Fleming a growing force for club and country

Follow| Archive

Bev Priestman, head coach of Canada’s women’s soccer team, has a simple assessment of Jessie Fleming.

“The sky’s the limit.”

The Canadian midfielder was once again dominant for her country on Friday, playing all 90 minutes and scoring the game-winner in a 2-0 win over Nigeria during a friendly at B.C. Place in Vancouver.

“I'm incredibly excited about Jessie,” Priestman told the media after Friday’s game. “She comes in every camp, and you know she’s on the pitch. She instantly, in training sessions, jumps out, and I think that's obviously exciting.”

“She has such a presence out there,” centre back Shelina Zadorsky told TSN. “We were in warmups together before the game, and I said, ‘Jessie, I feel like you’re gonna score today, and when you do, you better come over to me.’  She’s a really important person on the team.”

Canada will play Nigeria again on Monday at Starlight Stadium in Victoria, B.C. The games are a continuation of the Celebration Tour to honour the team topping the podium at the Tokyo Olympics.

With Fleming on the verge of her 100th cap for the national team (she enters Monday with 98 appearances), it’s often easy to forget she just turned 24 last month.

She made her senior team debut at 15 and has recorded 15 goals, with five of those coming since the start of 2021. She is the leading scorer for Canada over that stretch, accounting for just over 20 per cent of all of Canada’s goals.

“I've seen massive improvements in a short space of time,” said Priestman. “She said she wants to add more goals and be that No. 10 that does score more goals.”

Fleming, a native of London, Ont., was one of 20 players in the running for the 2021 Ballon d’Or, given annually to the best player in the world. The