ORANGEBURG, N.Y. — The FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup is a tournament about beginnings, but pardon United States forward Sydney Leroux if she’s looking instead for a fitting farewell.
She’s always been a little ahead of the competition when it comes to finishing.
Still in its own infancy as the fifth edition gets underway July 13 in Germany, the tournament is a chance to catch a quick glimpse of tomorrow’s stars, a place where many got their first look at players like Brazil’s Marta or Canada’s Christine Sinclair. But it’s also the stage on which Leroux has lingered in the present. It’s the stage on which she matured over the last six years from youthful novelty and tactical afterthought into one of the world’s best young finishers.
The leading scorer for the United States during CONCACAF regional qualifying earlier this year, Leroux has long embodied youthful potential. At 14 years old, she was the youngest player in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup in Thailand (the event adopted the under-20 format in 2006) when she made two appearances as substitute for Canada.
“It was tough,” Leroux said. “Being so young, I was immature — I was 14 years old with 19- and 20-year-olds. I would have to say sitting on the bench, even though I was 14, I mean, it still broke my heart. And I just remember sitting on the bench and trying to hold back tears because I wanted to play so bad.”
After shifting to the United States youth system shortly thereafter, qualifying under FIFA rules by virtue of her American mother (born in British Columbia, Leroux also attended high schools in Washington and Arizona), she was still one of the youngest players on the American team that won the under-20 title two years ago in Chile.
Even her first two collegiate seasons at UCLA were spent starring as the kid alongside seasoned senior internationals like former Bruins Lauren Cheney and Kara Lang.
So like watching a younger sibling graduate from college, it’s a little odd to see Leroux, who along with co-captain Christine Nairn is one of just two returnees from the 2008 roster, play the role of wizened veteran. Yet there’s little doubt that while nature took care of getting older, Leroux also used the years to grow wiser, a distinction that has slowed and or halted the progress of many prodigies who experienced only the former.
Count her second World Cup trip as perhaps the seminal experience in that development. Current under-20 coach Jill Ellis, also Leroux’s college coach at UCLA and one of Pia Sundhage’s assistant coaches on the senior United States national team, saw a different player return from Chile than began that World Cup cycle.
“I think the process matured her, both as a young person and as a young player,” Ellis said. “I think it was an exceptional experience for her. The confidence and understanding what it takes to succeed at that level, I think it was very good for her.”
Ellis also knows exactly what drew so many to Leroux at such a young age. It’s not complicated, but it is the most coveted currency in soccer.
“Why she was such a highly recruited player coming of high school is because she scores goals,” Ellis said. “So I think it is something that’s natural. It’s a timing, it’s an attitude, it’s a technique — it’s all these things rolled into one. But yeah, I think there are natural-born finishers.”
Leroux scored 23 goals in 24 games for UCLA last fall, good for fourth in the nation. She’s just as potent when she puts on the national team jersey. She has scored 12 goals in 14 international games this year and 24 goals in 30 games all time with the under-20 team. That includes five goals in the 2008 Under-20 World Cup, enough to win the Golden Boot for a player who didn’t even start the team’s opening game.
That nose for goal may be metaphorical, but it’s complemented by an abundance of entirely tangible physical gifts. Leroux has a particular ability to play in ways that make her seem both bigger and faster than a middle-of-the-road 5-foot-7 frame might suggest. She has the speed to outrun most defenders at her level, be it college or international, to balls in open space, the strength to hold her ground inside the 18-yard box and the touch to make everything else she does count.
And in two most important games this team has thus far played, she demonstrated how much trouble opponents are in when it comes together.
With World Cup qualification guaranteed to the winner in a semifinal against Costa Rica in the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship, Leroux held off one defender on a throw-in, wrong-footed a second to open a path toward the box, jumped over a third player’s attempted tackle and finally crashed to ground to earn the free kick that Teresa Noyola put in for the eventual winner. And with extra time looming in a scoreless final against Mexico, she chested down a long ball at midfield, touched a short pass back to Kristie Mewis, turned and sprinted past multiple Mexican players as Mewis played the ball to her on the ground. Barely breaking stride after a quick touch sent her into the box on the left side, Leroux fired a shot past the keeper to the near post for the winner.
“I’ve kind of seen her grow up, I guess, with the past two years — three years now,” Nairn said. “I think her just being that threat, and she’s always rising to the occasion and always putting away that goal we need. I think she’s a very strong leader, and I think we will definitely need her many times this World Cup.”
On a stage usually reserved for cameos, Leroux has earned a curtain call. She is no longer good for her age; she is simply good. And what she’s best at is scoring goals.
“You may get the ball away from me nine times out of 10, but that one time, I’m going to get in behind you and I’m going to score,” Leroux said. “That’s kind of the mentality I’ve always had, and that’s kind of what works for me.”
Graham Hays 