You’d be forgiven if before the Concacaf W Championship began you didn’t predict that Canadian midfielder Julia Grosso would be top of the pile in the Golden Boot race.

With three goals in two appearances for Canada in this competition, Grosso has been one of the team’s top performers. She came off the bench in the tournament-opener against Trinidad and Tobago, finding the back of the net twice – her first two goals for Canada in international appearance number 38.

Appearance number 39 was just as successful for the 21-year-old, as she scored the winner in a narrow 1-0 win over Panama. It wasn’t a simple tap-in or anything either – Grosso picked up the ball in the box, skipped around her defender and beat the goalkeeper with a tidy finish. 

The composure and confidence it took to try the move, instead of just firing a shot off at the first opportunity, was impressive, and the goal secured Canada’s spot in next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. 

GOAL ??

Julia Grosso with her third of the tournament! ?#CanWNT go up 1-0 over Panama in the 2nd half of tonight's Concacaf W Championship match. #CWC | ? https://t.co/7JFAUhgjL6 pic.twitter.com/iGaNmUwvVb

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 9, 2022

The Concacaf W Championship is a crucial competition for the women’s national team, with World Cup and Olympic qualification on the line. Winning games is paramount, and Canada needed a hero to step up in each match to get them over the hurdle. 

In those two matches, the first two group games for Canada, it was Grosso. Hero is a role she’s played before, as it was her penalty in the gold medal match at the Olympics – arguably the biggest moment in the history of the sport in this country – that completed the historic victory.

Grosso was thrust into the limelight, and continues to improve her game as she becomes a star for Canada.

Since making her senior national team debut in 2017 under John Herdman, Grosso had been seen as a promising talent, one of the young players stepping into the women’s national team squad who was showing signs of promise, but was yet to have that breakout moment that sealed herself as a regular starter. 

And that wasn’t because she was inconsistent, or put in poor performances, but because she’s battled for minutes with some of the greatest players in the team’s history in midfield – the likes of Sophie Schmidt, Desiree Scott, and Diana Matheson among them – as well as players from the following generation of national team stars like Quinn and Jessie Fleming. 

Over the past year, however, Grosso has reached new heights. After being in the squad but not featuring at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, Grosso had an increased role for the Olympics under new head coach Bev Priestman – who gave Grosso her national team program debut at the U-15 level back in 2014. 

Grosso started Canada’s second game of Tokyo 2020, a 2-1 win over Chile, and played an hour before being replaced by Quinn. Grosso played well, and for the rest of the tournament came off the bench to replace Quinn in every single match the rest of the way.

The biggest show of faith that Priestman has given Grosso came at halftime of the gold medal match. 

Down 1-0 to Sweden with 45 minutes still to play, Grosso was taken off the bench with Adriana Leon to replace Quinn and Janine Beckie – two of Canada’s most important players in the tournament, but players who had been struggling to have a huge impact in the match.

Grosso came off the bench and was a stable presence in midfield, as Canada tied the game up on a Jessie Fleming penalty and held on in extra time. Those 75 minutes, with Grosso partnering Scott, were intense, but the then-20-year-old was a steady presence. 

Then came the famous penalty shootout. Grosso stepped up to take the sixth shot for Canada and the rest, they say, is history.

CANADA YOU ARE FINALLY GOLDEN ???

JULIA GROSSO SEALS IT FOR CANADA #CANWNT pic.twitter.com/UGzSkr2KCU

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 6, 2021

Grosso also made the jump into the professional game with Juventus in 2022 after an impressive NCAA career with the Texas Longhorns and the aforementioned Olympic gold. Being in a professional environment, and one with high expectations, has helped her improve as a footballer. Playing under a top coach in Joseph Montemurro, Grosso and Juventus won the treble – the Serie A title, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana. 

She’s a player with the ability to thrive on both sides of the ball, but she’s at her best when Canada have the ball and she can be a creative outlet in midfield. She can play a pass with the best of them, usually slotting on the left side of midfield and combining with Canada’s left back and left winger to create a triangular unit, similar to what Jessie Fleming is often tasked with doing on the other side of the pitch.

The tools are there for her to be a regular starter, and she’s played a lot of minutes for the national team over the past few years, but Priestman wants to see her use them more consistently.

After the Trinidad and Tobago game on July 5, the Canada boss challenged her. When a reporter asked what Grosso needs to do to break into the team and become a regular starter, Priestman said “more of what you’ve seen tonight.”

She noted that Grosso needs to consistently show that she can play the way she did in that 30-minute cameo in which she scored a brace. 

“With Julia she’s just got to believe in herself, and join more, and play forward more. That’s exactly what she did tonight, and credit to her,” Priestman added, saying that Grosso needs to “take the handbrake off.”

She didn’t see the pitch in the final group stage match, a 2-0 win over Costa Rica, but has still played well enough to put her in contention to start Thursday’s semifinal against Jamaica.

Some fans have been clamouring for a midfield that consists of Grosso and Jessie Fleming playing in front of Quinn, but Priestman has thus far stuck with the experienced Desiree Scott in that deeper role in this tournament. Fleming has also started all three matches.

One thing is certain, whether or not Grosso starts that semifinal, or the subsequent tournament finale, whether it’s the final or third-place match: she’s one of the next major stars in Canada.

With Scott and Schmidt in the twilight of their national team careers, it’s Grosso’s time to shine. If the last 12 months in particular are anything to go by, Canada has a rising star on their hands who could fill the major hole those two would leave behind, and be a key part of the national team for many years to come.

Welcome to the Julia Grosso show.