

Posted by

Steve Bottjer ,

December 6 2013 Email

Steve Bottjer

On Twitter:

@BottjerRNO

The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) has announced the list of nominees for its 2013 Canada Soccer player awards. Canadian media and coaches will be asked to select two players - one male and one female – for the Canadian Soccer Association’s top prize, the BMO Canadian Players of the Year award.



On the Women’s side of the equation the award has pretty much been the sole domain of one player – Christine Sinclair – in recent years to the point that it should probably be renamed after her when she has eventually retires. Until that day, the main story around the award this year and in the coming years will be around whether or not one of her Canadian Women’s National Team teammates will be able to unseat her as the Player of the Year.



We asked a handful of contributors to RedNation Online to give us their thoughts on this year's award and who deserves the accolade in 2013.



RNO Roundtable: Who is the Female Canadian Player of the Year?



Here are the nominees:



- Kadeisha Buchanan | USA / West Virginia University | Mississauga, ON

- Karina LeBlanc | USA / Portland Thorns | Maple Ridge, BC

- Adriana Leon | USA / Chicago Red Stars | Maple, ON

- Diana Matheson | USA / Washington Spirit | Oakville, ON

- Erin McLeod | USA / Chicago Red Stars | Edmonton, AB & Calgary, AB

- Sophie Schmidt | USA / Sky Blue FC | Abbotsford, BC

- Desiree Scott | USA / FC Kansas City | Winnipeg, MB

- Lauren Sesselmann | USA / FC Kansas City | Stephenville, NL

- Christine Sinclair | USA / Portland Thorns FC | Burnaby, BC



Emily Dulhanty: Diana Matheson



Picking the women's national team POY this year is a much taller task than 2012. No woman stood out this year as much as Sinclair did last year- including Sinclair herself. With more Canadian women playing professionally this year than ever before, it is imperative to consider both professional and national team play for the award. That's why my pick is Diana Matheson.



Matheson was a bright spot for the otherwise very bad Washington Spirit. She had eight goals and three assists for the Spirit, and although four of those goals were from the penalty spot, Matheson created a fair number of those penalties herself. Simply put, she was able to be the Spirit's only consistent scoring threat from the midfield, and was named the Spirit's Most Valuable Player for it.



For country, Matheson continued to show why she is among Canada's most important players moving forward. Her chemistry and ability to combine with Sinclair is one of the team's biggest attacking assets. She captained Canada in Sinclair's FIFA ban induced absence, and finished the year with a goal and two assists.



As for runner up, I have to go with Captain Canada. Sinclair struggled at times with finishing, and her year was a bit disappointing after how out of this world she played in 2012. But, Sinclair did captain the Portland Thorns to the first ever NWSL Championship. She finished with nine goals and two assists for the Thorns, often playing in the midfield, and had three goals in nine games for Canada. Two other players who will no doubt get votes for the award are keepers Erin McLeod and Karina LeBlanc. McLeod had a great year for Canada, and LeBlanc was very impressive for the Thorns, but neither did well enough for both club and country to be further up the list.



Armen Bedakian: "Christine Sincla... Diana Matheson"



Okay, so we know everyone and their aunt will choose Sinclair - that's obvious. But! I am going with Matheson, because I believe she is the most complete footballer on the national team besides Sinclair. Her passing is spot on, on a team where the passing movement isn't always accurate and giveaways are a constant; her off-the-ball movement would put Julian de Guzman to shame; her attacking runs have a Neymar-like quality to them, in that defenders start stepping back when she approaches. Women's soccer has come a long way but the technical quality of the game is still lacking: not so in Matheson, who is truly a footballer and, honestly, one of the only well-rounded players on the team.



Kamal Hylton: Desiree Scott



I think the easy and likely selection is Christine Sinclair as she did well for both club and country, being the superstar talent she has been for years when suiting up in the red of Canada and adding an NWSL title as a member of the Portland Thorns.



However, in part to mix things up she's not my pick this year. The player I've selected as my Canadian Women's Player of the Year is Desiree Scott. Of all the players nominated, I believe she has had the largest amount of growth on the Canadian National Team. Her name isn't as prominent as the attacking players when looking at the stats due to her position as a defensive midfielder, but the turnaround John Herdman has made with this squad can be directly attributed to the willingness of Scott to do the dirty work.



As for her play with FC Kansas City, she played in 20 of the teams 22 games and started in all of them as the fulcrum of a side. FCKC led the league for a significant period of time and finished 2nd in the standings behind the eventual champions in Portland. Watching some of the games early in the season, the style of play was like a female version of its MLS brothers Sporting KC with "The Destroyer" playing the role of Oriol Rosell.



Steve Bottjer: Christine Sinclair



Every time December rolls around and it is time to pick the Canadian Women’s Player of the Year roll, I invariably think of retired basketball player Karl Malone. Why you ask? Because back in 1997 he was named NBA MVP mainly due to the fact that Michael Jordan had already won the award four times and voters probably wanted to spread the award around a bit that year even though Jordan had superior numbers and the Bulls eventually won the NBA Finals over the Jazz.



With that in mind, Christine Sinclair is the Michael Jordan of Canadian Soccer and I have to rein in a natural desire to vote for another player simply because Sinclair has won the award ten times already and it would be nice to spread it around and honour the accomplishments of other players.



Thus, my pick for Canadian Women’s Player of the Year is once again Christine Sinclair. She lead the Portland Thorns to a National Women's Soccer League title this past season and also had two goals in seven games for the national side. Furthermore, Sinclair has also been named to the candidate list for the FIFA women's world player of the year award.