National Post: Canada Fields its Present and
Future
Canada fields its present and future
Strikers young, old to
take on Norway in women's soccer
Bruce Arthur
National
Post
TORONTO - For Charmaine Hooper, this week is a bit of a
scheduling nightmare. For Kara Lang, it is a previously unimagined
dream.
The two members of Canada's women's soccer team, separated by
nearly 19 years and worlds of experience, will come together for tomorrow's
friendly against Olympic gold-medal-winning Norway (Centennial Stadium in
Etobicoke, Ont., at 7 p.m. EDT).
For teammates, the two could hardly
diverge more. Hooper, 34, of Ottawa, is the bedrock of Canada's national team,
having played since the program's inception in 1987. She is the national team's
all-time leader in goals with 48, and in caps, with 82. For many, the all-star
forward for the WUSA's Atlanta Beat is the game in this
country.
"Charmaine has lived a hard life for 20 years," said Canadian
head coach Even Pellerud. "She has been the lone profile in Canadian
soccer."
Lang, on the other hand, is a 15-year-old phenom from Oakville,
Ont., who won't turn 16 until October and is playing her first international in
front of a home crowd.
In March, she made history by becoming the
youngest woman ever to play and to score in an international match. She bettered
American icon Mia Hamm by playing against Wales last year at the Algarve Cup in
Portugal at the precocious age of 15 years, 130 days, making her nine days
younger than Hamm on her debut. In all, Lang has six goals in seven games for
Canada.
"Sometimes I step back and think, 'What am I doing here?' " Lang
said yesterday. "A lot of the time [when I do well], I'm astonished."
So
this week contrasts the present and, perhaps, the future of Canadian women's
soccer.
Being the future seems easier, however. One day after playing a
WUSA match against New York, Hooper flew into Toronto Sunday, practised
yesterday and did media interviews, and will lead Canada against Norway tomorrow
night. Then she'll fly back to Atlanta to play for the Beat Saturday against
Boston. Oh, and Sunday, she's getting married.
"I'm pretty much out of
it, yeah," she said yesterday with a smile and slightly glazed eyes. She's
handling the arrangements for the wedding to her boyfriend of 12 years, an
assistant soccer coach at Northwestern University.
The bright-eyed Lang
has no such bridal burdens. Her biggest worry may be fatigue, or inexperience
against one of the top sides in the world, or a sudden crush of media attention.
But she's not worried.
"I don't think," she says sunnily, "That this will
ever get old."
© Copyright 2002 National Post
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