STAR POWER

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This article was published 05/06/2015 (4099 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The first four teams are on the ground now and Investors Group Field is splashed with banners of blazing red. In just three days, Winnipeg’s games begin.

Over the next 12 days, more than 200 of the world’s top athletes will pound the turf in the city’s south end, hunting for their chance to climb towards the podium at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Still, it’s fair to say that when those players take the pitch, the majority of local fans will not know most of them by name.

Yet in every one of those names, there is a thread of a story, and together they knit the fabric of this Women’s World Cup. So here, we consider just a handful of those names that may leap right off the field and delight, amaze or otherwise engage the fans who get to watch them play:

JULIE JOHNSTON, United States

The seasoned American roster reads like a firing squad of women’s soccer, powered by superstar talents such as all-time world leading scorer Abby Wambach, dangerous midfielder Megan Rapinoe and seemingly ageless defender Christie Rampone, who in 2014 achieved her 300th international appearance.

But there are some up-and-comers who will be jostling to stand out on the senior women’s stage. One of the most exciting is 23-year-old Julie Johnston, a 5-7 defender who rocketed up the American roster in just seven months, thanks in part to a huge presence in the air.

To be sure, there were signs she’d be great — she captained the United States to a 2012 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup title — but her breakout year surprised many. Last year, she only made the team for qualifiers because another player was injured; she took that chance and ran with it, becoming a regular starter for the side.

LOTTA SCHELIN, Sweden

At 31, the Swedish striker is a legend in the making, one of the finest players in the women’s game today. A 5-10, lean goal-scoring machine, Schelin put away 12 goals in 10 games on Sweden’s road to Canada, but her impact on her side stretches beyond the scoreboard: she is a talisman of sorts, for the Swedes.

That status isn’t conferred lightly. Last year, Schelin was named Sweden’s female player of the year for the fifth time after smashing the national team’s scoring record (and doing the same with her club, Olympique Lyonnaise). She currently sits at 80 goals on the world stage, with plenty of soccer left in her to play.

NADINE ANGERER, Germany

Opportunities like this don’t come around often, a chance to watch a world icon take her last hurrah. Whatever happens in this World Cup — and top-ranked Germany is in it to win it — the 36-year-old goalkeeper and beloved international fixture will hang up her gloves when it’s done.

When Angerer announced her retirement plans in May, she made it clear she’s going out on her own time and at the top of her game, as a hero with two World Cup titles to her name. She’s won just about everything else, too, and in January 2014 became the first goalkeeper ever named a FIFA world player of the year.

KATRINA GORRY, Australia

Meet the one they call Mini, though she doesn’t play that way. One of the brightest young stars on a fresh-faced Australian side, the spitfire 5-1 midfielder is the reigning Asian women’s player of the year. Gorry’s leg is deadly at long range, and it was her goal against Vietnam that guaranteed the Matildas a place at the World Cup.

What is more, Gorry is also a growing force off the pitch, where she is becoming a confident advocate for women’s equality in sport.

“The more we speak out, the better,” the 23-year-old said after landing in Winnipeg Thursday. “It’s hard when you get in a media situation and they’re asking things they would not ask a male… That’s tough but I speak the truth.”

HOMARE SAWA, Japan

Like so many athletes in this tournament, Sawa began playing because her brother did — now, she is on the brink of making history with her sixth World Cup.

Thirty years after taking her first kicks at age six, the midfielder is the heart and soul of Japanese soccer, with 197 international appearances. She was a key cog in their march to an emotional 2011 World Cup championship and a 2012 Olympic silver medal.

After the London Games, Sawa retired, saying that she’d “given everything.” Well, turns out she had more. She rejoined Team Japan for the Asian Cup in 2014, took a year off to heal an injury, then returned to the field just two weeks ago — and promptly scored the winning goal in 1-0 warm-up against New Zealand.

When she takes the pitch, she will be one of just two players of any gender to play in six World Cups. The other is Brazilian midfielder Formiga, who is 37.

REBECCA ROLLS, New Zealand

OK, she’s not the biggest name on the Football Ferns, but what the backup goalkeeper brings to her side is a lesson in heart. She turns 40 years old in August, making her the second oldest player in the tournament (USA defender Christie Rampone has her beat by two months) — and what’s more, this is Rolls’ first World Cup.

Well, in soccer anyway. Rolls made 11 international appearances with New Zealand before stepping back in 1996. The reason? She wanted to focus on what became an outstanding cricket career, in which she would help lead her team to a cricket World Cup title. She retired in 2007.

Five years later, Rolls stunned her country when she returned to soccer, inspired to give it one more shot after watching her countrywomen’s efforts at the 2011 World Cup. She made the cut, and here she will get to live out her World Cup dream.

ASISAT OSHOALA, Nigeria

When young Asisat Oshoala put her schooling on hold to pursue a soccer dream, her parents were aghast. But the striker refused to back down on her vision, her parents eventually came around — and last year, she dedicated her win of one of Nigeria’s most coveted national awards to them.

This is the story of soccer, straight from the gut. At just 20, Oshoala signed on with Liverpool Ladies, becoming the first African women to compete in the top English league. She is a force to be reckoned with as she makes her senior debut. Last year, Oshoala was the top scorer and best player at the 2014 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup and led Nigeria to a silver finish.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

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