer players from the 2008 season.
No rhyme or reason is required – fans are simply asked to vote for their favourite players. After 9 January, CanadaSoccer.com will announce the two Fans’ Choices for the 2008 season. The two winners will not only have their headshots captured in the next edition of the adidas Boot Room, but they will also help reward two lucky fans with a Canada jersey and autographed postcard.
Canada is the 11th ranked country in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking. Canada remained even at 1944 points, the same total it had in the last ranking three months ago. England, however, has slipped back into the top-10 ranking, gaining 11 points and moving six points past Canada for 10th place.
USA and Germany are still the top-two countries in the global ranking. USA recently won its third Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in four tries. USA won the gold medal after defeating Canada in the quarter-final, Japan in the semi-final, and Brazil in the final.
Le Canada se situe à la 11ème place du plus récent classement mondial féminin FIFA/Coca-Cola. Le Canada est resté à 1944 points, le même total qu’il avait lors du dernier classement il y a trois mois. L’Angleterre, cependant, fait de nouveau partie des 10 pays en tête du classement, gagnant 11 points et devançant le Canada de six points pour décrocher la 10ème place.
Ce sont les États-Unis et l’Allemagne qui occupent toujours les deux premières places du classement. Les États-Unis viennent de remporter leur troisième Tournoi Olympique de Football Féminin en quatre participations. Les Américaines ont remporté la médaille d’or après avoir battu le Canada en quarts de finale, le Japon en demi-finale, et le Brésil en finale.
Rhian Wilkinson won a Maurice for Collective Sports Team Player of the Year at the 36th Gala Sports-Québec. The award (« Athlète en sport collectif ») was presented to her on Wednesday night at the Sheraton Centre in Laval, QC.
Wilkinson of Baie D’Urfé, QC represented Canada at the 2008 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. She played her youth football in Baie D’Urfé in the Lac St-Louis region and made her national-team debut at age 20 in April 2003. Five years later, she has already accumulated 67 appearances with the national team. She has taken part in two FIFA Women’s World Cups (2003 and 2007) and won medals at two Pan American Games (silver in 2003 and bronze in 2007).
Canada ranks ninth within CONCACAF in the most recent FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings, the last monthly ranking of the 2008 season. USA is once again the confederation leader while Mexico, Honduras and Costa Rica trail to make up the CONCACAF top-four.
The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings looks at each country’s international results from the last four years. The ranking takes into account the result, the importance of the match, the strength of the opponent, the regional strength, the time period, and the number of matches per year.
Soccer fans across the country are asked to vote for their favourite Canadian players in the 2008 CanadaSoccer.com Fans’ Choices poll. Voting begins today and runs through 20 January 2008. Fans are asked to vote for one male player and one female player.
Fans can select any Canadian player. The list of senior nominees is the same as the list for the 2008 adidas Canadian Players of the Year award. Unlike the player of the year vote (based on performance, voted by coaches and media), the CanadaSoccer.com Fans’ Choices is based on popularity. Each fan can make one male selection and one female selection.
