Mike
Koreen (Toronto Sun): Hooper bemoans one that got away
by DJT
Sunday, July 1, 2001
Hooper bemoans one that got
away
By MIKE KOREEN -- Toronto Sun
While Canadian national women's
soccer team coach Even Pellerud stressed the positives, star forward Charmaine
Hooper lamented the missed opportunities.
Hooper wasn't all smiles,
despite a 2-2 tie with the favoured United States in an exhibition game last
night before a sellout crowd of 9,023 at Varsity Stadium.
"I felt we
could have won," said Hooper, who played her team-leading 78th game. "I thought
we had more chances than they did, but the shots went just wide or off the
post."
One near miss stood out. In the 63rd minute, Hooper put a free
kick from just outside the penalty area off the right post.
"That was
just heartbreaking," Hooper said. "I'm going to be replaying that one over and
over in my head."
The tie extended Canada's unbeaten streak to four
games -- two wins and two ties --against the World Cup champions.
It
also ended Canada's five-game overall losing streak.
"2-2 is a very good
result, but more importantly it was a very good performance," Pellerud said.
Unfortunately, the action was difficult to see near the end of the game
as the lights on the aging stadium's west side went out.
After the game,
the big concern in the Canadian dressing room was the status of captain Amy
Walsh, who was carried off on a stretcher after she twisted her right ankle in
the eighth minute. Walsh was examined late last night.
"I think it's
serious," said Pellerud, whose team will play the U.S. again Tuesday in Blaine,
Minn. "I suspect a fracture."
Hooper scored her team-leading 48th goal
to open the scoring in the 14th minute, but the U.S. tied it 14 minutes later
with a controversial goal.
After a Canadian foul, U.S. star Mia Hamm
took her free kick about 10 feet ahead of the spot where referee Sonia
Denoncourt, a Montreal native, wanted the kick to take place. Hamm got the ball
to Shannon MacMillan, whose shot from just outside the penalty area took a short
hop and went in off the fingertips of goalie Taryn Swiatek.
Swiatek,
replacing the injured Karina LeBlanc (ankle), also looked weak in the 57th
minute when Tiffeny Milbrett's long shot went in over her head. But Christine
Sinclair knotted it 2-2 in the 58th minute by kicking a bouncing ball into the
top right corner of the net guarded by Jamie Pagliarulo.
Hooper and
teammate Sharolta Nonen have been asked to report to Philadelphia today to play
for their Atlanta club team in the Women's United Soccer Association.
None of the Americans, who left right after the game instead of speaking
with media, have been asked to report to their clubs.
Meanwhile, in an
under-19 women's game yesterday afternoon at Varsity, Mary Boland scored in the
47th minute to give the U.S. a 1-0 win over Canada.
.
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