USWNT - World Cup > Olympics

[SoxFanInCali]

I guess it's time to have a thread where we can talk about the USWNT as they start their World Cup Victory Tour and continue towards next year's Olympics in Rio.
 
The victory tour starts today with a game against Costa Rica in Pittsburgh. While it's a good chance for the players and fans to celebrate the World Cup win, it also shows the relative importance of the national team vs. the NWSL. The playoff race is heating up, yet many of the best/most recognizable players in the league will miss games to play on the tour.
 
Today's starters: Harris; Krieger, Johnston, Rampone (c), Klingenberg; O'Reilly, Boxx, Lloyd, Rapinoe; Press, Rodriguez.
 
And Heather O'Reilly scores already in the 4th minute.
 

 

[Titans Bastard]

I guess it's time to have a thread where we can talk about the USWNT as they start their World Cup Victory Tour and continue towards next year's Olympics in Rio.
 
The victory tour starts today with a game against Costa Rica in Pittsburgh. While it's a good chance for the players and fans to celebrate the World Cup win, it also shows the relative importance of the national team vs. the NWSL. The playoff race is heating up, yet many of the best/most recognizable players in the league will miss games to play on the tour.
 
Today's starters: Harris; Krieger, Johnston, Rampone (c), Klingenberg; O'Reilly, Boxx, Lloyd, Rapinoe; Press, Rodriguez.
 
And Heather O'Reilly scores already in the 4th minute.
 

 
 
There doesn't seem to be much of an effort to leverage the popularity of the WWC to promote the NWSL.  Long-term, doing everything to help the NWSL become stable should be far more important than a cash-grab victory tour.
 
That O'Reilly goal was a real nightmare for Costa Rica.  That goalkeeping!
 
https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/632978339800616960

 

[Cellar-Door]

 
 
There doesn't seem to be much of an effort to leverage the popularity of the WWC to promote the NWSL.  Long-term, doing everything to help the NWSL become stable should be far more important than a cash-grab victory tour.
 
That O'Reilly goal was a real nightmare for Costa Rica.  That goalkeeping!
 
https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/632978339800616960

Drawing attention to women's soccer is the most important thing long term.
That and money. Since the NWSL is years, maybe decades away from being economically viable without the USSF funnelling cash into it, I don't begrudge USSF for deciding to pull players out to make money on the victory tour. Especially since NWSL is probably going to fold like the last 5 women's leagues. It isn't well set up, locations of teams are kind of bizaare, they mostly play in terrible venues on bad turf, and the only reason top players will go there is if federations pay them to.
NWSL isn't particularly important to women's soccer in the US, if there is more demand either NWSL will be rebuilt, or a new league will come along.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Yeah, the keeper not only mis-played that first goal, but shortly afterwards let a ball that was clearly going wide go off her hand to give away a needless corner.
 
Press puts in a nice shot off the rebound of her own blocked shot. The keeper looked a bit flat-footed on that one as well.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Now Johnston heads in a corner while completely unmarked at the near post. 3-0 in the 27th.
 
And Rapinoe has a chance to make it 4 immediately but heads over. This entire game has been in the final 3rd for the US.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Press scores again from a Boxx header off a corner. 4-0 at the half. Costa Rica is terrible.
 
I just saw Ashlyn Harris walking off the field towards the locker room, that's the first time I've seen her since the pregame introductions.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Drawing attention to women's soccer is the most important thing long term.
That and money. Since the NWSL is years, maybe decades away from being economically viable without the USSF funnelling cash into it, I don't begrudge USSF for deciding to pull players out to make money on the victory tour. Especially since NWSL is probably going to fold like the last 5 women's leagues. It isn't well set up, locations of teams are kind of bizaare, they mostly play in terrible venues on bad turf, and the only reason top players will go there is if federations pay them to.
NWSL isn't particularly important to women's soccer in the US, if there is more demand either NWSL will be rebuilt, or a new league will come along.

 
It's not just pulling players out, it's the complete lack of cross-promotion / marketing.  It's a wasted opportunity.  It's hard to expect demand for the NWSL or a league like it if it's rarely promoted when the USWNT comes around and when USWNT players hardly ever play in it.
 
If the federation just shrugs its shoulders because the women's league faces a lot of challenges, the NWSL or any successor leagues will never get off the ground.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

The Victory Tour continues tonight in Detroit, with Haiti serving as the cannon fodder opponent.
 
In addition to the 23 members of the World Cup team, Crystal Dunn is on the roster, as Ellis needs to start thinking about the team that will play in the CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers in February.

 

[DJnVa]

And Dunn had a goal and 2 assists in the 5-0 win.

 

[Rancho Relaxo]

Speaking of the NWSL, the NWSL championship game is tonight. Not having cable, I find myself in a viewing quandary. Any suggestions for watching online? I'd thought the FOXSoccer2Go app would help, but nope, not there. I guess it's on a different app (FoxSportsGO?), which I don't have. I find it a bit annoying, having paid for the other app but not getting access to all of Fox's soccer coverage, but I digress...
 
I was hoping to watch this with my daughter (we live in KC, and she follows a few of the players closely), but I might have to wait for the replay. Or go to a bar, I suppose.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

I flipped over a few times between Scobee FG misses.
 
KC wins it 1-0 on an Amy Rodriguez goal. Seattle has dominated the regular season the last 2 seasons, but lost the final to KC both times. Lauren Holiday goes out a champ, she will be retiring after the USWNT Victory Tour wraps up.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Hope Solo's domestic violence charges have been reinstated.
 
The NWSL season is over, but that will cast a dark cloud over the rest of the victory tour.

 

[Schnerres]

Do Americans still support her, when she plays for her country?
 
(Pretending she´ll play in some matches, what do you say..Feel free to open a new Hope Solo thread, if this is too much for this thread.)

 

[Zomp]

I begrudgingly cheer for her, yes.

 

[soxfan121]

Do Americans still support her, when she plays for her country?
 
(Pretending she´ll play in some matches, what do you say..Feel free to open a new Hope Solo thread, if this is too much for this thread.)

 
I had a hard time with it during the WC. She's undeniably talented on the field; she's a disaster off of it. I'd have preferred is US Soccer had left her off the team, but understand why they didn't. 

I'll be less forgiving if she isn't left off this "victory tour" because, frankly, there's nothing at stake. And hopefully, in her absence, someone else emerges as a capable #1 and Solo can be left behind for good. 

 

[SoxFanInCali]

The USWNT finally played a good team during their victory tour last week. Brazil nearly ended their 100-match home unbeaten streak before a late Carli Lloyd goal salvaged a 1-1 draw on Wednesday in Seattle. They followed it up with a 3-1 win against the same opponent yesterday in Orlando.
 
The post-World Cup transition has begun, as Shannon Boxx played her last game for the team on Wednesday, and Lauren Holiday and Lori Chalupny finished their careers Sunday. In addition to Crystal Dunn, who was brought in a few games ago, several other players have been added to the team. Forward Stephanie McCaffrey got her first cap on Sunday and scored the final goal in 2nd half stoppage time.
 
With Holiday leaving the team, it leaves a hole in the center of midfield, so Ellis will likely spend the next few games trying different players and formations out. Morgan Brian is pretty established in the team now, but if they want to keep playing 4-5-1 with Lloyd playing in more of a free/attacking role, they will need someone with good distribution skills to partner with Brian. The last 4 games of the tour are in December, with CONCACAF Olympic qualifying taking place in February. Only the 2 finalists will qualify for Rio.

 

[Ale Xander]

Thank you for making me aware of steph's callup to the wnt. Go eagles, great thing for the program going forward (pun not intended)
Go knights too

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Abby Wambach announced her retirement. Her last game will be December 16th against China.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Megan Rapinoe tore her ACL today, making it entirely possible that she'll miss the Olympics in August.

 

[DLew On Roids]

Today's match against T&T at Aloha Stadium has been canceled due to a dangerous artificial pitch. Which is really quite surprising, because no one has ever seen a football game played by Hawaii, a Pro Bowl, or a college bowl game on television.

Someone at the USSF needs to be fired for this. Aloha Stadium has had a terrible surface forever. This was entirely foreseeable.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

It's been pretty ridiculous on this tour. Are there really no grass fields they can play on?

 

[soxfan121]

USSF would never allow (or authorize) 8 of 10 men's games being played on turf. What is this bullshit, Sunil?

 

[SoxFanInCali]

An era comes to an end tonight, as Abby Wambach plays her last game.

She was obviously past her prime in the last World Cup, but prior to that she led the team in goals in every major tournament she played in. She's been the face of US Women's Soccer since Mia Hamm retired, and is right up there with Hamm as having done the most to increase the popularity of the sport. She goes out as a 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist and a World Cup Champion.

Oh, and she's scored the most international goals in history, including a few pretty dramatic ones.

 

[soxfan121]

Wambach - in her prime - was huge, fast, and wicked smart. The perfect target forward. She was also had a great compete level and effort. I will miss watching her play.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

It appears that Wambach deleted her social media accounts. Her last tweet was "Make them forget me".

She did Bill Simmons' podcast, and is making some headlines by criticizing Klinsmann for focusing too much on bringing in foreign players and not enough on developing youth players here.

 

[luckysox]

Man, I loved Mia Hamm. She was the best when I was an impressionable, young student athlete, and I thought she was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I loved Abby more. I'm really, really going to miss her on this team, and as an outspoken female athlete with as much clout as almost any other female athlete. And Goddamn, I will never, ever get sick of watching that header in 2011 vs. Brazil.

 

[luckysox]

Let me add, the Superdome turf is playing like actual concrete. Completely disgraceful.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

The US is unbeaten on American soil since 2004. The start of the streak was the last game Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy played in. They are about 5 minutes from losing in the last game Abby Wambach plays in.

 

[Cellar-Door]

It appears that Wambach deleted her social media accounts. Her last tweet was "Make them forget me".

She did Bill Simmons' podcast, and is making some headlines by criticizing Klinsmann for focusing too much on bringing in foreign players and not enough on developing youth players here.

Yeah I thought it was dumb. She comes at soccer from the perspective of someone who is involved in Women's soccer, Men's soccer in the US could never work under the model women use for various reasons. I think there are many reasons to criticize Jurgen, but that he has brought in foreign based citizens who are usually better than the domestic players isn;t one of them.

 

[Titans Bastard]

It appears that Wambach deleted her social media accounts. Her last tweet was "Make them forget me".

She did Bill Simmons' podcast, and is making some headlines by criticizing Klinsmann for focusing too much on bringing in foreign players and not enough on developing youth players here.

It now appears that "make them forget me" is some sort of promotion that she's doing for Gatorade.

I saw that she criticized the USMNT (by which I assume she really meant Klinsmann) of having "too many egos". While I don't entirely disagree, that's pretty rich coming from Wambach.


What a player, though.

 

[Jeff Van GULLY]

I'm part of the leadership of the American Outlaws chapter in New Orleans and the past few days have been a whirlwind for us. Really, the past month-and-a-half has been a lot in terms of planning, preparation and logistics. I have a great appreciation for what each host AO chapter does when the women or men have a match in their city.

Just as an example, this was the first match since the World Cup that the supporters section sold out for a women's match. US Soccer wasn't prepared for this and so they hadn't reserved an additional section adjacent to the first AO section. They wound up opening another section across the field from the first one, so in terms of chants and the tifo, it made it much more difficult to plan.

The atmosphere was electric as this was only the second time a national team has come to New Orleans. It's a shame it had to be held on artificial turf in the Superdome as there really isn't an appropriate natural grass stadium in New Orleans that could hold 35,000 people. I guess going up to Baton Rouge to play at LSU would be the closest stadium.

Except for the result, it was a great sendoff for Wambach. What a career.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

26 players have been called into camp beginning on January 5th in advance of the 1/23 friendly against Ireland in San Diego. Other absences beyond the 4 World Cup team players that retired (Wambach, Boxx, Holiday, Chalupny) include Megan Rapinoe (ACL injury), Christie Rampone (arthroscopic knee surgery, out 4-6 weeks), and Amy Rodriguez (pregnancy). The team for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (beginning on 2/10) will be named after the Ireland game.

GOALKEEPERS (4): Adrianna Franch (Portland Thorns FC), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars), Hope Solo (Seattle Reign FC)

DEFENDERS (8): Whitney Engen (Boston Breakers), Jaelene Hinkle (Western New York Flash), Julie Johnston (Chicago Red Stars), Meghan Klingenberg (Portland Thorns FC), Ali Krieger (Washington Spirit), Kelley O’Hara (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City), Emily Sonnett (Univ. of Virginia)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Morgan Brian (Houston Dash), Danielle Colaprico (Chicago Red Stars), Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Horan (PSG), Rose Lavelle (Wisconsin), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash), Samantha Mewis (Western New York Flash), Heather O’Reilly (FC Kansas City)

FORWARDS (6): Crystal Dunn (Washington Spirit), Sydney Leroux (Western New York Flash), Stephanie McCaffrey (Boston Breakers), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Mallory Pugh (Real Colorado)

 

[Cellar-Door]

Real Colorado?
Had to look it up.... youth club. Pugh is a high schooler still.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Carli Lloyd won the 2015 FIFA Women's Player of the Year award, and Jill Ellis won the award for best coach.

With Christie Rampone no longer starting and Abby Wambach retiring, it was time for new captains. Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn were chosen by Ellis, with Lloyd wearing the armband when they are both on the pitch.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Real Colorado?
Had to look it up.... youth club. Pugh is a high schooler still.

Yep, she's 17, and is apparently going to skip college and go straight to the NWSL. Her family requested she go to Portland, where she has extended family, and the league seems to be going along with it.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Yep, she's 17, and is apparently going to skip college and go straight to the NWSL. Her family requested she go to Portland, where she has extended family, and the league seems to be going along with it.

Not sure what happened, but she's heading to UCLA now.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

5-0 win over Ireland in the final game before Olympic qualifying next month. Carli Lloyd had a first half hat trick, Alex Morgan scored and captained the side in her 100th cap, and 17 year old Mallory Pugh got her first cap and goal.

Lots of reserves and recent call-ups got some game time. With several members of the World Cup team retired and Megan Rapinoe out injured, it will be interesting to see who makes the roster for the qualifying tourney.

A couple players got new squad numbers, as Meghan Klingenberg inherited Shannon Boxx's #7 and Christen Press took over Lauren Holiday's #12.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Sydney Leroux is out for the Olympics this summer.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Christie Rampone timed having her kids for the 3 year period between the Olympics and the World Cup, but clearly that lesson was lost on Leroux and Rodriguez. Someone lock up Morgan and Press until September.

I'll take a Dom Dwyer - Sydney Leroux offspring leading the US to the 2042 World Cup, though.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Just remembered that FC Kansas City traded for Leroux basically to cover for Rodriguez during her pregnancy.

And NFL GM's think they've got a hard job...

 

[Cellar-Door]

Christie Rampone timed having her kids for the 3 year period between the Olympics and the World Cup, but clearly that lesson was lost on Leroux and Rodriguez. Someone lock up Morgan and Press until September.

I'll take a Dom Dwyer - Sydney Leroux offspring leading the US to the 2042 World Cup, though.

Nah, Kid will pick England, continuing the family tradition.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Nah, Kid will pick England, continuing the family tradition.

Hah.

In all seriousness, though, Dwyer stands a decent chance of getting a few caps for the US down the line. He's on track to get citizenship in 2017, when he'll be age 26/27.

 

[The Price Is Wrong]

Was Leroux really going to be counted on to play an important role in Rio, though? Jill Ellis largely ignored her in Canada last year. Wambach retired, sure, but between Morgan being in her prime, Press and Heath mostly on the same page, and McCaffrey getting minutes at winger, they have plenty of talent at forward. Leroux will be 26 this fall, she's not some hot young prospect anymore like Pugh (who also may get minutes).

I love Leroux's speed, and her story is awesome too, but this isn't like Carli Lloyd just decided to join a convent. Maybe she just wasn't in Ellis's plans and decided to make some of her own.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Was Leroux really going to be counted on to play an important role in Rio, though? Jill Ellis largely ignored her in Canada last year. Wambach retired, sure, but between Morgan being in her prime, Press and Heath mostly on the same page, and McCaffrey getting minutes at winger, they have plenty of talent at forward. Leroux will be 26 this fall, she's not some hot young prospect anymore like Pugh (who also may get minutes).

I love Leroux's speed, and her story is awesome too, but this isn't like Carli Lloyd just decided to join a convent. Maybe she just wasn't in Ellis's plans and decided to make some of her own.

Also Horan is coming back from PSG so she'll be out of the USSF doghouse.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Honestly, I thought Leroux was on the bubble for making the squad. Rodriguez being out probably helped her chances, but it really would have come down to where Ellis thought they needed depth. The Olympic squad is only 18 players as opposed to 23 for the World Cup.

In London I think Leroux was the only one in the squad that wasn't on the 2011 World Cup team, but there will definitely be more turnover this time. Horan and Dunn are sure things to be added, and there are several others that a case can be made for.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Here's the CONCACAF qualifying roster. They are allowed 20 players for the qualifying tourney despite the Olympic squads being only 18.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars), Hope Solo (Seattle Reign FC)

DEFENDERS (7): Jaelene Hinkle (Western New York Flash), Julie Johnston (Chicago Red Stars), Meghan Klingenberg (Portland Thorns FC), Ali Krieger (Washington Spirit), Kelley O'Hara (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City), Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Morgan Brian (Houston Dash), Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash), Samantha Mewis (Western New York Flash)

FORWARDS (5): Crystal Dunn (Washington Spirit), Stephanie McCaffrey (Boston Breakers), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Mallory Pugh (Real Colorado)

Pugh made the team despite having only 1 cap. Heather O'Reilly and Whitney Engen were the only non-retired/injured/pregnant members of the World Cup squad left off.

 

[swiftaw]

I happen to be in Houston the weekend of Feb 21st so I picked up tickets the qualifying final.

 

[Titans Bastard]

The USSF has filed a lawsuit against the union that represents the USWNT

 

[SoxFanInCali]

That's great timing, since today is National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

 

[GreenMonster49]

The USSF has filed a lawsuit against the union that represents the USWNT

The Grauniad has what appears to be a decent backgrounder on the lawsuit.