Chelsea’s stand-out player of the Women’s World Cup has yet to wear Blue. Guro Reiten was one of the revelations of the tournament and leads our player ratings.
Chelsea FCW players faced each other throughout the Women’s World Cup, from group stage matches through the third-place game. The Blues’ Norwegian contingent earned the highest marks in our player ratings for the tournament.
1. Group stage exits: Scotland, New Zealand and South Korea
Erin Cuthbert, Striker, Scotland: 7
Erin Cuthbert was an early totem of how irritating, if not counter-productive, VAR was throughout the Women’s World Cup, and a sign of foreboding for the Premier League and other leagues you may care about (except the Bundesliga – they seem to have it figured out).
Yes, Scotland blew a 3-0 lead. But the retake of the stoppage time penalty kick because of the one-foot-barely-off-the-line rule presaged numerous other game-changing VAR calls based on the principle of “some thing happened” rather than “something happened that interfered with the proper conduct of a football match.” Pedants of the world, unite!
Cuthbert scored her first goal of the tournament in that game, and it was the first in which Scotland took advantage of her pressing and harassment of the backline. In the previous game against England, her teammates never played the out-ball to her even as she lingered in perfect counter-attacking position against her much-slower Chelsea teammates, Millie Bright.
Cuthbert has the perfect mix of speed, aggression and directness for a mid-grade team like Scotland to defend deep and hit on the counter-attack, but they simply did not do enough with her until the final game.
Ji So-Yun, Forward, South Korea: 5
South Korea was one of the biggest disappointments to the tournament, and Ji So-Yun could not do much to reverse that. For all of the individual guile and quality she brings to Chelsea FC Women, there was little she could do to lift the disorganized performances around her, let alone push back against opponents who sensed South Korea’s weakness.
Ali Riley, Left back, New Zealand: 6.5
New Zealand was one of five teams to score only one goal in the Women’s World Cup group stage, but they had the best goal differential of those offensive strugglers. Chelsea’s Ali Riley gave the Ferns a chance by limiting the damage at the back, closing down the left side so effectively that the opposition often had to switch their point of attack centrally or to the right to circumvent Riley.
Riley’s performance against Canada was her best of the tournament despite the 2-0 loss. Riley pocketed Nichelle Prince and Jayde Riviere for the first half, forcing Canada to change tactics in the second half to bring their forwards into the game in order to do something with their overwhelming possession.