Frank Giase - the soccer writer for the Star-Ledger newspaper - provides some insight into the WPS allocations in an article in today's edition. Among the notes of interest are:
- The US Women's National Team players have submitted their preferences for which team they would like to be allocated to in the new league. These preferences will be shared with the teams, which will submit a preference list of their own to WPS. The league will then award three players to each team to complete the process.
- Carli Lloyd shunned New Jersey in her selections for preferred locations choosing to pick just two teams instead of the three allowed to each player. Her top choice was Chicago, followed by Washington DC.
- As a result of Lloyd's picks, Heather O'Reilly and Christie Rampone will almost surely be allocated to Sky Blue since NJ is their top choice.
- The final list of allocations will be revealed on Sept. 16 at a press conference in New York.
While Lloyd's decision to omit New Jersey is a pretty big surprise, Sky Blue can't lose if it gets two out of the three NJ girls. Lloyd may have scored the winning goal in the gold medal game at the Olympics but O'Reilly had a very consistently strong tournament and Rampone was the leader of the US defense that shut down Brazil and made Lloyd's overtime goal possible. Now for Sky Blue's third player ........ let the spectulation begin!
Lloyd's choice to leave NJ surely won't be the only surprise as far as allocations go. As Sky Blue owner Thomas Hofstetter says in the Giase article, there are so many considerations in the process and what may seem obvious to some is not always the case. Besides the player preferences and the team preferences, the league also has to take into account competitive balance and marketing advantages as factors in which players go where. Nevertheless, the excitement is starting to build for WPS fans that can see more and more the reality of the new league as we get closer to kickoff in 2009.
Congratulations goes out to the United States Women's National Team for winning the Gold Medal game. The US did what no one really thought would be possible - shut down the Brazil attack. Even the most optimistic US fans had to think that Brazil would score at least once especially after taking apart Germany in the semifinals but that wasn't the case as excellent team defense and a great game from Hope Solo kept Brazil scoreless.
Speaking of Solo, I'm sure that she learned her lesson last year so you won't hear it from her but I would love to hear a couple "I told you so"s slip out. Looks like she was right - maybe she would have made those saves last year. Her reflex save on Marta was tremendous and she was strong in the air too. Carli Lloyd scored the goal but I would give Solo the MVP for the final.
And for Carli, what a great strike for the Jersey girl. We won't know about USWNT allocations for about a month more but how great would it be to have the Gold Medal hero in a Sky Blue WPS professional uniform. Sky Blue will be playing on the same field that she starred on in college so that would be a great story.
On the other side of the field, for Brazil it's more heartbreak finishing second three tournaments in a row including one World Cup and two Olympics. You have to think that they're really wondering what they need to do to win one of these things. Losses in overtime to the US in 2004 and 2008 and then the loss to Germany with Marta missing the tying PK - so close but yet so far. If it's any satisfaction, they're still the most fun team to watch.
Let's hope that the great Olympics tournament can help WPS as it heads towards its first season. The entire US team will definitely be playing in the league next year while you have to think that most of the Brazil players will be here as well with no suitable alternative in their native country. On top of that Brazil coach Jorge Barcellos has been rumored to be linked to a coaching position with a WPS team so everything you saw on the field today could be a part of WPS in a slightly altered form in 2009.
SKY BLUE SOCCER BLOG EXCLUSIVE!
Rutgers head women's soccer coach Glenn Crooks knows Carli Lloyd about as well as anyone. Lloyd was his star for the four years she played at the university. Below are his thoughts on her stunning success with the US National Team.
The first thing that comes to mind about Carli is that she has become a complete player. She was always outstanding on the attack, but it is no secret that she didn't excel on the defensive side of the ball. She put so much work and energy into the attack-to set up the play, and to score-that consequently, she became better than anyone in the history of the Rutgers program. She broke all the scoring records.
I'm so proud of her. She worked on her own to get incredibly fit, flexible, and strong to become a complete player. Not only is she one of the best attacking players in the world, but she has become such an asset to the team that when I watch, many times I come away thinking she's the best player on the pitch. And that's not just for the USA, but for everyone.
Once Carli made a decision on her path, she worked for it. That includes other areas as well. College academics were a struggle for her, but she studied hard, and got a degree with a good GPA.
I see her smiling. She's blossomed under (coach) Pia (Sundhage), who is to be lauded for that. Carli is not usually an emotional sort; she doesn't speak loudly. She just gets the job done. So I'm very excited to see her personal development. I love to see her smile, and play with freedom.
My family is very invested in Carli. She has babysat for my kids. The first time my wife, Mary, saw her in the National team uniform, she cried. For our personal connection, and of course for the number of years she spent at Rutgers, I have the same feelings you have when you watch almost any player you coach grow up and mature.
In addition to becoming a complete player, when you mix her work ethic with what she brings to the table, you've got one of the best players in the world.
SBS Blogger
Stop the panic attacks already! (that's for the media, not the players). The US got the result they needed with the 1-0 win over Japan. The team played better of course because it would have been pretty hard to get worse than the first game against Norway - the effort was better but there still needs to be improvement if the US wants to win a medal.
A great strike by New Jersey's Carli Lloyd was all the US needed but it could easily been more if not for some weak finishing by Amy Rodriguez. The USC striker got herself into some great positions but three times all she had to do was beat the keeper and couldn't. Her first was a poor chip, the second was rushed too quickly, and the last was from an angle but still missed the goal. Credit her for gettiing the chances but one good finish would've changed the second half of the game completely.
Pia Sundhage should consider giving her team a second scoring option up front because Hucles was mostly ineffective and for the most part invisible in the attack. Why not start Rodriguez and Kai? To me that would be a much bigger handful for the other team.
It was interesting to watch Japan's methodical approach to going forward and it would be nice for the US to learn a little from watching. They weren't that far off from finishing a couple goals and a little more accuracy in the final pass would've been trouble for the US.
On the plus side, I may be biased for the local girl but I think Heather O'Reilly put in a second-straight solid game. She's one of the few that always looks composed with the ball at her feet and her decisions always looked calculated in contrast to some of the other US players that look like they don't figure out what to do with the ball until it's too late.
And thanks to another NJ girl in Tobin Heath for snaking the Japanese defender on the left side after coming in off the bench (even if Brandi Chastain chastised you for trying to meg someone in your own half of the field a little later).
If Norway beats New Zealand as expected then the US is in good shape to advance to the knockout stage although they better have things sorted out by then or it could be an early exit at that point.
In case you haven’t seen the US vs. Norway game, I wanted to point out that in the second half of the game, the US lineup had FOUR girls from New Jersey on the field (Christie Rampone, Carli Lloyd, Heather O’Reilly and Tobin Heath). It was especially great to see Tobin, who is one of the youngsters and who played for Sky Blue in our inaugural season last year.
We shouldn’t take it for granted to see four NJ girls in the lineup. I think this is evidence of the long and hard work of our youth program in NJ. With roughly 180,000 registered youth soccer players in NJ, we have one of the biggest youth player pools in the country. Over the past 10 years, the development of youth players in clubs across the state improved drastically and the dedicated ODP program goes hand-in-hand with the clubs. I want to send a big THANK YOU to all the coaches in the NJ youth development program to the ODP program and to all the dedicated parents and managers that make it happen every week.
Our new professional league will be another important stepping stone in the development of soccer in the US. The Norway team showed what impact a league can have on a country’s national team. All of the Norwegian players play in European leagues where they are exposed to different styles, different coaches and different philosophies. Furthermore, they are playing meaningful, competitive matches in their leagues on a weekly basis. I think this is evidence for how important the new WPS league is for the future of United States women's soccer.
My gracious bosses at Sky Blue let me take this week to coach at the JFSLA, and how much I have to thank them!! I've been receiving the text messages from Kristin in Ops about our wins this weekend, but I haven't had much time for anything else. So far the craziest moment was being introduced as part of the staff with the likes of Julie Foudy, Cindy Parlow, Kim Pickup, and Jamie Paguilaro. When did I get into THAT group?? But I represented Sky Blue well, and have been spreading the word among staff who peppered me with questions about WPS during lunch. You can already tell where Ian Sawyers has cut his management skills, as he leads our camp during our soccer training, and in camp in general. I'm certainly proud to say he's the Sky Blue GM and head pro coach! The Sky Blue W-league team is coming by before their Wildcats game to do some team building with us. I have the youngest group of campers, so they are hyped to see these players, as they were last night when Carli Lloyd stopped by. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention future Olympian (It's official!!) and NJ native Lloyd stopped by last night to give the kids some inspiring words. She certainly has a bright future ahead of her! Anyway, I'm off to more soccer training then team building, then leadership skills development, then..... I'm loving every second, and its certainly inspired me to see why it's so important give these girls the strong, positive role models that will be, and are, the Sky Blue players. CHOOSE TO MATTER!!!!!
Peace,Natalie PS. ENGLAND!! OI OI OI (My team for the week)
In a move "back home," the Medford Strikers soccer club has announced that WNT player Carli Lloyd will come back to her home club team to help coach. You can read all about it on the Medford Strikers website. In the meantime, we wonder if Carli hopes to play pro in '09 in her other "home"-- Rutgers stadium, where she played her college games.
SBS Blogger
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