Rise Higher

A combination of a lack of fixtures and a cold spell taking over England meant that there were only a handful of CANXNT club matches this week – though a huge piece of transfer news did give us much to talk about, as Jayde Riviere officially signed for Manchester United. The English Women’s Super League continues to be a destination for young Canadian talent, as Riviere becomes the seventh Canadian in the league.

With Riviere still recovering from a long term injury, she was not available for Manchester United’s match against Reading, where the Reds scraped a narrow 1-0 victory in the 87th minute to maintain their place at the top of the table. Adriana Leon remained on the bench for the full match, a trend which continues to frustrate fans who were anticipating more game-time for the forward. Temperatures dropping in England combined with an absence of undersoil heating meant that multiple fixtures this weekend were called off due to frozen pitches, including Brighton v Arsenal (Sabrina D’Angelo), Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester City (Shelina Zadorsky) and Chelsea v Liverpool (Kadeisha Buchanan, Jessie Fleming). Whilst two of the matches were postponed ahead of time, Chelsea’s match was allowed to go ahead before being called off after just five minutes due to multiple players slipping. The incident has prompted a discussion on the condition of pitches, the need for undersoil heating and the incompetence surrounding the fact the match was allowed to go ahead despite clear unplayable conditions.

In France, Ashley Lawrence and Marie Levasseur faced off against each other as Paris Saint-Germain took on FC Fleury in an explosive 4-4 draw. PSG’s defence struggled time and time again to deal with Fleury’s counter-attack and though they climbed back into a winning position on multiple occasions, Fleury simply hit them right back each time. Levasseur put in a good performance for the underdogs and was credited with the assist for the first goal.

Vanessa Gilles and Lyon will be breathing a sigh of relief at PSG’s draw, which takes them to the top of the table after their 2-0 win against Montpellier. Vanessa Gilles played the full match, helping the team to retain the clean sheet. 

Meanwhile, Julia Grosso continues to go from strength to strength for Italian champions Juventus, contributing heavily to their 2-1 win against Pomigliano. Grosso had the assist on the winning goal, bringing her total to a league-leading six assists. Additionally, she maintained a 90% passing accuracy, successfully completed 6/6 long balls and created an additional three chances in the 75 minutes she played. 

Lastly, the quarter-finals of the Taça de Portugal de Futebol Feminino took place, with both Marie-Yasmine Alidou and Cloé Lacasse making their way through to the semi-finals, where they have been draw against each other. Both players started for their respective teams, as Lacasse and Benfica beat Sporting CP 5-0, whilst Alidou and Famaliçao won 2-0 against Damaiense. The two teams will play each other in a two-legged semi final across March and April. 

Player of the week: Julia Grosso