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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