Kara Lang
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Kara Elise Lang Romero (born 22 October 1986) is a former Canadian
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
player and current
sports analyst A sports analyst is a person looking through technical, tactical, physiological, and psychological performance metrics /sup> working with the sports coach and sports science team to improve athlete performance. They will often use Video motion ...
, who represented her country in two FIFA World Cups and the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...
, and played club soccer for Vancouver Whitecaps Women. She is the youngest woman to be named to Canada National Women's Team, making her National Team debut on 1 March 2002 at the Algarve Cup in Portugal at age 15. Lang retired on 5 January 2011 at the age of 24 due to recurring knee and ACL injuries. Lang began a comeback in 2013, with her ambition being to help Canada in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, but suffered a third ACL injury in February 2014, effectively ending her comeback. She now has two sons and a daughter with professional baseball player Ricky Romero. She was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame as a player in November 2015.


Personal life

As of 2015, Lang is married to former baseball player Ricky Romero. The couple are parents to two sons and a daughter.


Early life

Lang was born in
Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
,
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...
and raised in
Oakville, Ontario Oakville is a town in Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton. At its 2021 census population of 213,759, it is Ontario's largest town. Oakville is part of the Greater Toronto Area, one of the ...
. Her mother is originally from
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
.


Ethics

Lang transitioned to vegetarianism as a teenager and, inspired and mentored by national teammate Amy Walsh, became vegan by the time Amy returned to the Canada squad.


Career


College career

Lang was ranked as the #1 recruit in the 2005 recruiting class, and chose
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
. Lang was named as a preseason All-American, which is a notable achievement for a freshman. The UCLA Bruins, under head coach
Jill Ellis Jillian Anne Ellis (born 6 September 1966) is an English-American soccer coach and executive who is currently the president of San Diego Wave FC. Ellis coached the United States women's national soccer team from 2014 to October 2019 and won two ...
, compiled an overall record of 22–2–2 in the 2005–2006 season, was ranked 4th nationally, and won the Pac-10 title on the strength of excellent team defence. Lang started her college career with a splash, scoring a hat-trick in her second game. In the 2005 NCAA tournament, she scored eight goals in six games. Lang's UCLA Bruins met the University of Portland in the NCAA final, where she came up against one of her international teammates,
Christine Sinclair Christine Margaret Sinclair (born June 12, 1983) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward and captains both National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) club Portland Thorns FC and the Canadian national team. An Olympic g ...
; Portland won the title with a 4–0 win. She finished her first year at UCLA with 17 goals and six assists in 24 games, finishing second in team scoring behind
Danesha Adams Danesha LaVonne Adams (born June 6, 1986) is an American retired soccer forward and midfielder. She is an assistant coach for the Houston Cougars. She played for Portland Thorns FC in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She previously pl ...
. Lang took a medical
redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...
in the 2006 season after tearing an ACL during the offseason, and will have three more years of athletic eligibility at UCLA. 2007; played in 17 matches starting 16. Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 selection. Scored both goals in a 2–1 overtime victory over Portland on 28 September, her first college match since the 2005 NCAA Final (missed the entire 2006 season with an ACL injury). Ended the season with 17 points on seven goals and three assists. Tallied the game-winning goal in a 2–0 victory over Washington State on 9 November. Scored the Bruins' second goal in a 3–2 double-overtime victory over Portland in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 Academic selection. 2008; played in 24 matches, starting in 23, scoring five goals and assisting on nine. Helped UCLA to an unbeaten season of 18–0–2 (9–0 in conference play). Earned second-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII honours. Scored a goal and 2 assists in the 1st round of the College Cup. Lost 1–0 in the semi finals to UNC.


International career

Lang is one of the youngest players to score a full international goal. She scored against
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
at the Algarve Cup on 3 March 2002 at age 15 years, 132 days. Her senior debut, two days earlier, was a Canadian record for youngest senior women's cap. At the 2002 FIFA U-19 World Championships, held in
Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...
,
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...
, as a 15-year-old, Lang scored three goals in six games and added a crucial penalty-kick goal under intense pressure in the semi-finals against
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Canada lost in the final against their rivals in the United States. At the age of 16, Lang played in all six of Canada's games at the FIFA Women's World Cup 2003. Lang scored two goals in the World Cup (a tally each against Japan in the group stage, and against Sweden in the semi-finals). Lang's memorable free-kick goal in the semi-finals came in the 64th minute to give Canada a 1–0 lead against Sweden, but they would lose the game 2–1 and eventually finish in 4th place at the event. Lang was an integral part of the 2004
CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; types ...
U-19 Qualifying tournament in
Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...
,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, where she played as a central defender at the request of head coach
Ian Bridge Ian Christopher Bridge (born 18 September 1959) is a football coach and former professional who played as a defender. A former player for the Canada national team, he has coached the Canada women's national team among other teams. Club car ...
. Lang proved to be a dominant force in defence paired with Emily Zurrer, and Canada captured the tournament title with a 2–1 extra-time victory over the United States. Despite high hopes, Canada lost in the quarterfinals against China in the 2004 U-19 World Championships in Thailand after being down a player for almost the entire game. In the 2006 CONCACAF U-20 Qualifying tournament, Lang set a record for fastest goal (four seconds) when she scored from the opening kickoff against Mexico on 22 January 2006. Lang participated in the
FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but t ...
in China. On 6 August 2008, Lang scored the winning goal for Canada in a 2–1 victory over Argentina at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Canada lost in the quarter-finals to United States. Lang scored one goal in Canada's thrashing of Guyana for 8–0 during the 2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup qualifying tournament. She went on, along with her teammates, to win the tournament v Mexico in the final (1–0) on 8 November 2010. Unfortunately, this was her last appearance playing soccer, as recurring ACL and knee injuries, forced her to retire. She made the official announcement at an Oakville Soccer Club Press Conference on 5 January 2011, in front of young fans, coaches, soccer club affiliates, and press. "I have gotten everything out of this sport, and I have given this sport all that I have," she said about her retirement. Teammates Diana Matheson, Robyn Gayle, Carmelina Moscato and
Melanie Booth Melanie Lynn Booth (born August 24, 1984) is a Canadian retired soccer player. She last played for Sky Blue FC in the National Women's Soccer League and for the Canada women's national soccer team. Early life Booth was born in Burlington, Ontar ...
also noted that Lang was one of the most 'enthusiastic, hilarious, courteous and spontaneous people' that they ever knew, and were proud not only to have called her a teammate, but one of their best and lifelong friends.


Broadcasting career

In 2011, Lang transitioned to the broadcast booth as a television
sports analyst A sports analyst is a person looking through technical, tactical, physiological, and psychological performance metrics /sup> working with the sports coach and sports science team to improve athlete performance. They will often use Video motion ...
for Rogers Sportsnet covering the
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the event ...
. Lang continued working for Sportsnet after the World Cup. Staying with Rogers, beginning in August 2012, Lang joined the team of the new nightly show
Soccer Central ''Soccer Central'' was a soccer news program that was broadcast by the Canadian sports channel Sportsnet. The program was first introduced on August 17, 2012 as ''Fox Soccer News''; the program was originally produced for U.S. cable channel Fox S ...
on Sportsnet World in Canada. The show was broadcast as Fox Soccer News in the USA. She left the show in early 2013 to pursue her comeback to the National team and a few months later it was cancelled. In 2014 Lang joined the MLS on TSN broadcast team covering the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC as a sideline reporter. In 2015, she was also an analyst for TSN's coverage of the
FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's international governing bod ...
.


Statistics

National team statistics Major tournament statistics Club and college statistics


See also

* ''''


Notes


External links


Official Kara Lang Website
* /
Canada Soccer Hall of Fame The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame honours people and institutions for their contributions to Canadian soccer. It was founded in 1997 by the Ontario Soccer Association and was originally located in Vaughan, Ontario. As of 2019, the Canada Soccer H ...

Official UCLA profileNCAA Women's Soccer "Kara Lang", JDG, Player Magazine, 2003"Inside Track", Teddy Katz, CBC Radio, 2003 (audio)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Kara 1986 births Women's association football forwards Canada women's international soccer players Canadian soccer commentators Canadian expatriate women's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian people of English descent Canada Soccer Hall of Fame inductees Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Living people Olympic soccer players of Canada Pali Blues players Pan American Games competitors for Canada Sportspeople from Oakville, Ontario Soccer people from Ontario Soccer players from Calgary UCLA Bruins women's soccer players Vancouver Whitecaps FC (women) players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Canadian women's soccer players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games medalists in football