{"id":318519,"date":"2023-07-24T11:57:04","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T11:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=318519"},"modified":"2023-07-24T12:58:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T12:58:31","slug":"teen-stars-uplifting-journey-from-cancer-scare-to-cup-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=318519","title":{"rendered":"Teen star's uplifting journey from cancer scare to Cup debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 15, Linda Caicedo, now a star forward on Colombia<\/a>\u2019s FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup<\/a> roster, received a crushing diagnosis. She had ovarian cancer.<\/p>\n

Caicedo already had made her debut for Colombian professional team Am\u00e9rica de Cali and the Colombian senior women\u2019s national team.<\/p>\n

With this news, though, her football career seemed over.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI remember I was going into surgery one day and I was feeling really bad,\u201d Caicedo said, \u201cbecause I thought that I was not going to be able to play top-level football again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colombian women\u2019s team head coach, Nelson Abad\u00eda, provided words of encouragement over the phone.<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY,<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018No, just relax',\u201d Caicedo recalled. "'You\u2019re going to come back'."<\/p>\n

She\u2019s now one of the best young players in the world.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old Caicedo is expected to make her Women\u2019s World Cup debut in Colombia's opener against South Korea on Tuesday at Sydney's Accor Stadium.<\/p>\n

To those battling cancer, Caicedo has a message: \u201cI am an example that you can get out of that and overcome this".<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s match also could mark the World Cup debut of 16-year-old South Korea forward Casey Phair. Born to a Korean mother and American father and raised in the US, Phair is not expected to start. Should she play, she would become the youngest player ever to play in a World Cup, men\u2019s or women\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY,<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just take it day by day,\u201d South Korea coach Collin Bell said on Monday, responding to questions about Phair. \u201cI don\u2019t really want to hype up the young player too much before she\u2019s even played.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Phair\u2019s role is not certain, Caicedo is expected to start and play a large part in Colombia\u2019s efforts. For Colombians, she represents the potential of women\u2019s football both domestically and internationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s everybody\u2019s hope,\u201d said Valentina Pe\u00f1a Orozco, sports director at W Radio Colombia. \u201cLinda is Colombia\u2019s promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caicedo played in Colombia\u2019s Liga Femenina for several years before signing with Real Madrid in February. She tied for the scoring lead at the 2021 Copa Libertadores Femenina for Deportivo Cali and was named the best player in the 2022 Copa Am\u00e9rica Femenina.<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY,<\/p>\n

Her performance at the Copa Am\u00e9rica helped secure Colombia\u2019s spot in the 2023 Women\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

Caicedo also scored twice and recorded four assists in 10 appearances for Real Madrid last season.<\/p>\n

Colombia\u2019s match against South Korea could prove pivotal, as the two nations are expected to compete for a spot in the knockout rounds from Group H. Germany and Morocco also are in the group.<\/p>\n

Abad\u00eda has coached Caicedo since she was 12 and brought her into the senior team when she was 14. He\u2019s been Colombia\u2019s national women\u2019s team coach since 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the players\u2019 enormous ability, and we know that those brilliant moments that each one has \u2014 we\u2019re going to have them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At 15, Linda Caicedo, now a star forward on Colombia\u2019s FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup roster, received a crushing diagnosis. She had ovarian cancer. Caicedo already […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":318521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318519"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=318519"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318525,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318519\/revisions\/318525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/318521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=318519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=318519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=318519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}