Leon makes her case for the starting striker job

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Confidence is everything. Just ask Adriana Leon.

The 31-year-old soccer player has run with her opportunities this season, for Canada and for Aston Villa in the English Women’s Super League, thriving in the right environments after a quiet 2023-23 season split between Manchester United and the Portland Thorns.

Leon has been making her case for Canada’s starting striker job – the spot once held by Christine Sinclair – especially at the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup in March, where Leon led all scorers with six goals across Canada’s five matches and earned the Golden Boot. She also had Canada’s only real goal during last summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The reigning Olympic champions begin a “Send-off Series” against Mexico this weekend – a pair of friendlies on June 1 in Montreal and June 4 in Toronto, in preparation for the Paris Olympics in July. Leon made time for The Globe’s Q&A while in Montreal, promoting the new sport drink Cwench Hydration and training with Bev Priestman’s side.

Seems like Aston Villa has suited you?

Yes. I’ve basically covered off all the major cities in England so far, done a great tour of the U.K.! Birmingham has been a nice change from where I was the previous year in Manchester. I’ve settled in well. I think Villa is a great club. It’s a smaller club, which makes it feel more like a family environment. We had a great season. There were ups and downs but it was just such a good first year for me, seeing as where I came from before. I really enjoyed that.

What impact did that Golden Boot have on you at the CONCACAF Gold Cup?

I think the team has been off to a great start this year. Now it was disappointing to lose the U.S. on PKs twice, but we felt we were dominant in those games and it’s probably the first time that we really competed with them. I think we outperformed them at times during those games. As a team, there’s no reason we shouldn’t feel confident in Paris. I think we’ve only actually lost one in 13 of our last matches [in regulation]. We keep getting stronger and better and we’re learning every camp that we have. To get the Golden Boot, competing against many great athletes in that tournament, and to out-score them, that gives me a lot of confidence. I know I have another level and hopefully I reach it this summer.

You’ve been part of the women’s national team for a long time. How has your role evolved?

Yeah, it’s been since 2012, I want to say? I had a bit of a gap year [in 2016] but yeah, we just forget about that year. It’s been a long time, so I’m a vet on the team now and a more experienced player and I’m playing my best football that I’ve played for Canada right now, so it’s a good feeling. I think the stats show it, and I think if you’re watching the games, you see a dominant athlete out there and a confident one. I’ve played with these girls for years now, and I feel like we’ve really gelled on the field.

WEEKENDS WITH

What’s changed for you? Is it just more minutes, more opportunity?

I think it’s consistency of playing and having a coach that believes in me, I think that’s been massive. Like I’ve been surrounded by some poor management in the past at different clubs, and I think to have coaches like Bev [Priestman, with Canada], and Carla [Ward] at Aston Villa, now having two coaches that just believe in me and give me that platform to thrive has been such a difference for me. I think that’s what’s showing in my playing ability now. I’ve been able to bring that consistency and get into a good flow.

When and where are you happiest?

I’m happiest when I’m surrounded by my family and in Toronto. I live far from home so every moment I get with my family is so precious.

Will they travel to Paris to the Olympics?

Hopefully. They will be there if I’m on that roster.

What is your greatest fear?

I think it’s probably failing. Maybe that’s an athlete thing.

Who is the person you admire?

Serena Williams. She’s such a great athlete and has such a unique story – where she’s come from, what she’s had to go through, the number of titles. She is someone that I look up to as an athlete.

Which talent would you most like to have?

Probably the ability to sing.

What is a trait you dislike in others?

When someone is phony, not genuine, or untrustworthy.

What is something you’d like to change about yourself?

I wish I could speak multiple languages.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Winning gold in Tokyo.

What’s your most treasured possession?

Probably that gold medal, and it is safe at home.

What job might you wish to pursue?

I wish I knew the answer to that. The dream job would be owning my own sports team. A football club would be amazing.

Is there a book or an author that has resonated with you?

The last book I read was Verity by Colleen Hoover. I read that in a day or two. I couldn’t put it down.

What’s your greatest regret?

I’d like to think that I have no regrets in life. I’ve just learned from my mistakes.

What has been the hardest day of your career?

There was a time when I was training on my own at home, in an indoor facility with no one else around. It was a time when I didn’t have the national team and that was a sad, tough time for me. I just remember feeling alone, but I worked through it. That would have been in 2016. It was off a bad season. I wasn’t involved with the national team that season and when that happens, you have to keep fit somewhere else, so I was at home training in an old indoor facility. I remember going out and buying my own soccer balls, and cones and setting up drills and trying to do things to keep fit on my own.

Do you think that time period drove you to get back into the mix with the national team?

I definitely worked myself back in. To get back in with the national team, I had to be the best on my team, so I performed really well for Boston [in the NWSL] – that was in 2017. And that’s when I got back into the team.

What’s your fondest childhood memory?

Just playing outside as a kid with my older brothers and trying to be like them, playing road hockey with them and kicking the soccer ball around the yard. You didn’t have an iPad or a cellphone, you were just being kids outside.

What frustrates you?

Not performing. If there’s ever a match where I don’t play up to my abilities, or I don’t bring what I can bring to the field, for me that’s frustrating.

What’s the hardest thing about soccer?

Performing consistently at your best every day. It takes a lot energy and mental capacity to stay at such a high level every single day.

You’re hoping to make it to your second Olympics. Are there athletes you didn’t get to meet last time or things you didn’t get to experience in Tokyo in 2021?

Obviously the last one in Tokyo we didn’t spend much time in the village – we were all in isolation for most of it because it was during COVID. So meeting other athletes in any other sport would be cool. I don’t even know know what a normal Olympics is. I think there could be more outside distractions this time around. That’s something that we didn’t have in Tokyo because we were so isolated. It might be a little bit of a test, with fans and all the excitement this time. I don’t know what to expect, because the way it was in Tokyo is the only way I’ve ever experienced an Olympics.