Hoop, Hoop Hooper-eh!
Canadians stun China 1-0 on strength of Hooper's early goal, Swiatek's goalkeeping
By TERRY JONES, EDMONTON SUN
PORTLAND, Oregon -- Chinese drums banged and dragons danced on a dugout roof. But in the end Canada slayed it's own dragons and wrote a storybook job to leave Canadian flags flying highest here last night. These northern girls keep taking Canada where we've never been before and we've certainly never been here - in the semifinals and the medal round of the Women's World Cup.
It's being called the upset of the World Cup. And maybe it is. But Christine Sinclair called it going into the game: "We are the underdogs. We have nothing to lose. And we're gonna win.''
With Calgary's Taryn Swiatek leading the way to win the day, confidently and aggressively handling every shot which came her way, Canada knocked the Steel Roses of China out of the tournament with a 1-0 win before 20,021, the majority of whom chanted "Canada! Canada! Canada!'' as they counted the game down as far back as the 60th minute.
Coach Even Pellerud called it the biggest accomplishment of his career and he won a World Cup coaching Norway eight years ago.
"I think this is a bigger accomplishment for me than winning the World Cup with Norway. To take this team to this success and end up in this position, I think is a bigger accomplishment.
"What we accomplished tonight is amazing. This is a historic day for soccer in Canada.
"This is a major accomplishment for this young team. This young team is just starting. Our average age is less than 23 years old. And I'm not forgetting one of my best players, the player who scored our goal. Charmaine Hooper, is 35.
"We lost three starting defenders and another one today,'' he said of injured Isabelle Moreau.
He also praised his goalkeeper Swiatek.
"Taryn Swiatek came in as a backup, had one chance and took it for all it was worth. She not only stopped shots, she intercepted crosses.
"It's a major accomplishment for this goalkeeper and this rookie defence,'' stated and elated Pellerud.
NEXT UP IS SWEDEN
China was ranked No. 4 and made it through overtime and to a shootout before losing to the U.S. in the last World Cup. Now it's No. 1-ranked U.S. vs. No. 3 Germany in one semifinal here Sunday with No. 5-ranked Sweden vs. No. 12 Canada in the other.
The Germans, who knocked off Canada 4-1 to open the tournament, made it to the match against the defending champion Americans by putting the boots to Russia 7-1 in the first quarter-final last night.
There were two big questions going in:
1. Could China, which had scored 1-0 wins over Russia and Ghana and tied Australia 1-1, score anymore?
2. Could Canada, which hasn't handled frustration well, cope with the most frustrating team in the world to play against?
Frustration wasn't a factor early as Charmaine Hooper scored her fourth World Cup goal, her second of the tournament, on a long ball sent up from Diana Matheson in the seventh minute.
The Canadians, who showed up playing their physical game early, had the first good chance when Sinclair fed Christine Latham from one which was just wide.
The Canadian pressure soon produced a corner kick and it was the result of the corner that the ball ended up back with Matheson who sent it back to where Hooper, a defender in this tournament, had moved up. When the field finally tilted a tad toward the Canadian end, Canada coped.
Swiatek made a one-handed save on Sun Wen and the China star who had only one goal in the tournament fired another one wide.
China owned the ball for 63% of the first half and 65% of the game, but Canada kept a secure grip until it started to slip about 10 minutes into the second half. Swiatek secured it from there.
She made a big save on Sun Wen again and then dove to the post to rob Zhang Outing.
CHINA KEPT PRESSURE ON
The Chinese came close again in the 82nd minute and Wen sailed a free kick over the net in the 85th minute before Swiatek hauled in a corner a minute later.
Swiatek, who fell on her back when her win over Japan had concluded, rushed toward her teammates as they celebrated at midfield.
Canada. In the final four. At a World Cup. In soccer. Pellerud has been there before with Norway. I don't know if he went out there and jumped up and down hugging his keeper in those days, but he did here last night.
"This is a dream come true for me and all of the young players on this team,'' said Swiatek.
"This is the biggest win ever for Canada. It's bigger than anything we did before,'' said Hooper. If you had told me four years ago, we'd be in the World Cup semifinal ... four years ago I couldn't picture us winning a game. It's just awesome.''
