Janine Beckie's World Cup dreams dashed by devastating knee injury

LOS ANGELES: Canadian forward Janine Beckie, who played a key role in her team's Tokyo Olympic gold medal victory, has been sidelined due to a right knee injury, causing her to miss both the 2023 Women's World Cup and the upcoming National Women's Soccer League season. 

The reigning NWSL champion Portland Thorns announced Friday that the 28-year-old striker, with 36 goals for Canada in 101 caps, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee.

"Heartbroken is an understatement," Beckie wrote in a Twitter posting on Friday.

The injury took place in the first half of a Wednesday match against the US under-23 women’s squad.

Beckie will have surgery in the coming weeks and will conduct her rehabilitation in Portland under the direction of the Thorns team medical staff.

"Having worked so hard during off-season for what was set to be one of the biggest seasons of my career, defending the title for Portland Thorns and of course playing in the World Cup for Canada, being out for an extended period of time is a difficult pill to swallow," Beckie tweeted.

"I’ll be supporting my teammates for both club and country this season and it goes without saying I’ll be back better and stronger than ever!"

The Canadians will compete in the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. They are grouped with Ireland, Nigeria and co-host Australia and set to open against Nigeria at Melbourne on July 21.

The Thorns are set to open the NWSL regular season at home against Orlando on March 26.