Alessia Russo: Manchester United and England ahead ‘nonetheless simply Alessia’ regardless of Puskas nomination for backheeled purpose | Soccer Information

With one backwards swish of her proper boot, England’s Alessia Russo grew to become a family identify.

Having simply missed a sitter within the European Championships semi-final towards Sweden, not many strikers would even try a backheeled end, not to mention produce one which nestles behind the web.

Russo had her again to purpose, in between two defenders. Two extra on the road, together with the goalkeeper. All of them watched on because the 23-year-old put the backheel in between keeper Hedvig Lindahl’s legs to safe the Lionesses’ place within the ultimate.

The video, naturally, went viral – and the accolades carry on coming. Russo’s beautiful end is without doubt one of the 11 objectives nominated for the 2022 FIFA Puskas Award – given yearly for the 12 months’s greatest purpose.

However the heights of being recognised on the world stage have performed nothing to Russo’s ego.

“I nonetheless see myself as Alessia. I grew up in a little bit city,” she says. “My household are so near me, I believe that is a credit score to all of them – and myself I assume – that I am a really light-hearted, simple going sort of individual, however I’ve actually excessive expectations.

“Even awards like this: it nonetheless feels bizarre to be nominated. I hope to go on and obtain much more than simply this. As a feminine footballer and simply the individual I’m, I’ve to remain grounded and have larger desires to fill.”

Recognition on the shortlist is simply one other instance of the rising reputation of ladies’s soccer.

Beth Mead received final 12 months’s BBC Sports activities Character of the Yr Award, and two different feminine gamers (Amandine Henry of Lyon and Barcelona’s Salma Paralluelo) are on the Puskas checklist together with Russo – the fourth 12 months in a row three girls have been nominated. When the competitors first began in 2009, it took two years till the primary feminine participant made the checklist.

The award has been received beforehand by Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Zlatan Ibrahimovic – and it’s a prize that has eluded the likes of Wayne Rooney and even Lionel Messi.

“All of these names are heroes for me rising up,” Russo mentioned. “Carli Lloyd [nominated for the award in 2015] was additionally an enormous participant that I cherished watching whereas I used to be a child.

“Even the gamers which can be up for it now… [Kylian] Mbappe – I really like watching him play – and Richarlison too, they’re all high goalscorers. For me as a younger striker, I like these sorts of gamers. To even have your identify within the mixture of the legends which have gone up to now is a real honour.”

Whether or not or not Russo finally ends up with the Puskas prize, her strike towards Sweden is more likely to go down as an iconic purpose in girls’s soccer historical past.

It exhibits not solely the standard that exists within the girls’s sport, but additionally the boldness that younger gamers have to point out off their abilities. Within the days that adopted Russo’s purpose towards Sweden, kids at Bearsted – her childhood membership – had been practising backheels in coaching.

“I do not know why, however they only wished so as to add it into their session! In order that was actually cool – I obtained despatched a number of good movies of all of that, which was pretty,” Russo provides.

“Simply a great deal of younger youngsters recreating it, that is the most important factor for me. Our entire message for the Euros was we wished to encourage the subsequent technology of younger girls and boys, and as a child I bear in mind attempting to recreate folks’s objectives that I noticed within the World Cup or the Champions League, so for them to be doing my purpose was a little bit of a ‘pinch me’ second.”

And with Russo’s nomination coming in the identical week as bumper crowds attended Girls’s Tremendous League matches on the Emirates Stadium and Leigh Sports activities Village, the ahead believes objectives like hers are one motive why so many followers are flocking by the turnstiles.

“Our soccer does the speaking now,” she says. “After the Euros and the performances this season within the WSL, we appeal to our personal crowds by enjoying good soccer and connecting with them [the fans].

“That is a very essential a part of girls’s soccer – we recognize our followers a lot as a result of we have been there when there’s not been lots of them. The extra we now have, week in week out, we like to say ‘thanks’ to them and make them really feel like part of the membership.”

So the large query is: can Russo win the prize? With World Cup and Champions League ultimate objectives to cope with, will probably be robust. In spite of everything, no lady has ever received the Puskas prize and solely three feminine gamers have been named within the high three.

“Having three girls up for the award is large. To have one in all us win it might be superb, and would present how a lot additional the sport has come,” she says.

“The competitors is extraordinarily excessive, a few of the objectives on there are ridiculous. However it might be superb, it might be pretty for a girl to win that award. However I am certain the followers will vote for the one they suppose is their favorite, so we’ll see what occurs.”

Vote for the highest three objectives of 2022 to determine the winner of the FIFA Puskas Award on the FIFA web site right here.