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Voyageurs 2013 International Female Player of the Year


Lord Bob

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It's year end and once again the Voyageurs invite all members to participate in our annual polling for International Female Player of the Year.

As per tradition all submissions for the POTY will be conducted in public, in this topic. You are welcome to edit your submission at any time up until the deadline for submissions.

Rules

The deadline for submissions is 12:01 AM (EST) January 1st, New Years Day 2014.

Submissions for POTY must have a first place selection and can also include a second, and third place selection.

A point system is used to calculate a players points total at the completion of polling. A player will receive 5 points for a 1st place selection, 3 points for a 2nd place selection, and 1 point for a third place selection.

The player with the highest final aggregate total will be declared the Voyageurs Female International Player of the Year.

Only one submission per IP address. Additional submissions from the same IP address allowed entirely at the Administrators discretion.

For a player to be eligible for the Voyageurs International Female Player of the Year the player must have been selected for international duty at either the senior or U20 level in 2013 and be eligible to play for Canada, in accordance with FIFA laws & statutes, as of December 5th, 2013.

Previous Winners:

2009 Karina LeBlanc

2010 Christine Sinclair

2011 Christine Sinclair

2012 Christine Sinclair

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The method before the madness.

National side of the equation. In 2013 the WNT played 13 times. A team with no meaningful games for a couple years, ergo the luxury of experimentation and the absence of performance-related stress.

In six games against teams outside the Top 15, we scored nine times while giving up four. We took a beating from South Korea in China early in the year, and "stale"-mated the Mexicans, but other than that won out against China, the Swiss, the Finns and the same South Koreans in Edmonton.

A blip here and there but nothing to write home about or worrying.

In seven games against teams in the Top 15, we scored just twice. On the flip side, we were organized behind the ball and averaged about a goal a game against holding Germany, France and England (twice) to a goal a piece. Good stuff.

Even with experimentation, for a #7 team our strike rate is low. That could be either the personnel or the plan or a combination thereof. The good news is we have a long two years to sort it out.

Club side. Unfortunately unless you're maniacal about finding low quality streaming and watching games on football fields, it's tough to stay on top of the NWSL. So deferring here to the NWSL first and second team Best X1 awards voted on by journalists who follow the league, club officials and players.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_National_Women's_Soccer_League_season#Annual_awards

Diana Matheson was the only Canuck (and one of only two non-Americans) on the first team Best XI. The second team had three Canadians (Lauren Sesselmann, Desiree Scott, and Christine Sinclair). That's almost 20% of the All-Stars from a player pool which is 10% Canadian.

Matheson is a given for #1. She's in her prime. Her mental game is consistent and not up and down which is too common in women's soccer. Hopefully she can stay fit and healthy and keep her form a couple more years.

There's a pool of four others who are in the chase pack. Sinclair had another great year and took home the NWSL Cup, and if she was an unknown 16 year-old we'd probably rave like she was the second coming and Matheson would have a horse race. But it's a pretty tough go to top the year she had last year, or any of the years before that.

With the defensive tidiness of the national team the edge this year goes to the other side of the park in Sesselmann and Scott. They're both immensely talented and have blossomed into superstars under John Herdman's guidance. Scott is the best player in the world in her position and Sesselmann is wily, canny, dependable and was a gift from the Gods. There's another well-known controversial player who likes the headlines but the little-known unassuming truth is we have a very healthy cross-border trade surplus.

I've tried to go with ties in Voyageurs POTY voting before and been denied so this is basically a coin flip. Without watching their FC KC (not KFC) games God knows how to pick one over the other, you can't even go with middle name because they're both Marie's. So I'll go chronological in surname-alpha, age and height. OK, maybe a wee bit Bison over Boilermaker too.

The fourth is Karina LeBlanc, who followed up her 2009 WPS dream season (Championship and All-Star voting) with an encore by winning the NWSL Cup and second place voting as NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year (by 25% owners & coaches, 25% media and 50% players). Champion. Winner. A rare gem, the real deal and the whole package.

1. Diana Matheson

2. Desiree Scott

3. Lauren Sesselmann

p.s. gotta love Google autocomplete intellisense top results dropdowns:

Diana Matheson

Diana Matheson real estate

Diana Matheson tumblr

Diana Matheson canada soccer

Desiree Scott

Desiree Scott facebook

Desiree Scott twitter

Desiree Scott soccer

Lauren Sesselmann

Lauren Sesselmann hot

Lauren Sesselmann boyfriend

Lauren Sesselmann twitter

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  • 3 weeks later...
Am not laughing.

Dude, LAUREN SESSELMANN ? When Sessi does NOT get turned inside out by Megan Rapinoe... call me. Let's be clear, all of these women are lovely people. Some have bigger issues than others but this is humanity we're talking about. As a player, if Lauren Sesselmann is EVER Canada's best-- we are in dire trouble indeed because there are obvious reasons why she is not good enough to be on the US WNT depth chart. Again, Sessi seems like a wonderful person. I'm not knocking her as a person. As a player, I don't think she has what it takes to save us from Elodie Thomis's speed or Louisa Necib's sniper accuracy. If the French don't ring the post 4 more times in 2015, Canada won't get past the Frauen, Nadeshiko or Seleção. And as wonderful a person she is, Lauren Sesselmann and every one else who waits for Sincy to create her magic will be part of the reason why Canada falls short of the podium.

DMath-- ok, I can accept her as a #1 vote. She had a stunning NWSL season and continues to shine. Desi "the Destroyer"-- ok, I can accept her too. But LAUREN SESSELMANN as Canada's BEST PLAYER? Dude.

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Dude, LAUREN SESSELMANN ? When Sessi does NOT get turned inside out by Megan Rapinoe... call me. Let's be clear, all of these women are lovely people. Some have bigger issues than others but this is humanity we're talking about. As a player, if Lauren Sesselmann is EVER Canada's best-- we are in dire trouble indeed because there are obvious reasons why she is not good enough to be on the US WNT depth chart. Again, Sessi seems like a wonderful person. I'm not knocking her as a person. As a player, I don't think she has what it takes to save us from Elodie Thomis's speed or Louisa Necib's sniper accuracy. If the French don't ring the post 4 more times in 2015, Canada won't get past the Frauen, Nadeshiko or Seleção. And as wonderful a person she is, Lauren Sesselmann and every one else who waits for Sincy to create her magic will be part of the reason why Canada falls short of the podium.

DMath-- ok, I can accept her as a #1 vote. She had a stunning NWSL season and continues to shine. Desi "the Destroyer"-- ok, I can accept her too. But LAUREN SESSELMANN as Canada's BEST PLAYER? Dude.

Wow! I see you like Sesselmann as much as I like Rob Friend or the CSA.

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I don't think she has what it takes to save us from Elodie Thomis's speed or Louisa Necib's sniper accuracy.

She did great in the NWSL and they have a couple players with some wheels and control at pace. Morgan, Leroux and De Vanna played KC nine times. The odds of them scoring was 33% which is lower than the about 50% they ran during the season.

And fortunately, Thomis can't handle her speed either.

Necib is smooth as butter and a human highlight reel. But unfortunately that doesn't win anything. For Abily's sake, I hope they all get pissed off enough to win something soon. Just not here in 2015 if they meet us.

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And fortunately, Thomis can't handle her speed either. Necib is smooth as butter and a human highlight reel. But unfortunately that doesn't win anything. For Abily's sake, I hope they all get pissed off enough to win something soon. Just not here in 2015 if they meet us.

I've said that if I was a French player I would be depressed that we don't beat teams we prove to be far more skilled than. Canada winning that bronze medal was pure luck... and that's why we play + watch sports. But France SHOULD be pissed enough to podium in 2015. Germany doesn't need to be pissed. They're just incredibly good. USA's depth chart is ridiculous. You can replace an entire starting lineup and still be faced with a terrifyingly good squad. SEVEN GOALKEEPERS called into their last camp? I mean...

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I forgot to say, yes Sessi benefitted from playing in NWSL. But I strongly disagree with Sessi (and I call her that out of admiraion for her work ethic + effort) getting a vote for #1 player in Canada. DMath had a much better year. And yes, it's frustrating to watch Thomis do anything BUT her job of getting behind defenses + pushing the ball deep. Thomis can not finish, neither can Le Sommer. Necib finishes in her sleep. She's amazing. But as a group, France hasn't risen to the top of UEFA.

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Did anyone vote for the CONCACAF Female Player of the Year? It was only open Nov 26 - Dec 12. I didn't even know it existed until a few minutes ago. Did anyone promote this?

Abby Wamabach

Christine Sinclair

Alex Morgan

Hope Solo

Jessie Fleming

Sydney Leroux

Marie-Mychele Metivier

Christie Rampone

Shirley Cruz

Morgan Brian

The winner was Alex Morgan.

Abby Wambach took second.

Shirley Cruz of Costa Rica was third.

There were no other Canadians in the other 50 nominees in five other categories (Male POTY, GK, Coach, Referee and Goal)

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Did anyone vote for the CONCACAF Female Player of the Year? It was only open Nov 26 - Dec 12. I didn't even know it existed until a few minutes ago. Did anyone promote this?...

I feel bad that I don't spend more time in this forum. Yes, I knew it existed and I voted for Metivier because I thought she had a better year for country than Syd Leroux (my 2nd vote). I watched all of Canada's u17 games and thought Fleming was impressive. But Metivier's finish was.... clinical. I've NEVER seen Canada finish goals-scoring opportunities with that level of consistency. Syd had club + country opp'ies but didn't really show up in NWSL as much as she did for USWNT.

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Congratulations to Diana Matheson, Voyageurs 2013 International Female Player of the Year!

Final Results

Diana Matheson: 8 1st - 40 points

Christine Sinclair: 5 2nd, 1 3rd - 16 points

Lauren Sesselmann: 1 1st, 1 3rd - 6 points

Erin McLeod: 1 2nd, 3 3rd - 6 points

Desiree Scott: 1 2nd, 2 3rd - 5 points

Carmelina Moscato: 1 2nd - 3 points

Sophie Schmidt: 1 3rd - 1 point

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