13. BRAZIL: Kerolin, North Carolina Courage (23)Brazil is one of women’s soccer’s more storied countries, reaching the World Cup finals in 2007, finishing third in 1999 and winning back-to-back Olympic silver medals in 2004 and 2008. Recent results haven’t been as friendly — they were knocked out in the World Cup round of 16 twice in a row — but no one has made better use of recent tuneup matches. They drew with England in front of 83,000 at Wembley on April 6, losing on penalties as part of the UEFA-CONMEBOL Women’s Finalissima, then topped Germany 2-1 in front of 32,000 in Nuremberg, two very positive results.
Kerolin was key in both. She made her penalty against England and served up an assist to Ary Borges on a corner against Germany; this was a continuation of her work with the Courage last season, in which she tied for fifth in the NWSL in assists, 12th in shots on goal and 15th in goals. She has scored in one of her two Courage matches this season, too.
12. ZAMBIA: Racheal Kundananji, Madrid CFF (22) Tournaments are a lot more fun when the underdogs have certified badasses capable of taking a game over at times, and one of the World Cup’s biggest underdogs boasts one of the most dominant young players in Europe.
No African team has reached the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals since 1999, when Nigeria nearly upset Brazil to reach the semis. Zambia probably won’t be the ones to end that streak — they’re 77th in FIFA’s world rankings, just lost two friendlies to South Korea by a combined 10-2, and are stuck in Group C with Spain and Japan — but Kundananji is an absolute must-watch.
In her first season with Madrid CFF in Spain’s Liga F, she has scored 17 goals with two assists in 23 matches. Per the stats at FBref.com, Kundananji is second to only Real Madrid’s Athenea del Castillo in progressive carries, third in goals and 10th in shot-creating actions … although she might rank first in absolute audacity.
11. SPAIN: Athenea del Castillo, Real Madrid (22) Then again, del Castillo might rank first in that category instead.
Del Castillo scored five times last season in her Real Madrid debut, but she has become one of the most dangerous table-setters in Spain this year. She had three goals and four assists in four matches to help qualify for this year’s Champions League, and she has produced another five goals and six assists in league play. She assisted Esther Gonzalez’s goal that put Spain ahead of England in last year’s Euro quarterfinals, and she had a goal and an assist in Tuesday’s 3-0 friendly win over China.
The Madrid star has always had flair and has long been one of the game’s better dribblers (with the YouTube highlight reels to prove it), but she’s quickly becoming one of her country’s most reliable producers as well.
10. JAPAN: Jun Endo, Angel City FC (22) A dangerous crosser who is capable of playing anywhere along the left touchline (and even in central midfield), Endo has alternated between key sub and starter for a Japan team that could seriously be onto something if it could finish scoring opportunities.
Endo and another youngster, right-sided 19-year-old Aoba Fujino of Tokyo Verdy Beleza, have spent the past couple of years trying to crack the national team rotation; Endo has produced three goals and three assists from 17 chances in just 710 minutes over the past two years, and Fujino was a standout in February’s SheBelieves Cup, creating seven chances in 225 minutes. In five matches in 2023, Japan have turned shots worth 8.5 xG into only five goals and have suffered three 1-0 defeats because of it, but they’ve got a modern and organized 3-5-2 setup and they’ve got creative, young talent on the wings.
Endo scored one of those five 2023 goals, by the way. She should maybe spend more time farther up the pitch.
9. USA: Trinity Rodman, Washington Spirit (20) Among NWSL attackers, only Sophia Smith had more progressive carries (175) than Rodman last season (144), and in a league full of strong attackers and national team veterans, Rodman also ranked sixth in take-on attempts, 11th in open cross attempts and 17th in chances created. In 57 career NWSL and NWSL Challenge Cup matches, she has scored 17 goals with 14 assists from 102 chances created. She doesn’t turn 21 until next month. She entered the league at 18, known first as Dennis Rodman’s daughter. Now she’s known for just being a world-class winger.
She might soon be known for World Cup exploits, too. Mallory Swanson’s patella injury could mean a lot more playing time for the player from SoCal, and if she can keep adding a bit more polish to her speedy and urgent game, good things could follow.
8. NORWAY: Frida Maanum, Arsenal (23)Maanum’s been good for a while — she joined Sweden’s Linkopings FC, a three-time Champions League quarterfinalist, at age 17, scored 22 goals over parts of five seasons and played a small role on Norway’s 2019 World Cup squad — and after a breaking-in season with Arsenal, she has erupted in 2022-23. The Gunners have needed attackers to step up in the absence of injured Miedema and Mead, and Maanum has done so, contributing seven goals and three assists in her past 10 matches, including this game-changing rocket against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals.
Her league form has bled over into national team play — she scored twice in a 3-3 draw with Sweden on Tuesday — and it was an incredibly welcome sight. Norway were one of women’s soccer’s initial powers, winning the World Cup in 1995 and finishing second in 1991, plus winning the Euros in 1987 and 1993. But they’ve gone out in the group stage of the past two Euros and have reached the quarterfinals only once in their past three World Cups.
Just as Maanum was asked to step up for Arsenal, she’ll have to do so to change Norway’s fortunes. And she might!
7. FRANCE: Selma Bacha, Lyon (22) That a Lyon player leads France’s Division 1 Feminine in assists is not exactly a surprise. That Bacha has done it as a fullback … while playing in 11 of 18 matches is … unique. She’s first in completed crosses, first in shot-creating actions from deadball situations (set pieces and whatnot), third in chances created, fourth in expected assists (xA), and 10th in combined goals and assists, and she has played in only 48% of Lyon’s minutes in league play. She’s also in the top 40 in interceptions despite the lack of minutes and the fact that Lyon always has the ball! That’s just obnoxious.
6. ENGLAND: Lauren Hemp, Manchester City (22)It’s wild to realize that (A) England didn’t lose a single match between April 13, 2021, and this past Tuesday, and (B) they seem to be getting younger. Of their 14 minutes leaders over the past two years, only two are over 30 and four are 25 are younger.
It feels as if Hemp should be about 26 by now. She has already been capped 37 times, with 10 goals and 17 assists for country, and she has already made 119 appearances, with 52 goals, in five seasons at City. Her goal-scoring form has been off this season — she has just four goals and three assists in the WSL after averaging eight and seven, respectively, over the past two league seasons.
However, she’s still doing things like this:
She’s still creating a high volume of touches in the box with solid shot quality, too. The goals will probably come soon. Perhaps in Australia?
5. SPAIN: Salma Paralluelo, Barcelona (19) 4. ENGLAND: Lauren James, Chelsea (21)Technically, most of the players on this list have enjoyed better production than James, who has produced just six goals, two assists and 41 shot-creating actions in 18 matches for Chelsea this season.
James is more of a ball progressor than a scorer — at FBref.com, her greatest statistical similarity is shared with American attacking midfielder Rose Lavelle, not a forward or a winger — but hot damn , what a ball progressor she is. She dribbles and draws fouls as well as anyone (she drew a foul to set up the equalizer against Lyon in the Champions League quarterfinals a couple of weeks ago), and no one on this list has inspired more YouTube highlight reels with fun titles like “60+ Players Humiliated by Lauren James” and “Lauren James destroying everyone in 2022!”
3. GERMANY: Jule Brand, Wolfsburg (20)They’re both versatile attackers who are best on the left wing. They play for Germany’s two club powers, and over the past two years they’ve combined for 1,416 minutes, 7 goals and 6 assists from 28 chances in the national team shirt.
It’s hard to talk about one without talking about the other. Buhl is more of a high-volume creator — she has attempted 27 shots to Brand’s 10 in this two-year sample and created 21 chances to Brand’s seven — but Brand is more clinical in front of goal and more dangerous in one-on-one situations.
1. USA: Sophia Smith, Portland Thorns (22)Owner of the most famous bubble braid in the sports universe, Smith went from up-and-comer to slam dunk national team starter in the snap of a finger. She scored seven goals in 21 matches for the Portland Thorns during the 2021 NWSL season, then erupted for 14 in 18 in 2022. She has scored 11 national team goals in the past 53 weeks. When she didn’t score in either of the USA’s recent friendly wins over Ireland, it felt as if she was in a slump. Two whole scoreless matches! (She had had four goals in the six matches before that.)
Then again, she offset that terrible funk by combining four goals with an assist in her first two NWSL matches of 2023.
(I like to think that, after outmuscling two Kansas City defenders and outmaneuvering a third, she actually said “Boop!” out loud before dinking that ridiculous goal past the goalkeeper.)
Mallory Swanson’s injury means extra scoring pressure on Smith and Rodman as well as on veterans such as Morgan and Rapinoe. Somehow, the surest thing in that bunch is the 22-year-old, possibly the surest thing in the entire American player pool and a potential star of the next four World Cups.
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