Rise Higher

Injuries
Early in the week, things were looking good from an injury perspective. After not playing since September, Deanne Rose returned to club training with Reading for the first time. Manchester United’s boss said that Jayde Riviere had been training well and should be in full training next week.

Unfortunately, the good news stopped there. In a mid-week pre-season friendly between the Portland Thorns and the US U23s, Janine Beckie went down awkwardly and painfully in the first half. Fans’ worst fears were confirmed late on Friday when the Thorns and Beckie announced that she had torn her ACL, and therefore, her season—and WWC chances—were over. Beckie is an integral part of the CanXNT, both offensively and defensively, and her versatility is a boon to Bev Priestman’s ability to change formations mid-match. Losing Beckie is an extremely hard pill to swallow, both for an athlete that gives so much to the program and also for the national team, who will now have limited preparation time to discern how best to line up without one of their best and most influential players before the WWC.

Portugal

There was a thrilling mid-week match featuring Benfica and Famalicao as the two sides went head to head in the first leg of the Portuguese Cup semi-final. That match ended in a 3-3 draw, with Cloé Lacasse registering an assist for Benfica and Marie-Yasmine Alidou scoring an absolute screamer for Famalicao. The two sides will play the second leg at the end of April. In Portuguese league play, Famalicao lost to Amora in a 0-1 match. Alidou was once again a strong performer in the midfield and played offensively, even hitting the crossbar late in the second half. She continues to make a case to be called up again to the national team, even if it is after the WWC. Lacasse scored one goal in Benfica’s 5-0 win over SF Damaiense. Finally, Proulx started in net for SC Torreense as they drew 2-2 with Maritimo.

France

In the first of the Coupe de France semi-finals this weekend, Marie Levasseur’s Fleury played against Vanessa Gilles’ Olympique Lyonnais. OL won the semi-final 2-0, with Gilles notching one assist, while Levasseur played 82 minutes. In the other semi-final, Ashley Lawrence got the start and played 63 minutes in PSG’s 1-0 win over Thonan Évian. The final will once again see French rivals OL and PSG pitted against each other—and for Canadian fans, we will see Gilles against Lawrence.

England

Shelina Zadorsky is still ill, so she didn’t appear for Tottenham during their 1-0 win against Leicester in an important regulation battle. In the FA Cup Quarter-Finals, Adriana Leon finally made the bench but unfortunately still did not register any minutes in Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Lewes. Chelsea won 3-1 over Reading with a commanding performance in which Jessie Fleming played 88 minutes. Kadeisha Buchanan was rested, likely due to Chelsea’s upcoming UWCL clash against OL.

Sweden

In the Svenska Cupen semi-finals, it was Evelyne Viens’ Kristianstads against Clarissa Larisey’s BK Häcken. Viens played the entire match and got an assist, but it wasn’t enough to defeat Häcken, who came from behind to win the match 2-1. Larisey played the second half of the match. BK Häcken will now face Hammarby on 18 May in the Svenska Cupen finals. Both teams will be in action this upcoming week as Damallsvenskan regular season play commences this Friday.

Italy

Julia Grosso once again put in a commanding performance, recording 94% passing accuracy in Juventus’ 2-0 win over AC Milan. She continues to prove her mettle as one of Juventus’ top performers.

Player of the Week: Marie-Yasmine Alidou

Weekly Stats

Goals: 2 (Alidou x1, Lacasse x1)

Assists: 3 (Gilles x1, Lacasse x1, Viens x1)