When Erin McLeod suffered a knee injury last March that threatened her career, the goalkeeper vowed she would get back on the soccer field.
Canada’s former No. 1 keeper, who national team coach John Herdman considered the best in the world, is making good on that vow.
McLeod announced Friday that she has been cleared to practise with her Swedish club, FC Rosengard. The Alberta native shared the news on her website The Motive Nation.
“I got off the phone with my physiotherapist today with tears coming down my face. Right away (my wife and teammate Ella Masar) asked me what was wrong. I said, ‘Nothing. I can start training with the team,’ ” McLeod wrote.
McLeod tore her anterior cruciate ligament, for a third time, in a Champions League match with Rosengard last year. The injury happened weeks after she helped Canada qualify for the Rio Olympics while playing with a persistent bone bruise. The Canadian team went on to win bronze at the Summer Games, without McLeod.
The goalkeeper said last April it could take between one and two years to come back from her surgery and there was no guarantee she would ever get back to professional form. She wrote on Friday that she “questioned everything” following the injury.
She was told the best thing to do was to stop playing, but she knew in her mind and heart she wasn’t ready to give up on the game.
“I have never fought so hard for a chance in my life. Doubt has danced in my mind every day, but there has always been this quiet voice telling me everything was going to work out,” she wrote.
McLeod said her cheeks were sore from smiling this week.
“In a month I might be complaining about training or be upset about some mistake I made, or I might be spending too much time comparing myself to another keeper, but for now, all I know is that I worked for this moment, and I’m enjoying it.”
While the 33-year-old is unlikely to jump back into her role as Canada’s starting keeper any time soon, her healthy return would undoubtedly be welcomed by Herdman and company.
McLeod, who made her debut with the national team as a 19-year-old in 2002, has 115 appearances for the team and 43 clean sheets.
Since her injury, fellow Edmonton native Stephanie Labbe has taken over the No. 1 spot, with Sabrina D’Angelo and Kailen Sheridan also getting starts.
The Canadian team next travels to the Algarve Cup in Portugal, where it is the defending champion. The next Women’s World Cup will take place in France in 2019.
The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
