MIAMI, Florida – The 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup group stage came to a close on Wednesday, marking a conclusion to an exciting start of the inaugural tournament.
When the bright lights of Concacaf competition are shining, teams need their biggest stars to show up, and Adriana Leon did that in spades for Canada by scoring five goals to lead all players, while also contributing an assist.
By virtue of her performance in the W Gold Cup Group Stage, Leon is Concacaf’s Game-Changer for the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup Group Stage.
Leon hit the ground running in Canada’s Group C opener with El Salvador, as she scored a goal in each half to help pace the Canadians to a 6-0 victory. Leon’s first came on a smooth right-footed finish in the 28’, followed by a penalty conversion in the 59’. Leon ended the night with two goals from eight shots, an assist and 21 of 26 passes completed.
Leon was even more effective in Canada’s second match, a 4-0 win versus Paraguay, as she became the first player in W Gold Cup history to score a hat-trick, earning herself Player Of The Match honors.
Adriana Leon is a hat trick hero 🦁 pic.twitter.com/Vdf7jKEzzN
— W Gold Cup (@GoldCup) February 25, 2024
Her first goal came in the 25’ when she was well-positioned in front of net and volleyed home a right-footed shot. Leon was back at it in the 49’ by getting a touch on a ball that was pinballing around the area and guiding it into net. She then finished the hat-trick in the 57’ in style with a right-footed rocket into the top right corner of net.
In 63 minutes of action, Leon had three goals from four shots, a steal and completed 76 percent of her passes.
Leon also started Canada’s finale, a 3-0 win versus Costa Rica, appearing in the first 45 minutes and producing assist to go along with 23 completed passes.
From start to finish in Canada’s perfect group stage, Leon was a Game-Changer in every sense.
