ANALYSIS: Adelaide’s star striker Fiona Wort tops the A-League Women’s stats sheet
Adelaide United’s Fiona Worts is having a blinder of a season in her return to ALW. But it isn’t just her record in front of the goal that makes her so impressive. SEE ALL THE STATS HERE
A brace for Fiona Worts at the weekend has her tied in the lead for the Golden Boot but her six goals isn’t the Adelaide United star’s only impressive statistic.
Worts is a dominant force in the league this season. Leading several key statistics, even in areas a striker wouldn’t typically lead the pack in.
She had an injury hampered season at Sydney FC last year – playing just 15 games for the Sky Blues.
Worts didn’t get a contract extension and had actually moved back to the UK – thinking her time in the ALW was done.
Then the opportunity with her former club Adelaide United appeared and she leapt at it.
What a move it has been.
Worts is tied with Victory’s Emily Gielnik in the race for the Golden Boot and Adelaide United sit fourth on the ladder – well up from their 12th placed finish last season.
A deep dive into the statistics, provided by OPTA, reveal just how dominant in the attacking third Worts has been this season.
She has struck 19 shots on target, 10 more than any other player in the league. On top of that she has completed 72.7 per cent of her tackles.
A total of 88 goals have been scored in the opening five rounds – 12 shared between Gielnik and Worts. That is an average of three goals a game.
Western United’s Chloe Logarzo, who has played in the league for a decade, said this year’s competition felt more “level”.
“There’s definitely a lot of players who have stepped up in this last year and in their off season,” Logarzo said.
“There’s some tremendous goals that are being scored, there’s been so many, but the quality of the goals has been outrageous. It’s a testament to the league, it’s getting stronger and I hope it continues to be like this.”
Worts isn’t the only player to shine this season.
Brisbane Roar’s Alicia Woods is playing on a very different level to her rookie season.
She is ranked fourth in the league for tackles made (20) and third for duels won (70).
Wellington Phoenix’s Maya McCutcheon is also putting in the hard yards in defence – racking up 23 tackles.
But it is Perth Glory’s Tijan McKenna who has had to work the hardest – making 33 tackles from five games – the highest in the league. McKenna has also won 72 duels.
Judging a goalkeeper on statistics alone is always tricky especially given some are put under more pressure than others.
Western Sydney Wanderers keeper Samiran Khamis has had a rough start to the season – they side sit on the bottom of the ladder – with Perth the only other team to have conceded more goals than them.
But the 11 goals against would be a lot higher if not for the 29 saves Khamis has made this season.
She is ahead of Central Coast Mariners keeper Sarah Langman who has 25 saves.
Melbourne City’s Taylor Otto has the most accurate passing record in the league finding her target 91.5 per cent of the time.
Victory’s Alex Chidiac is next on 85.9 per cent.
From bank intern to ALW: How City kept USA import’s dream alive
Nine months ago Lourdes Bosch was working as an intern at a Las Vegas bank – the hopes of her childhood dream of playing professional football shrinking – until Melbourne City came knocking.
The 23-year-old American import has been key to City’s title defence efforts – scoring three goals in her first four matches.
Bosch’s speed and agility has proved almost impossible for A-League’s defenders to keep up with.
It is hard to believe that not a single American National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) club had an interest in signing the 23-year-old.
Bosch was a talented college footballer earning First Team All-Conference honours multiple times during her stints with University of Nevada and California Baptist University.
But when the NWSL draft took place the incredibly speedy winger wasn’t offered a contract.
It was a difficult time – given it was all Bosch had been dreaming about since she first found the sport.
It is her speed that first got her noticed as a youth.
“I was always very athletic, but it wasn’t until I was eight-years-old, I was in school at PE, I outran all of the students in the class,” Bosch said.
“One day my PE coach asked me if I wanted to play for the third grade soccer team – I asked my parents – they said ‘let’s do it’ and ever since that I’ve been playing soccer.”
Bosch’s social pages tell the story – videos captured by her dedicated parents, who never missed a game, showing the youngster besting boys and girls all over the park.
Her dad, Rogert Misael Bosch Valdez, is her biggest supporter.
“He’s watched every single game since college, so he doesn’t miss a game,” Bosch said.
But when the family made the trip from Vegas to Melbourne in November – he didn’t follow due to his fear of flying.
It hasn’t stopped him watching every match from the other side of the world though.
“He coached me all through my childhood,” Bosch said.
“He’ll definitely be vocal if I’ve had a bad performance but he is my number one supporter so if I’m doing great he’ll definitely let me know.”
Bosch said when the offer came in from City, she had also just been offered a full time job by the bank she was interning with.
“Without thinking I took the opportunity,” Bosch said. “It was a dream come true, I think anyone with that passion and will to play at the professional level would do it without a doubt.”
Bosch said the A-League’s was on par with the level of football she was playing in America.
“I’d say college soccer is very physical and very athletic and I’d say here in Australia it is the same way,” she said.
“The speed of play (in Australia) is definitely a lot quicker, it means being at your best every game.”
The winger said she was loving her time in Australia and with City – despite a scary wildlife encounter.
“In my first week here I was laying in bed and I felt something fall right by my head, that’s when I realised it was a spider, like four inches or so and it freaked me out,” Bosch said.
The winger missed City’s Round 5, 2-0 win over Western Sydney Wanderers with some muscle tightness but is expected to be available for selection this weekend.
City will take on Canberra United on Sunday at 7.15pm.
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