BACHMANN ‘WORLD’S BEST’
Neutralizing Swiss star key to Canada’s plan for Sunday’s World Cup Round of 16 game
Heading into Canada’s Women’s World Cup match Sunday at B.C. Place, here’s what you need to know about Swiss star Ramona Bachmann in one sentence:
She’s the “best female player in the world today,” according to a quote from Jonas Eidevall from last year.
Eidevall was coach of her Swedish club team, FC Rosengard, at the time. He was undeniably biased. That said, Bachmann, at only 24, has already stockpiled honours, including winning player of the year in that Swedish Damallsvenskan loop, a circuit that’s included the likes of Brazil’s Marta, Germany’s Anja Mittag and Spain’s Veronica Boquete in recent years.
And Bachmann did put on a dazzling show in Switzerland’s tournament opener on June 8 at B.C. Place, running the organized, discipline Japanese ragged repeatedly in a 1-0 loss for the Swiss.
Canada needs to get their offence going to have any chance at advancing in this tournament. Keeping the ball away from the speedy 5-foot-4 Bachmann may be the ideal extra motivation.
“We want to stay here a little bit longer for her to be able to show even more,” Swiss forward Lara Dickenmann, 29, said of her teammate.
“In Europe, everyone knew about her already. Here, they saw it in the Japan game. She can dribble through four or five people. Not many players can do that.”
Dickenmann’s no slouch. The onetime Ohio State star tallied 11 times for the Swiss in their 10-game qualifying round.
Suffice to say, she and Bachmann will be major topics in Canada’s pregame talk Sunday.
“Bachmann’s a little different than most players,” said Carmelina Moscato, the veteran Canadian defender. “She can live on the ball.
She can live on it in terms of dribbling at you, but she also has the ability to create space for Dickenmann. They have a strong partnership.”
The Swiss played their first two
“(Ramona) Bachmann’s a little different than most players. She can live on the ball.”
— CARMELINA MOSCATO VETERAN CANADIAN DEFENDER
group games at B.C. Place, with the loss to Japan and a 10-1 romp over Ecuador, before falling 2-1 to Cameroon in Edmonton. There’s been considerable talk out of their camp about being pleased to return here for action. Bachmann, for one, tweeted “flying back ‘home,’ back to Vancouver for the 1/8 final. I love this city!”
It will be a different experience, of course, playing against the home side at B.C. Place, and with a crowd intensely focused on whether Canada can get its game going.
When asked about Canada possibly being primed to break out offensively, Swiss coach Martina VossTecklenburg said through a translator: “We hope they haven’t saved it all up for Sunday’s game.”
Moscato maintained that Canada has grown throughout the tournament, but admitted there’s a stress level.
“We feel pressure in performing for the country,” she said. “We feel internal pressure about playing at a high level. We’ve put in so much time in. We want it to show.”
She also didn’t deny hearing the criticism in the media about their lack of scoring.
“We know,” she said. “We don’t need to hear it from anyone else. It’s really almost stating the obvious.
“One (goal on Sunday) is going to give us confidence. It’s going to break that threshold, for sure.”