Written by Millie Davies
The 2019 Women’s World Cup has drawn to a close and many teams are celebrating broken records and outstanding player achievements. From some of the world’s most well-known strikers to the underdog forwards, there is much to take from this year’s tournament.
As forwards who are aspiring for greatness, reflecting on the results and performances of the best strikers in the 2019 Women’s World Cup tournament can help us determine ways to better our own performance.
Top performing strikers - the contenders!
The United States has won the Women's World Cup for a record fourth time in their head to head clash with The Netherlands. The reigning champions scored 2 – 0 against their opponents in Lyon on Monday.
Given these incredible results, it comes as no surprise that both US strikers Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe top the score charts at six goals this tournament. UK’s quiet achiever Ellen White also achieved six goals.
Though White has remained relatively low key throughout this tournament, she’s become the first player on England’s team to score in six consecutive world cup matches.
Rapinoe is by no means new to the game but her achievements in this tournament have earned her elite global football status by being awarded the Golden Boot for the tournament.
Australia’s own Sam Kerr came in at fourth place, scoring a total of five goals. On its own, this is an outstanding result but when you compare the number of minutes played between each of the top scoring strikers, it’s even more impressive.
Kerr played a total of 390 minutes in the tournament, which is considerably lower than White’s 514 minutes, Morgan’s 490 minutes and Rapinoe’s 428 minutes.
Impressively, Kerr – The Matildas’ top performing striker - scored a goal every 78 minutes, while White scored one every 86 minutes, Morgan every 82 minutes and Rapinoe every 71 minutes. From a “goal to minutes played” perspective, Rapinoe comes in at first place, with Sam Kerr not far behind in second.
All in all, the tournament resulted in 146 goals in total.
Best conversion of the Women’s World Cup 2019
The record for the earliest penalty scored during a Women’s World Cup game was broken when Norway played Korea. It took just 4 minutes and 33 seconds for Chelsea’s Maria Thorisdottir to be fouled against South Korea by Cho So-Hyun, giving Caroline Graham-Hansen an opening to score.
Most impact in an important game
Sam Kerr smashed the national record by being the first Australian to score a hat trick at the FIFA world cup. In true Kerr form, she delivered a total of four goals at a crucial point of the tournament, defeating Jamaica and subsequently carrying The Matildas into the final 16.
Best shots on target ratio
Remarkably, both Italy’s Christiana Girelli and Spain’s Jenni Hermoso achieved 8 out of 10 shots on target.
As underdogs, this is an incredible achievement, especially when compared to the “shots on target ratio” of some of the best in the world.
|
Player |
Team |
Age |
Goals |
Shots |
Shots on target |
|
Alex Morgan |
USA |
30 |
6 |
19 |
6/10 (63%) |
|
Megan Rapinoe |
USA |
34 |
6 |
10 |
6/10 (60%) |
|
Ellen White |
England |
30 |
6 |
15 |
7/10 (73%) |
|
Sam Kerr |
Australia |
25 |
5 |
19 |
6/10 (63%) |
|
Christiane |
Brazil |
34 |
4 |
9 |
8/10 (78%) |
|
Wendy Renard |
France |
28 |
4 |
7 |
6/10 (57%) |
|
Kosovare Asslani |
Sweden |
29 |
3 |
14 |
4/10 (43%) |
|
Sara Dabritz |
Germany |
24 |
3 |
15 |
7/10 (67%) |
|
Carli Lloyd |
USA |
36 |
3 |
16 |
6/10 (56%) |
|
Christiana Girelli |
Italy |
29 |
3 |
5 |
8/10 (80%) |
|
Aurora Galli |
Italy |
22 |
3 |
4 |
7.5/10 (75%) |
|
Jenni Hermoso |
Spain |
29 |
3 |
10 |
8/10 (80%) |
What makes this even more of an achievement is when you throw playing time in the mix. Hermoso spent less time on the field to the top scorers, with only 360 minutes in play and Girelli played only 279 minutes in the whole tournament.
What this means for Girelli and Hermoso is that whilst they didn’t play for long, when they did, they had a more accurate kick than the top scorers Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Ellen White and Sam Kerr, making them the ones to watch for upcoming tournaments.
At just 22 years old, Italy’s Aurora Galli achieved a higher “shots on target” ratio than her top-scoring opponents. Out of 10 shots, Galli scored 7.5 on target, compared with Morgan’s 6, Rapinoe’s 6 and White’s 7.
Although she played only 301 minutes throughout the tournament, she used those minutes wisely, scoring a total of 3 goals for her team and making her one of the best female strikers in the world, despite her young age.
The new era of women’s football
Historically, women’s football hasn’t received as much attention as the men’s, with many women receiving only a fraction of what men are paid in the elite division of the sport. But a new era has emerged, and things have started to shift.
Increasingly, spectators are finding women’s football just as entertaining as the men’s. In fact, it’s been rumoured that The Matilda’s striking finest Sam Kerr has been offered a contract with Chelsea football club close to one million Australian dollars.
Whilst this is not confirmed, these rumours are indicative of a transformation in women’s football. Lovers of the game are taking women more seriously and that’s something to be celebrated.
Most outstanding goal
Between Banyana Banyana’s Thembi Kgatlana scoring South Africa’s first-ever World Cup goal and Nigeria’s Asisat Oshiola’s mad dash past South Korea’s defence, there was no shortage of outstanding striker performance this tournament.
UK’s Lucy Bronze made an incredible impact in their game against Norway, earning her and her team a nomination for Hyundai’s Goal of the Tournament.
Bronze navigated an impressive strike that sliced through Norway’s defence with absolute precision, securing them a 3 – 0 win against their opponents.
Not only did she receive the thumbs up from spectators and sports commentators, but England’s Coach Phil Neville also labelled her as the world’s greatest striker. “Lucy Bronze is the best player in the world, without a shadow of a doubt."
Most creative player - moves and skills we observed
Netherlands forward Lieke Martens who plays for Barcelona has been dubbed Messi’s little sister for her creative edge. She’s a star dribbler and finisher and has enormous control over the play.
But it was the combination of skill, creativity and sheer determination that granted US’s Rose Lavelle the title of being one of the most skilful and daring strikers in her category. Lavelle punted the ball through the legs of her ill-fated opponent Millie Bright (England), forcing her to spin around in a move that could only be described as terror.
Incredibly, Lavelle maintained possession before an almost historic left-foot kick landed the ball a hair’s breadth from the nets before England’s goalkeeper Carly Telford stopped it in its tracks.
What constitutes a great striker?
It’s not uncommon for strikers to tell you 8 out of 10 shots should be on target and out of those you should score 5 out of 10 shots. But this is unrealistic, impractical targets like this can have a serious impact on a striker’s confidence, which can have a negative flow-on effect in their performance.
To put it into perspective, the team to have the highest “shots on target” ratio in the Women’s World Cup was Italy, who - out of every 10 shots - achieved 4.5 on target. Out of those same 10 shots, only 2.3 goals were scored. And these strikers are some of the best in the world.
From the below table you can see:
|
Team |
Goals |
Shots |
Shots on target |
Shots on target % |
Goal conversion % |
|
USA |
20 |
95 |
37 |
39% |
21% |
|
Germany |
9 |
68 |
29 |
43% |
13% |
|
Norway |
7 |
50 |
15 |
30% |
14% |
|
England |
8 |
54 |
22 |
41% |
15% |
|
France |
9 |
74 |
21 |
28% |
12% |
|
Sweden |
8 |
74 |
26 |
35% |
11% |
|
Italy |
7 |
30 |
13 |
43% |
23% |
|
Netherlands |
6 |
35 |
10 |
29% |
17% |
And these were the stats for the final round of 16
|
Team |
Goals |
Shots |
Shots on target |
Shots on target % |
Goal conversion % |
|
Spain |
4 |
70 |
24 |
34% |
6% |
|
Nigeria |
2 |
32 |
4 |
13% |
6% |
|
Australia |
9 |
59 |
23 |
39% |
15% |
|
Cameroon |
3 |
46 |
12 |
26% |
7% |
|
Brazil |
7 |
54 |
20 |
37% |
13% |
|
Canada |
4 |
61 |
14 |
23% |
7% |
|
China |
1 |
22 |
4 |
18% |
5% |
|
Japan |
2 |
42 |
14 |
33% |
5% |
If a good striker wants to score a goal every game (which is considered an exceptional result), they must have pinpoint accuracy and have at least 5 shots per game. Achieving this would put them up there with some of the best strikers in the world.
When asked what he looks for when scouting a striker, Steve Walsh, one of football’s greatest talent spotters said it’s just accuracy he keeps an eye out for. “Pace is a great advantage. Another good attribute is having a calm head and a variety of finishes. Do you wait for the goalkeeper to go down early? Do you wait for him to stand up, or do you try and lob it over him? Do you go around him? The best strikers are the ones that make the right decisions.” Read full Four Four Two interview here.
The truth is, there are many factors that makeup what it means to be a great striker, aside from the number of goals they score. From player support to composure in the face of imminent threat and creativity in technique, a striker’s skill can be measured on a number of scales.
Conclusion
There is much to take away from one of the most exciting Women’s World Cup tournaments in history. While fans of football might tell you the name of the game is all in the score charts, there’s no denying the power of comparative player stats; they prove the essence of a good striker, can be determined in a number of ways.
Footnote:
Want to learn more about becoming a better Striker? Get in touch with Golden Boot Striker Academy and get your first session free – suitable for 10-year-olds to all ages.
