Ecuador star Linda Caicedo scored a wonder goal at the Women’s World Cup just days after collapsing in worrying scenes during training. As her side took on Germany in the group stages, Caicedo stepped up and proved why she has been tipped to be a star at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand to spark emotional scenes as fans were inspired by her story.
With the game deadlocked after an hour, Caicedo received the ball inside the box and she dribbled to her left, surrounded by German defenders. However, she was able to find a yard of space by gliding past both and then curled an effort into the top corner to jubilant celebrations.
Her tournament had been in doubt though, having collapsed during a training session earlier in the week. On Thursday, the teenager put her hand to her chest and slowed down during a session before medical attention was called after she collapsed on the pitch.
The Real Madrid star had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 15 – which she has since recovered from – and has been one of the most inspirational figures at the World Cup, having scored her country’s first goal at the tournament in their 2-0 win over South Korea.
Despite collapsing during training and causing a scare, she was able to not only feature but star against Germany on Sunday with her incredible goal – after Ecuador coach Nelson Abadia claimed the training incident was partly caused by the pressure she is under.
“It’s just an incident, she was tired,” Abadia said. “She was a bit stressed as well, because she was playing in her first World Cup … [which] has great relevance. And she’s 18 years of age. She’s a girl as far as football goes. But she has a great capacity and great character to assimilate all of this.
“That is why she’s one of the players in the world today who is a rising star. And it was just an episode, it’s finished, it’s over. We’re quite happy about this. No problem.”
Caicedo credited Abadia with immense support as she had six months of chemotherapy before undergoing surgery to remove her tumour. “There was a difficult process, thank God I could overcome it,” she said. “My family was always behind me and my coach beside me was always very close.
“He [Abadia] was often calling me. I was going into surgery one day and I felt really bad, like I could not play top-level football again; he said relax, you will come back. So I want to thank my coach. For people in difficult times like I was, I am an example you can overcome this.”
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