An injury crisis has hit women's soccer and we are past the time to sound the alarm

This is a column by Shireen Ahmed, who writes opinion for CBC Sports.  For more information about  CBC's Opinion section , please see the  FAQ .

As the summer months and a FIFA Women's World Cup quickly approach, we're in full swing in the women's Champions League in European soccer.

Earlier this week I watched the semifinal between my beloved Arsenal women's side and the uber-talented Wolfsburg of Germany. The level of competition and excitement was incredible, but late in the match that went into extra time, Laura Wienroither went down, clutching her knee as her worried teammates gathered around her. 

When the medical team carried her off in a stretcher, I thought, "Not again!" That same sentiment reverberated through chat groups and online.

It was later confirmed she had suffered a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Another one to add to the already long list of formidable players on the Arsenal squad who have suffered ACL injuries, including Vivianne Miedema of the Netherlands and England's Beth Mead and Leah Williamson. With Wienrother, who plays for Germany, all are expected to miss this summer's Women's World Cup, which begins July 20 in Australia and New Zealand.

That rings familiar to us here in Canada as the women's team will be missing one of its own key pillars in Janine Beckie. Beckie tore her ACL playing with the Portland Thorns in the National Women's Soccer League in March. When it happened Beckie posted a message on social media: "Heartbroken is an understatement." 

Beckie received a lot of messages of support, but her focus is now not only on surgery and rehab, but on amplifying the conversation around why these injuries are so pronounced in women's football. An ACL crisis