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world cup 2019

9. Ji So-yun
SOUTH KOREA
Ji made her first
appearance with
South Korea’s
national team
at 15. Now a star
for Chelsea in the
English Women’s
Super League,
Ji, 28, keys her
country’s offensive
attack.

10. Vivianne
Miedema
NETHERLANDS
The Dutch striker
scored 29 goals
for Arsenal this
season, setting
a new Women’s
Super League
scoring record.
Miedema, 22,
teams with 2017
FIFA player of the
Nearly a decade later, Kuma- X year Lieke Martens
8. Saki gai enters this World Cup far re- to form a powerful

Kumagai moved from the rookie who grew ‘SHE HAS AN 1-2 scoring
up in Sapporo idolizing the leg- punch for the

JAPAN endary captain of that Japanese AMAZING ABILITY Netherlands.
team, Homare Sawa. She’s now TO KEEP
one of the standout players in the
When saki kUmagai fired a world. A defensive midfielder who POSSESSION
penalty shot past U.S. goalkeeper has suited up for Lyon, the French 11. Lindsey
Hope Solo in the final of the superclub that’s won four straight UNDER PRESSURE. Horan
2011 World Cup, a tormented Champions League titles since SHE MAKES USA
nation exhaled, if only for a mo- 2013, Kumagai now leads a less The 25-year-old
ment. Earlier that year, one of the experienced Japan team attempt- JAPAN TICK.’ American
strongest earthquakes in history ing to reach a third straight World midfielder and
unleashed a tsunami and a melt- Cup final (Japan fell to the U.S., Portland Thorns
down of the Fukushima nuclear 5-2, in the 2015 final in Canada). star won the 2018
plant that ravaged the island na- The team carries some momentum National Women’s
tion. Some 20,000 people were into the tournament, having won Soccer League
killed. The then 20-year-old the 2018 Asian Cup. MVP. She’s making
Kumagai’s steely play clinched Kumagai, the captain, who her World Cup
Japan’s win—the first World Cup plans to help her teammates ac- debut in France
ever won by an Asian nation—and climate to France this summer, and is primed
for a breakout
caused a desperately needed cele- will be key. “When she gets the tournament.
bration. Delirious fans filed out of ball, she has an amazing ability
Tokyo bars and took to the streets to keep possession under pres-
in fits of joy. sure,” says former U.S. player
Meghan Klingenberg. “She makes
Japan tick.”

74 Time June 3–10, 2019