Shek Borkowski Official Website | LTA Agency » dzsenifer marozsan http://shekborkowski.com Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:50:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 The Curious Case of Sydney Leroux http://shekborkowski.com/2010/07/the-curious-case-of-sydney-leroux/ http://shekborkowski.com/2010/07/the-curious-case-of-sydney-leroux/#comments Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:41:23 +0000 publisher http://shekborkowski.com/?p=935 I have watched and followed Sydney Leroux’s progress during the last two years.
At the 2008 FIFA U20 World Cup in Chile, Leroux won the Golden Ball Award as the tournament’s top player.
Fast forward to 2010 and it is difficult not to notice that Leroux’s progress had halted. There are no doubts she has one strength to her game: speed. Speed, of course, is crucial in the modern women’s game, and you won’t get far without it.
Leroux is sheer speed and is very direct but what else is there to her game? What has happened to Leroux’s development during the last two years?
Watching her play in Germany it is clear that her combination play in the final third has not improved and perhaps even deteriorated in the last two years. Her ability to play with back to goal has not been obvious to me. Watching her movement in and around the box one can only conclude it is not good enough at this stage of her career and that more should be expected.
Her first touch needs improvement, her heading ability seems to be where it was in 2008 and tactically I question her progress.

Compare Leroux to tactically savvy German players. Bianca Schmidt, Kim Kulig and Alexandra Popp have already earned senior caps, while Desirée Schumann and Marina Hegering previously appeared in Chile, as did Schmidt and Kulig. Germany also have 18-year-old Dzsenifer Marozsan, a technically gifted sharp-shooter who won the adidas Golden Shoe at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2008 in New Zealand. They all appear to possess sophistication levels we all hoped Leroux will demonstrate by now.
Popp’s progress is a demonstration of German training system.
Two years ago, as a 17-year-old FFC Recklinghausen forward at the UEFA European Women’s U-17 Championship, Popp finished the tournament as top scorer. But she looked raw.
At that time German coach Ralf Peter said that Popp is not a natural predator. Popp moved to Duisburg and in two years made staggering improvements to her game. Today she looks to be one of the upcoming talents in the women’s game.

]]> http://shekborkowski.com/2010/07/the-curious-case-of-sydney-leroux/feed/ 8