Liberal Arts Blog — Greatest Female Soccer Players (II): Homare Sawa (Japan), Abby Wambach (US), Sun Wen (China)
Liberal Arts Blog — Saturday is the Joy of Sports, Dance, Fitness, and All Things Physical Day
Today’s Topic: Greatest Female Soccer Players (II): Homare Sawa (Japan), Abby Wambach (US), Sun Wen (China)
Last time Marta Maria da Silva (Brazil), Birgit Prinze (Germany), and Mia Hamm (US). Today, three more of the greatest women soccer players of all time. This time the surprise (for me) is that two of the three are from Asia. I have always thought of soccer as a European or Latin American sport. Today I learned that the first women’s soccer world cup was held in China in 1991, that there are more soccer fans in Asia than in any other continent, and that Asians own 32% of England’s premier league. Japan is the first Asian team to win the women’s World Cup. And remember: there have been only three other countries to achieve that goal: US (4), Germany (2), Norway (1). The key to that Japanese triumph was Homare Sawa. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
HOMARE SAWA (1978 — ) competed in six World Cups and four Olympics (played 1991–2015)
1. As Captain, led the Japanese team to defeat the US in the 2011 Women’s Fifa World Cup. She won both the “Golden Ball” (for top tournament player) and the “Golden Boot” (for top scorer).
2. 2011 World Player of the Year.
3. Silver medalist at the 2012 Olympics.
ABBY WAMBACH (1980- ) highest US scorer of all time (second highest in the world behind Marta)
1. World Cup Player of the Year 2012
2. World Cup Champion 2015
3. Two time Olympic Gold Medalist
NB: “Her last-minute goal off a header (her signature shot) to defeat Brazil in the 2004 Olympic finals is considered one of the greatest goals ever.”
SUN WEN (1973 -) played in four World Cups and two Olympics
1. Joint winner (with Michelle Akers of the US) of the Fifa Player of the Century Award (2000). “Michelle Akers won the award based on votes from FIFA officials, journalists and coaches, while Sun Wen won the award based on the Internet poll.” Hamm finished third by both measures.
2. Scored 106 goals in 156 international matches.
3. Won the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot at the World Cup in 1999.
FIFA Female Player of the Century
Greatest Women’s Soccer Players
Japan women’s national football team
Click here for the last three years of posts arranged by theme:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned this week related to sports, dance, fitness. Or the coolest thing you learned about Sports, Dance, of Fitness in your life — whether on the field, on the dance floor or in the gym, whether from a coach, a parent, a friend, or just your own experimentation.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. Or even change their life. It’s perhaps a chance to put into words something you have never articulated before. And to cement in your own memory something cool you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart.
