2015 Women's World Cup Players to Watch For - Briana Scurry's Picks
This World Cup we’re catching up with soccer icon Briana Scurry to bring you her picks for the top players on several teams competing in the Final 16 of the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada. Briana is the former star Goalkeeper for the USA - a 1999 World Cup Champion and 2 time Gold Medal winning Olympian.
I’ve had the pleasure of watching many a soccer game with Briana and can say it’s one of the most entertaining things in the world. She’s up on the edge of her seat yelling and coaching for the full 90 minutes and loving every second of it.
Wanna get a glimpse of what she’s like???
Well get ready because Briana is going to join team TomboyX for the WWC Final in Vancouver, BC on July 5th, 2015. We’ll be posting her thoughts live on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so be sure to tune in and check it out.
In the meantime, here are some of Briana's top player picks:
United States
#23 CHRISTEN PRESS – "Playing in her first World Cup. Fantastic finisher. If she can find herself in front of the goal watch out - she’s very accurate."
#15 MEGAN RAPINOE – "The Blond Ambition – having a fantastic tournament and is consistently one of the bright spots of this Team."
Germany
#13 CELIA SASIC - "Very good in front of goal. She'll get a lot of opportunity since Germany is in the strongest group at the WWC. Celia tends to find herself in front of the goal a lot – question is whether she can get the ball on frame. If so she’s deadly. If not, there is likely to be a lot of frustration from the Germany team."
Sweden
#17 CAROLINE SEGER - "Spearheads the entire offensive team. Caroline is a central to defensive midfielder who can also get forward. She's very intelligent offensively and defensively. Watch for her to be involved in any offensive attack Sweden can muster."
France
#14 – LOUISA NECIB - "Nickname ‘Little Hedon’. She has great foot skills. Very tricky with a lot of activity. An excellent playmaker for France. Be on the lookout for her.
Brazil
#10 MARTA - "The reigning goal scoring champion of South American football. She’s looking for her 1st World Championship – whether it be a World Cup or Olympic Gold Medal. She’s leading Brazil and Brazil looks like a team that might be able to cause some trouble in the knock out rounds. If she’s not scoring she’s causing trouble and setting someone else up to score Brazil is hosting the 2016 Olympics so this may give them more impetus to come out big for the win."
Australia
#11 – LISA DIVANNA - "Seasoned veteran for very young, fast team. She played with the Washington Freedom in WUSA & SkyBlue in NWSL. Lisa is fast and good in front of goal."
Japan
#10 - HOMARE SAWA -"Sawa is one of my all time favorite players. She played with the Washington Freedom in WUSA. She's the heart and soul of the Japanese team and is playing in her World Record 6th World Cup – pretty amazing. She covers so much ground it’s insane. Sawa runs between 9-10 miles per game when she starts. Whether she starts the game or comes off the bench always be ready to see her be involved in a goal scoring opportunity or scoring the goal herself. Sawa is a player with fantastic skill and an even better person."
Norway
#6 MAREN MJELDE - "25 yo mid-fielder with an impressive free kick against Germany earlier in the Tournament. Norway was the engine that won the World Cup in ‘95"
England
#22 – FRAN KIRBY – "Fran recently lost her mother and with that lost feeling for the game. She stopped playing for a time but was recently found again by the coach playing pick up soccer."
#10 – KAREN CARNEY – "Playing in her 3RD World Cup. Karen is very energetic, has goalscoring prowess and tends to come off the bench. She also played for the Chicago Red Stars"
Canada
#12 - CHRISTINE SINCLAIR - "Christine is #3 on all time goal scoring in the world. She's 3rd only to Mia Hamm & Abby Wambach of USA and plays with the Portland Thorns. Watch for her to shine in front of her home team crowd."