Goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan is shown during a friendly soccer international between Canada and Australia in Sydney, Australia, on Sept. 6, 2022.Rick Rycroft/The Associated Press
Canadian Kailen Sheridan is considered by some of her peers as the best goalkeeper in the world.
The Women’s World Cup will be Sheridan’s time to shine on the global stage as Canada’s No. 1 keeper, no longer waiting behind Stephanie Labbé, who had become a national hero while shot stopping the Canadian women to Olympic gold in Tokyo.
Sheridan has a string of accolades. Starring for the San Diego Wave, she was the 2022 goalkeeper of the year in the National Women’s Soccer League and has made more penalty saves than anyone in league history. The 27-year old from Whitby, Ont., also won the Golden Glove at the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship.
Yet the finalists for FIFA’s most recent best women’s goalkeeper award were all players in Europe. Sheridan, who stars in the U.S.-based league, didn’t make that list. This summer, playing in the world’s most important women’s soccer tournament, firmly planted in Canada’s No. 1 role, Sheridan has a chance to prove herself on the biggest platform.
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“We think she’s the best in the world, and obviously we’re biased because we get to train with her every day,” said San Diego Wave goalkeeper coach Louis Hunt, who refers to her as a “double whammy.”
“You watch other games, other tournaments and leagues, it’s rare to see a goalkeeper who is as good at shot stopping as she is, as well as being so good in possession.”
He says she has a “brick-wall” mentality about keeping the ball out of the net but is also remarkably good with the ball at her feet, so the Wave uses her as an 11th outfield player in possession. She routinely assists or indirectly assists goals, including a highlight-reel long-ball assist she delivered precisely to her sprinting Wave teammate, U.S. superstar Alex Morgan.
“If you’re the other team it’s really hard to scout and play against Kailen, because you don’t know what to take away,” Hunt said. “Do you take away the short game and her play with the ball at her feet, or take away her long game and that long-range pass she’s got?”
Hunt says Sheridan is the player that Wave coach Casey Stoney turns to in the team huddle to deliver the final rah-rah speech before a game and she delivers something animated and entertaining every time.
Canadian coach Bev Priestman had high praise for her in a recent TSN report: “Kailen, for me at this moment, is the best goalkeeper in the world,” Priestman told the broadcaster.
Jillian Loyden thought Sheridan had the potential to be the best in the world when she was a goalie coach for the NWSL’s Sky Blue FC, and was tasked with researching goalkeepers ahead of the 2017 NWSL draft. The team selected Sheridan, out of Clemson University, 23rd overall. She played for Sky Blue (the team eventually changed its name to NJ/NY Gotham FC) until joining the expansion Wave in 2022.
“Confidently now I can say she is the best in the world,” said Loyden, also a former U.S. women’s national team goalkeeper, who runs the Keeper Institute in Sewell, N.J., where Sheridan has often trained in her off-seasons.
“I think she’s the most well-rounded goalkeeper in the world. I don’t believe there’s many goalkeepers – male or female – that can do what she does with the ball. You pair that with her incredible shot-stopping ability, her athleticism, how dynamic she is, her ability to protect the goal area on crosses and her leadership. She has an incredible presence and opponents fear her.”
Loyden is one of the people who worked with Sheridan behind the scenes when she suffered a freak injury six months before the Tokyo Olympics. Sheridan got a start for Canada against the United States at the SheBelieves Cup in February of 2021, and tore her right quad off the bone. She had surgery on March 1 and recovered in time to make Canada’s Olympic roster that July.
Loyden recalls how determined Sheridan was to make it back. She caught thousands of shots sitting in a chair before she was allowed back on her feet. She worked her hand-eye co-ordination fending off ping pong balls fired at her from a machine. She studied film to see what she could do better.
“She’s one of the most selfless people in terms of emptying the tank every day to help the team succeed,” Loyden said.
Sheridan and Labbé competed for Canada’s net at the Olympics. Labbé inched in front and had a series of heroic performances in Tokyo, backstopping Canada to two clean sheets and two shootout wins in the knockout round, including in the gold-medal game against Sweden. Labbé, who was dazzling as she stopped penalty kicks, earned the nickname “Canada’s national minister of defence” and was the runner-up as FIFA’s best 2021 women’s goalkeeper.
“A big part of my success was Kailen pushing me every day in training,” said Labbé, the general manager for women’s soccer with the Vancouver Whitecaps since she retired in 2022.
“Being a backup goalkeeper – and I was one before for many years, too – it’s challenging to put your ego aside on game day. Kailen was an incredible support and friend to me. I was able to perform the way I did because of the people around me, and I owe a lot of that to Kailen and the training environment that we created together.”
Labbé will make the trip to Australia, not only to scout players for her job, but also to watch her friends play. She knows from experience that the step from professional to international is a big one for a goalkeeper, and that it can take time to adjust to the increased speed and pace of international competition.
“There is a lot of pressure on the Canadians – as one of the top teams, the expectations are you get out of the group and you win some knockout games,” Labbé said. “Having that pressure on the shoulders is a blessing and a curse.”
The third goalkeeper on that Canadian Olympic team, veteran Erin McLeod, admired Sheridan’s positive nature in Tokyo. “Props to Kailen; she could have crumbled and been bitter. To keep your character and be a really supportive teammate throughout that is challenging, but she did that.”
Sheridan is hardly a newcomer to international play. She has made 35 appearances for the Canadian senior women’s national team – 30 of them starts – and recorded 17 clean sheets. She played in two games at the Tokyo Olympics. But this will be her biggest opportunity in the No. 1 job.
“I know it’s a bold statement, but I think she’s the best keeper Canada’s ever had. And I know that’s all relative, like the game is changing,” McLeod said. “Canada has had so many great keepers, and everyone had a recognizable strength. And I think with Kailen, she’s extremely well rounded, and so exciting to watch.”