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Janine Beckie: A Phenomenal CanWNT Forward

CanWNT Forward, Janine Beckie Heads The Ball Against Brazil

Janine Beckie, a Portland Thorns FC and CanWNT forward, has accomplished a lot in her career. She has played in the youth teams of both the U.S. and Canada, before committing to the CanWNT. Beckie was brought up in the U.S., but ended up playing with Canada, as she was able to because of her Canadian parents.

Janine Beckie: One of the Most Well-Liked CanWNT Players

Janine Beckie Childhood

Janine Beckie was born in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, United States on August 20, 1994. She grew up in Colorado. Beckie also talks about her family’s tragedy when her father died because of skin cancer (source: Kyle Newman of The Denver Post):

“It shaped me and my siblings into who we are — it brought us a lot closer even though I think something like that can often tear a family apart,” Janine Beckie said. “We also surrounded ourselves with sports, and friends, and soccer coaches and teammates to help us get through it. Real Colorado was amazing to us during that time, and we owe a lot to the club for that.”

Real Colorado was a youth team that Beckie played for in her youth.

Beckie’s mother, Sheila Beckie, played a big role in that she raised her four kids. Furthermore, Janine Beckie’s older brother, Drew Beckie, is well-known in Ottawa. He played for the Ottawa Fury in the USL Championship from 2014-15 and for Atlético Ottawa of the Canadian Premier League from 2021-22.

Texas Tech Red Raiders (2012-15)

As a freshman, Beckie won some notable awards like being a Big 12 Rookie of the Year, NSCAA All-Central Region First Team (also won in her sophomore year) and the NSCAA All-America First Team.

These awards were given largely because of being third in goals, fifth in goals-per-game as a Freshman, 23rd in total goals and 29th in total points in terms of the freshman’s rankings in the NCAA rankings.

This is while for the Big 12, she ranked first in shots, shots-per-game, points, and first-in-points per game. She was also tied for fifth in assists and was tied for the lead for game-winning goals with teammate, Paige Strahan.

She would continue her success throughout her college career. Beckie also made the All-Big 12 first team honours for a second consecutive season. The Red Raiders forward had a team-high 12 goals while also dishing out four assists. In particular, she stood out in the Big 12 Conference as she was third in goals and led the Big 12 Conference in game-winning goals.

What was rare for the school was for someone to win Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, something Beckie won back-to-back in her last two years of college. Also, both in 2014-15, she led the team in the Big 12 Conference in goals, goals per game, points, points per game, and game-winning goals. Additionally, in 2014, Beckie broke through in the NCAA rankings, ranking 12th in goals, 14th in game-winning goals, 17th in points, 20th in goals, and 27th in points per game.

Source: Texas Tech Red Raiders Soccer

This is what Tech head coach, Tom Stone had to say about Beckie (source: Don Williams of Lubbock Avalanche-Journal):

“You never really truly know when someone’s going to walk into your life and change everything for the better,” he said, “and singlehandedly and with her whole class just mobilize an effort of champions, of tremendous students, of great people, of honor, integrity and humility and that happened when Janine Beckie stepped on this campus.”

Beckie would help her team make the NCAA from 2012-14 and had a big influence on the program.

Professional Career

She first played for the Seattle Sounders Women in the USL W-League. Another notable team she played on was with Sky Blue FC in 2018 as she made 15 appearances for the club.

Houston Dash (2016-17)

Beckie was drafted eighth by the Houston Dash, which meant she would make her debut in the NWSL. In her first season with the club, she scored three goals and dished out two assists. This included scoring a goal in her debut in a 3-1 win over the Chicago Red Stars at BBVA Compass Stadium.

She would be traded to Sky Blue FC, but after an unsuccessful tenure there, she would make her mark with Manchester City. Carli Lloyd, who played with Beckie with the Dash and Sky Blue FC, said this to Beckie as Lloyd played there on loan in 2017 (source: Arielle Castillo of Manchester City):

“To hear her come back and talk about what a professional environment it is – the soccer’s great, the coaching is great, the facilities are great – it’s really cool to have a player like her speak so highly of my new team.”

Manchester City is also the team Beckie spent the most time with any team in her club career.

Manchester City W.F.C. (2018-22)

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With Manchester City, former teammate, Aoife Mannion said this about Beckie (source:  Caroline Oatway of Manchester City):

“If you follow her on social media, you’ll know she’s probably the model human!” she smiled. “She does a bit of everything: cooking healthy food, keeping active… She’s just radiates good vibes across the board.”

Then, Manchester City women’s head coach, Nick Cushing, had this to say about Beckie (source: Manchester City):

“The good thing about Janine is she wants to learn. We asked her to do a role for the team and play as a right-back rather than a right winger… The best of Janine is: she is willing to do it. She is someone I thoroughly enjoy working with because she wants to learn, and she goes out on the training pitch and works hard.”

In that same article, it was revealed that Beckie was not just playing at the forward position, but also in other positions as well, which Cushing alluded to in the quote above. Manchester City is also the team Beckie spent the most time with, as she scored six goals in 49 games. She also scored six goals in ten games in continental competition. This includes a hat-trick scored in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. During her time there, she also won FA Women’s League Cup and the Women’s FA Cup twice each and finished runners-up in the 2018-19 FA Women’s Super League.

Portland Thorns (2022-Present)

In 2022, Beckie made 20 appearances for her team overall, and was also part of the 2022 NWSL Championship team. However, Beckie, got a serious injury in March 2023 and has been sidelined until recently. She has made three appearances so far, and scored two goals in a 5-4 loss to the Kansas City Current.

This is what Beckie said before returning to play for Portland after a year of being out with injury (source: Portland Thorns FC YouTube Account):

“It will mean the world to me.”

Janine Beckie Making Her Mark With The CanWNT (2015-Present)

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Janine Beckie has been with the national team since 2015. She played with the Canada and the U.S. youth levels before committing to the senior national team. Beckie scored her first goal in the 2015 Four Nations Tournament on January 15, 2015. She really made her mark in the 2017 Algarve Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. In the 2017 Algarve Cup, she scored the game-winning goal against both Iceland and Brazil.

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Beckie also scored three goals in the 2016 Summer Olympics. This included one goal against Australia and two goals against Zimbabwe. Her other goals included scoring a hat-trick at BMO Field against Costa Rica in a 6-0 win and scored two goals against Mexico.

Both John Herdman and Beverly Priestman had high praise with Beckie (source: John Molinaro of Sportsnet):

“From a technical perspective Beckie is the closest thing I’ve seen to Sinclair in terms of her timing and her movements, the quality and texture of her passing, and the quality of her touch. She’s the closest thing I’ve seen to Sinclair as a player,” Herdman told Sportsnet in a recent one-on-one chat.

Priestman also said this after Beckie got injured last year in terms of her importance to the national team (source: Reuters):

“I can sit here and say, ‘Yeah, we’ve got the answer.’ We don’t. I think that that’s the reality,” Priestman told reporters. “What we do have to do is utilize the best players on the team across the pitch and that’s what I’m working through right now.”

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Beckie also won Gold with the national team in Tokyo 2020, where she also scored two goals against Chile. In total, Beckie ranks fifth all-time in goals with 35 and is seventh in assists. The only other players, who are in the top 10 in both categories were Christine Sinclair and Charmaine Hooper, who were both considered Canada’s best player for most of their tenure with the national team. Seeing games from Beckie with Canada in the past, she can create scoring opportunities for her teammates and is also quite good at crosses, an example of this was in the 2-0 win over Nigeria at BC Place.

Janine Beckie: Playing in the SheBelieves Cup

READ MORE: The CanWNT SheBelieves Cup Roster: Beckie And Scott Returns

This game will probably mean a lot her and Desiree Scott, as they both return from injuries with the national team. There is a real chance Beckie could play in Brazil on April 6, 2024 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. That game will be shown live on OneSoccer as well as on Telus.

 

Photo Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports, of a Janine Beckie Headshot, on February 19, 2023.

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