Canadian striker Cloe Lacasse: “When Arsenal came to the table, it was a dream.”

By Michelle - 26 July 2023, 10:45

Canadian striker Cloe Lacasse: “When Arsenal came to the table, it was a dream.” by Michelle

Canadian Cloe Lacasse is one player Gooners will watch in this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup. A few weeks ago, it was confirmed that Lacasse had signed to Arsenal, after four impressive seasons with Benfica, where she won three league cups and two super cups, Player of the Year 2022–23, lifted the golden boot (in the 2019–20 season), and managed 102 goals in 131 games.

Arsenal is getting a fine striker in Lacasse. As happy as they are with the move, she too is convinced joining Arsenal is what her career needs at this moment in time, as she is keen to compete with the best, like Beth Mead, Alessia Russo, and Vivianne Miedema, for a starting spot in a top league like the WSL. Speaking to inews, Lacasse had this to say:

“These last couple years for my career have been an upward climb, truthfully, and having had this last season go extremely well with Benfica and with the Canadian national team, I knew that opportunities were going to come from it,” Lacasse said. “As a player, you want to leave women’s football in a better place than you found it.

“When Arsenal came to the table, it was a dream. It was extremely exciting to have the opportunity to negotiate that. I want my career to keep growing, and Jonas definitely mentioned that. I’m aware of the roster Arsenal has. I know that’s going to provide the environment that I want, and they have a lot to take from me as well. So it’s going to be a good combination.”

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to go there; I wanted that internal competition,” Lacasse says. “That’s just going to make the team get better and better each day. I think Arsenal’s going to be a massive threat on the European level and in the WSL, so yeah, look out!”

About the World Cup, the 30-year-old believes that even if they are not seen as clear favourites, they (including her Arsenal teammate Sabrina D’Angelo) have every belief they can accomplish something incredible like they did in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics, beating Sweden to win gold. “Being the Canadian team, everyone’s super humble,” she added. “But everyone’s got belief.

“We know at a World Cup, especially now, as the women’s game has grown exponentially, every team that’s here has rightfully deserved their position—there are no easy games anymore,” says Lacassse. “That’s what’s super exciting about this World Cup. We’re seeing the growth of the game, and we’re going to take each game one by one, and we understand that each game is going to be challenging in different ways.”

As Lacasse’s Canada and McCabe’s Ireland square off today, may the best women win. The Canadians drew 0-0 in their first game versus Nigeria, whilst Ireland lost 1-0 to Australia in the opening game of the tournament. It should be a good contest this afternoon!