Rhian Wilkinson's Official Website

TEAM CANADA:

HOOPER SCORES THREE IN 4 - 2 WIN OVER SWEDEN

16th July 2006

From a Soccer Canada Report

Canada’s Charmaine Hooper scored a hat trick on Tuesday as the Canadian Women’s National Team defeated Sweden 4-2 in Blaine, Minnesota. "It was a great game," says Rhian, and although she is obviously biaised, she saw that "everyone stepped it up a notch and took the game to Sweden right from the start. Not one person did not perform on the night, everyone lending something to the team in their own way, it really was a pleasure to watch."

Unfortunately, Rhian was told before the game that she would not be cleared to play because of an injury, and she was understandably upset about the enforced replacement. However, she says, "as soon as the whistle went I was so totally engrossed in watching our team dominate. I forgot about everything else.

The crowd was awesome. Because of the USA Cup being played at the same facilities we had a lot of Canadian teams on hand. The final count was somewhere around three and a half thousand but the noise generated made you think there were more than double that. The crowd were definitely our twelfth player, never stopping cheering us on- thanks to everyone there!

That night we had an end of camp meeting to go over some general points and to say goodbye. The Ottawa girls were the first to leave the next day, our wake-up call was just before 4am!!!!

The camp was a long one but also a good one. The feeling on the team is very strong at the moment and if we keep performing like we did the other night I honestly believe that the sky is the limit.

Canada was ahead 2-1 by the half with two goals by Hooper. The first came when Hooper received a terrific feed from Christine Sinclair, which she then headed from the top of the six yard box past the Swedish goalkeeper. Rhian says that "from the bench we saw the fire light up in her eyes." Then, in one tackle a Swedish player caught Charmaine a little late and knocked her hair askew giving her something like a side ponytail. I found this pretty funny until she ran by the bench chasing down some poor luckless Swede. " I then decided that Charmaine might be the only person in the world who makes a side ponytail look intimidating."

In the 20th minute, Martina Franko played the ball into the box, but a poor clearance fell to Hooper who volleyed the ball over the keeper.

Sweden’s Victoria Svensson scored in the 38th minute to lessen the gap before the end of the half.

In the second half, the score line remained at 2- 1, but then Sinclair broke past the last defender on a Brittany Timko pass and sent the ball to the far post in the 58th minute.

One minute later, Hooper netted her third of the match and 71st for Canada in 130 appearances. Canada’s free kick by Sharolta Nonen bounced off a Swedish defender and Hooper ran onto the ball with nothing, but an open net for a target.

The final score of the game was Sweden’s Therese Lundin goal in the 80th minute.

“A strong 4-2 win against fifth ranked Sweden secured our team's sixth game without defeat in 2006. The players came out very strong and determined and it was only a question of time before we scored with Sinclair and Hooper looking very sharp in the first half. Hooper scored two stunning goals before Sweden slowly, but surely, picked up the pace of the game and they earned the goal they scored by halftime,” said Even Pellerud.

"Again, we came out strong in the second half and scored two additional goals. It was uphill for Sweden after that, but they took advantage of their better level of soccer fitness and dominated possession the last thirty minutes. They also managed to create a couple of goal chances and it would not have been undeserved if they had scored one more goal. However the better team won this evenly played, tempo-filled game.”

Canada’s next math takes place against the United States on July 30th at the SAS Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.

July 18th, 2006 – International Friendly
Blaine, Minnesota
Canada 4(2)
Sweden 2(1)
Goals: Canada – Hooper (16, 20, 59), Sinclair (58); Sweden – Svensson (36), Lundin (80)
Cautions: n/a
Canada: Erin McLeod; Melanie Booth; Martina Franko (Sasha Andrews, 85); Randy Hermus (Andrea Neil, 70); Charmaine Hooper; Christine Latham; Dianna Matheson; Sharolta Nonen; Christine Sinclair; Brittany Timko (Robyn Gayle, 75); Amy Walsh
Head Coach: Even Pellerud