Tag: nwsl

soccer

NWSL stars: Home sweet home

Posted on by Beau Dure
Courtesy of Boston Breakers
Heather O’Reilly will spend less time in traffic than you will, unless you telecommute. (Photo courtesy of Boston Breakers)

A common theme running through the NWSL conference calls that stacked up Monday afternoon: Players are happy to be home.

Not just in the sense that they could easily be playing overseas or spending a lot of time in U.S. residency camp if no domestic league existed. For the national team players who chatted Monday, they’re thrilled to be playing close to their families.

But the three stories are a little different …

In the greater Washington-ish area, Northern Virginia’s Ali Krieger is thrilled to be playing close to home after spending a few years in Germany. (She did come back to the WPS Washington Freedom for a brief loan spell.) Even better, she’s healthy again, proclaiming herself at 100% after tearing the ACL and MCL in her right knee early last year.

In Boston, Heather O’Reilly admits she’ll miss New Jersey, where she grew up and later played for Sky Blue, but she enjoyed training with and playing a couple of games for the Breakers in her new hometown last summer. Her husband is a Harvard man, and she says the practice facility is almost literally across the street from her home.

In Rochester and Buffalo, Abby Wambach is going home, but it wasn’t a no-brainer. She confirmed that she bought a house in Portland and is in mid-remodel. She also admits the attention in Rochester can be overwhelming, and that partially explains why she’ll live in Buffalo.

“Fans will be fans. They’ll interrupt you in the middle of dinner. For the most part, it’s so sweet. I’m an extrovert. But … the privacy factor was a concern. The buffer between Rochester and Buffalo will help.”

But she’s happy to see her extended family, saying she wants to see nieces and other relatives through the season.

So can the Flash crash at her Portland place when they visit the Thorns?

In any case, all three players are happier than Megan Rapinoe, who isn’t unduly upset about her allocation but tells Grant Wahl she’s a little surprised to be in Seattle instead of Portland. (You’d think Portland and Seattle would simply swap Rapinoe for Morgan, which would be a more equitable distribution of forwards. And the talk last summer was that Morgan had some Seattle ties, but I’m not up on such things.)

Other bits of news from the Monday calls:

– The Washington Spirit haven’t worked out details on when and how they’ll get goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris from German club Duisburg, but they don’t seem concerned that she’ll miss much time.

– Wambach says friends from other national teams have asked her for contact info for coaches and personnel people through NWSL. She joked that she’s only putting them in touch with her coach with the Flash, Aaran Lines.

– Why did every USWNT Olympic player, including those thought to be retiring (looking at you, Heather Mitts) or perhaps indifferent, put their names on the allocation list? Why go through the grind of a league, facing the possibility of a new U.S. coach cleaning house or accumulated wear and tear proving too much to overcome, rather than go out on top? Here’s a great answer from Wambach:

“The minute you win something, it inspires you to want to do it again because all your hard work has paid off.”

On that note, the U.S. national team is in camp Feb. 2. The new cycle begins …

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soccer

NWSL allocation questions and answers

Posted on by Beau Dure

You’ve seen the list. I’ve heard the conference call. So what can we say at this point?

Q: Is Portland the overwhelming favorite?

A: We still have a lot of roster moves to go, but after the Thorns landed Alex Morgan AND Christine Sinclair, the league certainly doesn’t owe them any favors.

Seattle looks great, too. Hope Solo and Megan Rapinoe? And Teresa Noyola? And Kaylyn Kyle?

We heard the Northwest teams might be stacked, and the whispers were right.

Was Washington ripped off?

Don’t forget how great a defender Ali Krieger has been when healthy. Diana Matheson and Lori Lindsey are a good start in midfield. Ashlyn Harris was a terrific keeper in WPS. But they do indeed need a scorer.

Was Sky Blue ripped off?

Jill Loyden may be the second-best keeper in the allocation, so that’s a good start. One question is whether Christie Rampone can keep turning back time — it’s easier for an older player to put together one good three-week spurt than it is to play a whole season. (That’s one reason I’m a little concerned about the Chicago Red Stars, which unofficially lead the league in WUSA veterans with Shannon Boxx and Maribel Dominguez.) It’ll be interesting to see whether Kelley O’Hara plays left back or midfield. Sophie Schmidt’s solid.

Will Western NY be compensated for getting only two U.S. allocations?

They could easily end up over-compensated. In the conference call, we heard two possibilities: They could end up getting an early draft pick as compensation, or U.S. Soccer may eventually find a 24th player to fill its league-wide allocations. Suppose they get a top draft pick AND a U.S. pool player who decides to come home from Europe?

Which team got the least from a marketing standpoint?

Kansas City. We hard-core fans have a lot of respect for Lauren Cheney, Becky Sauerbrunn and Nicole Barnhart, and Canadian Lauren Sesselmann has her fans. But they’re not big names, and aside from Sauerbrunn’s St. Louis ties, I don’t know of an obvious tie between the players and the community. (Please chime in if I’ve overlooked something.) Washington’s players may also be low-profile, but Ali Krieger grew up in Northern Virginia, and Lori Lindsey is a Washington Freedom alumna.

Are we all making too big a deal out of allocations and forgetting how much will change with free agency and the draft?

Hmm … let’s ponder the history of MLS and the two women’s leagues that … YES! Yes, we are.

Look — a couple of the allocated players are currently in the player pool but have barely been in camps, much less games. Are they really a full tier above Leslie Osborne, Lori Chalupny, Tasha Kai or other U.S. veterans who simply weren’t in Pia Sundhage’s plans?

Also, consider this: New leagues always yield breakout stars. Looking back at the WUSA, would you rather have had Shannon Boxx on your team or some of the original national teamers?

So it’s a fun time to talk about the rosters. Way too early to freak out over them.

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soccer

The awesome NWSL allocation list: Same as it ever was

Posted on by Beau Dure

Hope Solo is indeed on the list to play in the National Women’s Soccer League, likely ending (at least for now) any speculation that she may choose another path. So is Heather Mitts, all indications of retirement to the contrary.

That’s really the only news out of the U.S. section of the NWSL allocation list, which looks almost exactly like the list of players who played for the U.S. national team in 2012.

From that 2012 stats page, subtract one: Stephanie Cox, who’s pregnant. Add Ashlyn Harris and Keelin Winters, who are also in the official U.S. Soccer site’s player pool.

That player pool only has 29 players. Twenty-three will be allocated. Cox is pregnant. Jeff Kassouf reports that Meghan Klingenberg is staying in Sweden for now. Yael Averbuch also is staying there. Whitney Engen is in England. That leaves the two Class of 2012 players who’ll surely be high on the draft board next week — Kristie Mewis and Christine Nairn, who has already graduated from Penn State.

Not officially listed in the player pool but certainly under national team consideration is Christen Press. She’s … staying in Sweden.

So if there are no surprises, it’s only because the player pool is so small. And it includes everyone who played for the USWNT in 2011 and 2012 except Lindsay Tarpley and Brittany Taylor. Even if you go back to 2010, you only add six names: Sarah Huffman, Casey Nogueira, Meghan Schnur, Cat Whitehill, the retired Kate Markgraf and the really retired Kristine Lilly.

And that small player pool is the reason the USWNT needs a domestic league. You don’t want to be two injuries away from calling in people who aren’t playing at an elite level.

 

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soccer

Women’s soccer league: Now for something completely different

Posted on by Beau Dure

“Third time’s a charm?” doesn’t really fit the new women’s soccer league announced today. The League with No Name is too drastically different from the overly ambitious WUSA and its scaled-down successor, WPS.

This league revs up the cost containment of WPS, particularly the latter years. But it’s also a unique venture of three national federations, eight ownership groups and, apparently, Unnamed Sponsor Who Is Making The MLS-Affiliated Teams Use Non-MLS Names. (See Stumptown Footy’s deduction and D.C. United Women’s colorful statement.)

So don’t accuse this new league of trying the same thing and expecting different results. Whether it works or not, it’s a unique approach.

A few statements and news bits from around the new league:

– Portland: This MLSSoccer.com piece hails the Timbers involvement and other MLS ties with the new league, though it curiously omits D.C. United. (Granted, D.C. United’s involvement seems significantly smaller than the Timbers’ commitment, but they’re not totally out of the game.)

Timbers owner Merritt Paulson has a statement with a link for season-ticket sales.

– Seattle: The Sounders Women sound gracious after being passed up for the new league in favor of the other Seattle group, whose leader Bill Predmore spoke with The Seattle Times‘ Joshua Mayers.

And Tina Ellertson (who has obtained her coaching “A” license) is excited.

– Kansas City: Welcome to FC Kansas City, which has made its appearance known through the Missouri Comets (MISL) site. If you thought the Sporting KC ownership group skewed young, meet Brian Budzinski.

– Western New York: No statement yet on the Flash site, though they mentioned the announcement on Twitter.

– Chicago: A little more activity on Twitter; no full statement on the Red Stars site.

– Boston: Breakers managing partner Mike Stoller was on the conference call, and the site has a statement with stadium and ticket info.

– D.C.: See above. The team will remain at the Maryland SoccerPlex.

– New Jersey: Hello? Sky Blue?

Outside the league, there’s a bit of bitterness in Los Angeles.

There’s a more conciliatory tone from the USL. W-League senior director Amanda Duffy passed along the following statement:

USL and the W-League are supportive of U.S. Soccer and the new women’s professional league announced earlier today, consistent with how we’ve supported the previous women’s professional leagues of WUSA and WPS.

We’re pleased with the foundation we’ve established through the W-League in the United States and Canada as leaders in women’s soccer and continue to be focused on the quality growth of the league and its teams. Collectively we made substantial strides in 2012 and with several exciting discussions we’ve been having over the past 6-12 months we are pleased with our overall positive direction as we enter our 19th season of operation. We look forward to sharing more over the next 15-30 days.

Not enough? Read U.S. Soccer’s quote sheet.

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soccer

New women’s soccer league: Questions and evolving answers

Posted on by Beau Dure

Posting this before the 1 p.m. ET conference call about the new league. Will update throughout. (Beforehand, I’m putting “likely” if I think it’ll be answered; “unlikely” if I think it won’t be, etc.)

Post-conference update: Answers in bold.

The basics from the call:

Eight teams: Boston, New Jersey, Western New York, D.C., Chicago, Kansas City, Seattle, Portland

U.S. Soccer will run front office and fund up to 24 players. Canada will fund up 16. Mexico will fund up to 12.

————————————————————

ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: What’s the name of the new league?

Predicted likelihood of answer (PLOA): Likely

(Actual – Jack Bell question): No answer yet. 

Q: Does the new league have sponsors? A TV deal?

PLOA: Somewhat likely for sponsors; less likely for TV.

(Actual – my question): Handshake agreement on sponsor; preliminary talks with TV partner.

Q: A team in Kansas City, one that isn’t affiliated with the energetic and effective Sporting KC ownership, and not one in L.A.? What, you guys all have frequent-flier miles on Southwest? Any response to Charlie Naimo’s statement on L.A. being excluded?

PLOA: Sunil will probably decline to answer that.

(Actual: Michael Lewis question SPECIFICALLY on L.A.): “Doubt it” was pretty much right. Gulati joked that he feels like NFL commissioner Roger Goodell having to answer why there’s no team in L.A.

(Actual: Scott French question on L.A.): There was interest from L.A. but they’re not in first group.

Q: Terry Foley tweeted that his group had everything lined up but wasn’t picked. Any response?PLOA: Likely a polite, non-committal one.

(Actual: Michael Lewis question NOT SPECIFICALLY on Foley or L.A.): They had independent financial reviews and other criteria.

Q: Why no Canadian team?

(Actual: Neil Davidson question): Having a full national teams would skew the competition. Canadian cities could be involved down the road but not yet. (Answer from CSA president)

Q: How committed is U.S. Soccer to this league?PLOA: It’ll be answered; not quite sure how.

(Actual: Bell and Jeff Carlisle questions): Funding the players and front office.

Q: How many U.S. national team players will be under contract with the federation and the league?

PLOA: Should get a ballpark answer at least.

(Actual: opening statements): Up to 24.

Q: Will other players be fully professional?

(Actual: Carlisle question): Some may have other jobs or grad school. Mike Stoller, the Boston Breakers partner representing the eight ownership groups, said they will have a professional environment.

Q: Is this a multiyear commitment?

(Actual: Jeff DiVeronica question): We’re not asking people to put three years of operating expenses in escrow or anything, but it’s a multiyear commitment.

Q: What made Portland interesting?

(Actual: Oregonian question): Timbers fan base, investors led by Paulson family.

Q: Uhhh … Seattle Sounders?

PLOA: Very diplomatic answer.

 (Actual: Oregonian question): There will be a team from Seattle. (Didn’t specify which ownership group, but Sounders have said they’ll be in W-League, so …)

Q: At one point, it appeared that the USL would be heavily involved in the operations. Why did that change?

PLOA: Unlikely.

(Actual: Jeff Kassouf question): Some former USL teams involved. Sunil thanks USL staff.

Q: How much collaboration with MLS?

(Actual: Jonathan Tannenwald question): Soccer United Marketing, Soccer United Marketing, Don Garber, Soccer United Marketing, Dan Flynn, Soccer United Marketing.

Q: Salary cap?

(Actual: Kyle McCarthy question): “Certainly some guidelines.” Mentioned loose caps (or exceptions) from MLS and NBA.

——————

UNASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Hope Solo?

A: Next question.

Q: Hi, I haven’t read anything about women’s soccer in the last eight years. I was just wondering if Mia Hamm would be involved.

A: Mia is a wonderful ambassador for the game, etc., etc., what are you doing on this call?

Q: Mexico is involved. So will we have a team in Cancun?

A: No. Just players, no teams.

Q: Please?

A: No.

Q: Is Dan Borislow involved?

A: No. (I exchanged email with him. He’s skeptical of the league’s chance for success.)

—————

ALSO ON THE NEW LEAGUE

Dan Borislow says he owns the Freedom name, and it would be an issue if other people started to use it.

Peter Wilt, who helped launch the Chicago Red Stars and put forth a proposed new business plan in December, had this to say: “More reasonable budgets mitigate the risk and provide a sensible baseline to build on. Federations subsidizing national team player compensation is a creative way to help keep expenses down and quality of play up. Across the board cost reductions will need to be implemented (relative to WPS costs) to reach the new budget targets however. While this new business model doesn’t assure breaking even, it does lessen the chances of losing significant sums and makes the business proposition more attractive, which should attract more investors in the future.”

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soccer

Essential women’s soccer updates

Posted on by Beau Dure

Too many important reads today to leave it all on Twitter:

1. Charles Boehm puts the timeline of a new league announcement at or before Dec. 1.

2. What’s taking so long? Andy Crossley investigates and comes up with most of the answers.

3. Jerramy Stevens is out of court, but police are still investigating his incident with fiancee Hope Solo, Kelly Whiteside reports.

To put the Solo timeline in perspective, check the bonus chapter from her book, released online. Adrian, the man who had been with her through a lot of difficult times, was still with her family when the U.S. won gold in August. What has happened in the last three months? I have no idea, and I’m not speculating.

The soccer-related question is this: Is Solo going to play in the new league?

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soccer

Women’s soccer trending upward or going in circles?

Posted on by Beau Dure

Interesting quote in this espnW report on the USA-Germany game:

The new coach, (Abby) Wambach told reporters this week, will have to be someone who “can put all the X’s and O’s together but who can also treat this more like a business. Gone are the days when the players aren’t recognized. We’re selling out stadiums.”

Rewind to two years ago, when I had one of many good conversations with the ever-thoughtful Wambach at the Maryland SoccerPlex:

“It feels like I’m doing something wrong,” says Washington Freedom forward Abby Wambach. “It feels like I’m failing at my job. I wanted to be part of the thing that kept it going. Now it feels like we have taken a step back at some level.”

So here’s the question*: What’s “normal” for women’s soccer? Selling out stadiums and being recognized? Toiling in obscurity at the SoccerPlex with a few empty seats in the bleachers? Or something in between?

Let’s rewind further to the WUSA (2001-2003). The typical post-mortem of that league is that expectations were wildly inflated after the 1999 Women’s World Cup, when the players were recognized and were selling out stadiums. The league leaned heavily on those stars.

Women’s soccer stars have shown staying power. Brandi Chastain still draws enthusiastic fans everywhere (Twitter exceptions duly noted). Julie Foudy is still an authority on leadership. Mia Hamm draws squeals from fans who were maybe 3 or 4 in 1999.

But how much can the “business” of women’s soccer depend on players being recognized? When Wambach, Solo, Rampone and company are gone in 1-5 years, will enough stars emerge alongside Alex Morgan?

Women’s soccer has gone from obscurity through a boom, bust and boom cycle. Will this boom last? Or are up-and-down cycles inevitable?

That’s what Sunil Gulati, U.S. Soccer business planners and a few team owners are surely trying to quantify right now.

* – You could also argue that the question is what the U.S. women’s coach has to do with running things “like a business.” Isn’t the new coach’s job to evaluate the whole talent pool and get the best players on the field in the best spots? Shouldn’t other people be worrying about the “business”? A conspiracy theorist would say a “business” would mean leaving the same core players on the field ad infinitum while they’re being “recognized,” but I don’t think that’s what Wambach meant. 

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soccer

Women’s soccer league reaching critical mass?

Posted on by Beau Dure

Major league baseball is in trouble … in Florida.

Major League Soccer is in trouble … in the sense that Chivas USA might move at some point.

When you’re worrying about individual teams instead of a league, you’re at a stage women’s soccer has yet to reach in this country.

So when Sunil Gulati says they’re looking at 11 possible owners in 10 possible markets, that could mean this league is operating with more margin of error than leagues in the past. (Jeff Kassouf looks at the geography; Jeff DiVeronica confirms Western New York as one of the interested parties.) The WUSA had eight teams. WPS struggled to reach that total and was scraping for owners in its last couple of seasons.

That could be a preliminary number, of course. Perhaps, like so many WPS expansion candidates, some of these owners will be ephemeral. Or maybe the optimists will win out here, and the new business plan is winning over prospective owners.

The business plan is surely as reasonable as it’s going to get, particularly with U.S. Soccer backing this league more explicitly than it has in the past.

 

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soccer

Women’s soccer league officially getting more official

Posted on by Beau Dure
Hi, I’m Alex Morgan. I played professional soccer for the Western New York Flash. (Photo: Andy Mead/YCJ)

U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati talked with a few reporters yesterday (I had a conflict that involved cat-herding, I mean, youth soccer coaching) about the progress toward a new women’s soccer league.

The important takeaway wasn’t what was said. It was who said it.

If you read my last post on the matter, you know that there was some chatter suggesting that this new women’s soccer league was some sort of pipe dream of people who weren’t involved with U.S. Soccer. Gulati’s conference call made it clear: U.S. Soccer is at the table with the interested parties, with the most recent meeting taking place a few hours before the conference call. (That meeting did not include Dan Borislow or the WPSL, Jeff Kassouf reports. More about the WPSL shortly, but I’m not turning this post into another Borislow discussion thread.)

So what happened at the meeting, or what can we say so far? Let’s check Gulati’s comments: “quite positive,” “preliminary discussion with the National Team players,” “still being worked on” … in other words, nothing concrete.

But from U.S. Soccer’s perspective, things are changing. Support for a domestic women’s league has always seemed tepid. Now, Charles Boehm writes:

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, U.S. Soccer officials have concluded that the medium and long-term interests of the women’s program are best served by carefully fostering a pro or semipro league rather than maintaining a costly, and perhaps counterproductive, residency program for the core of the national team. Soccer Wire understands this to involve U.S. Soccer underwriting some or all of the cost of substantial salaries for established national teamers.

That’s not to say the new league suddenly has everyone following the same agenda. The WPSL, which tossed together an Elite League last year to include four pro teams (three formerly in WPS) and some of its top amateur sides, is still moving forward. The WPSL’s comment:

The WPSL Elite is still expanding for the upcoming 2012/13 season and expect a great season.

But the WPSL isn’t showing any outright hostility. Meanwhile, the USL is happy to move forward on multiple fronts.

USL continues to actively support the Federation’s leadership in the establishment of a viable women’s professional soccer league.  Simultaneously, we remain focused on strengthening the W-League for the 2013 season which was the home to many of the continent’s top players in 2012.

Maybe it’s impossible to make everyone happy in the women’s soccer turf wars. A better word might be “content.”

The skeptics are out on Twitter, with former Sky Blue GM Gerry Marrone asking this:

Then from the other end of the spectrum:

To which the Boston Breakers’ Lisa Cole replied:

The “better than nothing” argument (or, technically, the “better than the leagues that use college players and have to wrap up in July” argument) is hard to refute. Other leagues around the world have built on years of relative stability. Now they have enough cash to throw at U.S. players to lure them overseas. Lesson to be learned?

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soccer

New women’s soccer league: Must be some misunderstanding

Posted on by Beau Dure
Going pro at the Soccerplex again?

While the USA’s post-Olympic tour rolls on, a quiet effort to rebuild pro soccer in this country is still in progress. It’s hard to gauge how well that effort is going because much of it is going on in private. Meanwhile, the public information is either dispiriting or tawdry, depending on your point of view.

By now, many women’s soccer fans have read the Shaun Assael/Peter Keating/Lizzie Haldane story on magicJack in ESPN magazine’s “franchise issue.”  The story, with the clever headline “MAGICTRICK,” is not yet available online. You won’t find a bunch of former (current?) magicJack players publicly breaking their silence about their team’s wild year in WPS, but you will find more magicJack-related comments from both named and anonymous sources than we’ve seen in one place before. The story is reported and written very well.

In case you’ve missed it, here are a few highlights:

– More tales of Dan Borislow’s lavish spending on magicJack and then on the national team in London.

– A few more stories of Borislow’s behavior with the team, including rather personal questions about players’ sexuality. Borislow’s defenders would point out that the accounts are anonymously sourced.

– More accounts, both anonymous and directly quoted, suggesting Borislow takes a “my way or the highway” approach to many of his business and personal pursuits.

Those parts are mostly about Borislow the person. Like Hope Solo, he’s talented, driven and controversial. Whatever you think of him, you’d have to concede that he could write a lively memoir.

Then we get to the parts that are of greater interest as we roll forward with women’s soccer:

– The story depicts a large rift between the players in Borislow’s good graces (mostly, but not all, current national team players) and those who weren’t. An anonymous player says some teammates bragged about the big bucks they made for a couple of minutes of work on an ad campaign. Another anonymous source says original head coach Mike Lyons was fired within a few minutes of Abby Wambach complaining about him. Non-magicJack player Cat Whitehill, quoted by name, says she thinks Wambach and company likely didn’t want to see teammates mistreated but could’ve been more vocal about it. (Disclaimer: We don’t know what, if anything, the national team players said privately to Borislow about the issues.)

– Several top players are still on the magicJack payroll, and Borislow says he’s looking into some sort of team. No further description given.

– A telling direct quote from Borislow: “We should not have a pro league in this country unless they get paid real wages.”

That leads us to the as-yet-unnamed new league that was announced hours before the Olympic final. And this league has detractors beyond Borislow.

Not much has been said in public about this league. But several things said in private are worrisome. Or flat-out wrong.

Two things in the “wrong” category:

1. The new league will not be professional. It will be. The whole point is to get out of the W-League and WPSL restrictions (necessitated by the NCAA) on paying players and playing beyond late July. The new league’s backers intend to be professional. Moving to the new league would not be, as someone told me, a lateral move from the W-League.

2. U.S. Soccer is/was out of the loop. Nope. U.S. Soccer even knew the press release was going out at an unusual hour. (To be clear: It wasn’t U.S. Soccer’s decision to announce the league just then. But the federation was consulted, and it has been working with the new league’s backers.)

I’ve been told otherwise by people who have firm professional positions in women’s soccer. That leads to a question: Why? Why are they telling me something wrong? Is that what they heard? From whom?

Perhaps we shouldn’t be using a Genesis song for the headline here. Let’s try Led Zeppelin.

Communication breakdown … it’s always the same …

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