BY AMIE CRIPPS, VERSUS
Christiane Endler is one of the best goalkeeper in girls’s soccer. Information. After ending second place for the final two years, the Chilean and Olympique Lyonnais No.1 gained this 12 months’s Finest FIFA Girls’s Goalkeeper award. The primary South American participant in historical past to assert the prize. However breaking information is simply what Endler does.
Whereas enjoying for Paris St Germain she put an finish to Lyon’s dominance within the Division 1 Féminine by serving to her former membership win their first-ever league title. She additionally captained Chile to the finals of the Copa America Femenina in 2018 the place they completed runners-up. A feat her nation had solely achieved as soon as earlier than in 1991. Endler’s standout efficiency throughout that event secured Chile’s first Girls’s World Cup qualification. Later that 12 months, Endler gained her first title with Chile by beating Brazil within the Torneo Internacional Femenino de Sao Paulo. La Roja Femenina’s first victory towards Brazil in 13 matches. Endler didn’t concede a single aim throughout the event. Her record of achievements is unending. Final summer time, Endler as soon as once more captained Chile at their first Olympic Video games. But the South American celebrity did not all the time begin out enjoying, and even eager to be a goalkeeper.
“I grew up enjoying many various sports activities as a result of I by no means actually had the possibility to play soccer. I liked each single sport I performed, however soccer was all the time my ardour. And I believe I attempted my hand at so many various issues to attempt to ‘fill’ that keenness.” Taking part in soccer together with her brother was how her love of the sport began. “I all the time performed soccer with him – he was my idol – and due to that…I all the time ended up within the aim! However after I began to play for a staff, I realised I wished to be a striker.” However whereas trialing for Chile’s U17 nationwide staff, Endler was inspired to attempt her hand at goalkeeping on account of her top. A transfer that fairly actually, fitted Endler like a glove.
Rising up, Endler didn’t have many – if any – feminine footballing position fashions. One thing she has modified single-handedly for women everywhere in the world. Particularly these from Chile.
“I watched quite a lot of soccer rising up and considered one of my first ‘massive’ goalkeeping heroes was Oliver Kahn. I bear in mind him enjoying within the World Cup and he was superb. Claudio Bravo has additionally been such an incredible participant for me. An actual Chilean hero. These gamers impressed me, and now I’m inspiring others.” One thing she realises has been attainable due to the assist of her house nation.
“The assist I’ve in Chile is superb. I can see each day how proud individuals are of me and my achievements. It’s an enormous factor for women who’re beginning out now, as a result of they’ve somebody exhibiting them, they’ll additionally obtain no matter they need. That’s crucial to me. I’m working with a Chilean faculty to offer higher circumstances for women who wish to play soccer. Myself and different women from the nationwide staff are opening doorways for the subsequent technology of gamers.” Seeing is believing, and Endler works tirelessly to make sure those that observe in her footsteps can carry on shining and pushing the ladies’s sport ahead.
“I believe there may be quite a lot of room for development in girls’s soccer, particularly goalkeeping. Coaches for instance are so essential for our improvement and taking issues to the subsequent degree. I’d say, not each membership has the ‘proper’ particular person in control of making certain that coaches are receiving probably the most up-to-date coaching. The sport has modified so much! And ensuring that you’re consistently studying with a view to sustain with these modifications is significant. The place has additionally developed so much through the years. You now need to be nice along with your toes in addition to your palms. You’re one other participant on the pitch. So ensuring coaches are conscious of modifications, the newest methods and expertise to assist goalkeepers be one of the best they are often, is so essential.” And to those that recommend feminine GKs ought to use smaller targets, Endler has one thing to say to you: “I don’t agree with that in any respect. We’ve proven time and time once more that we’re nice goalkeepers. In some situations, we carry out higher than the boys! We don’t want smaller targets. The sport is about scoring. You can’t cease each ball from hitting the again of the online. We want to verify the place continues to obtain the assist it wants with a view to develop additional.”
Lengthy-term funding in girls’s soccer is one thing Endler has recognised and valued from the start. Particularly on the subject of carrying the correct boots and gloves. And her German heritage has all the time meant she’s had a delicate spot for the ‘Three Stripes Household’. “adidas boots have been the boots I wore for my nationwide debut enjoying with Chile’s U17s’ facet within the South American Cup. When my dad returned from a visit to Germany, he introduced me again the boots David Beckham wore! I bear in mind them very properly due to that. I’ve all the time felt very ‘represented’ by adidas. We share the identical values. They have been additionally the primary model to ‘wager on me’. They’ve supported me from the start.” Regardless of that, Endler couldn’t have envisioned being the face of a Predator marketing campaign fifteen years down the road.
“I by no means thought I used to be going to be part of such an enormous marketing campaign like this! A very powerful factor about Predator Edge is that it’s placing girls’s soccer on the platform it deserves. And to only have feminine athletes on this marketing campaign, is a large step for sport usually. To point out that girls can lead one thing of this scale. It ought to occur extra typically. However for this to occur to a woman from Chile. It’s unbelievable.”
Endler has impressed a technology of ladies to not solely take up soccer, however to placed on a pair of gloves. A place that forces you to place your physique on the road. One thing she herself has no regrets about. “I believe that all the things occurs for a cause. You’re the place you might be in your life due to the nice and unhealthy choices you’ve made. You’re precisely the place you’re speculated to be. Simply ensure you dream massive and work laborious. To play Champions League or World Cup soccer, are experiences you’ll always remember. However you must ensure you really need them. Generally it may be a lonely existence, however your ardour pulls you thru.”
She could be placing the sport on a pedestal, however Endler is on an entire totally different degree. And she or he’s proper. She is strictly the place she must be. On the very high.
