Please post your predictions. I'll break it up into these four categories (Locks, Probables, 50-50, and LongShots) Locks Alex Morgan Abby Wambach (she's got one more big tournament round left in her, in 2015 and 2016) Sydney Leroux (no doubt USSF will want her to continue developing, forward of the future) Megan Rapinoe Lauren Cheney (her versatility is what matters, USSF will pay for continuous development) Tobin Heath (she's the now and the future in the midfield) Hope Solo Probables Christen Press (if eligible, she is a probable here) Amy Rodriguez Carli Lloyd Heather O'Reilly (still probably has one more round in her left, in 2015-2016) Shannon Boxx (if she is "committed" to 2015, otherwise she drops down to 50-50 list) Kelley O'Hara (you would think USSF will want her to continue to develop on defense) Rachel Buehler Amy LePielbet Becky Sauerbrunn Ali Krieger (if she is eligible to play in this league in 2013, she will probably be paid by USSF) 50-50 Sarah Hagen (if she is eligible, then it's 50-50. she was great on the U-23 team) Meghan Klingenberg Yael Averbuch Christine Rampone (will she be here in 2015? if not, will she still be paid for a year or two?) Whitney Engen (if she is eligible, then this is still 50-50) Stephanie Cox Ashlyn Harris (the youngest goalkeeper in the current U.S. player pool) Jill Loyden Nicole Barnhart Adrianna Franch (you would think two of these four GK's would be fed paid, plus Solo above) LongShots Kristen Mewis (will be a rookie, who probably won't be paid by USSF, "yet") Christine Nairn (same as Mewis above) Lori Lindsey (with all the other mid-fielders above, seems to be slipping in the pool very fast) Keelin Winters Sinead Farrelly (she didn't seem to be overly enthused to be in the player pool before) Lindsay Tarpley Brittany Taylor Heather Mitts (she won't be on the team in 2015. this is a big longshot here) Bianca Henninger
Whoops, how did I miss her? I thought I already typed her in. She's a probable on this list, if she is eligible. I edited the post, and put her in.
I think the better question for all of us is...... Which players are the Canadian and Mexican Fedeations going to pay??????
All your locks are right, I'd add Sauerbraun, O'Hara, O'Reilly, Buehler, Amy Rodriguez, Lloyd and LePelbeit to locks too. Press seems likely to stay in Sweden and is close to resigning with Goteburg, I'd guess that Krieger stays in Germany too, as does Ashlyn Harris who has a contract until 2014. Whitney Engen signed to play for Liverpool Ladies a few months back, so it looks like she's headed to England. And Solo will play (guessing she will get first dibs on Seattle) and she will draw a crowd too, given her *ahem* personality issues.
I think we need to see which players will stay in the United States next year before we can really discuss who will paid by USSF. I think a number of the top players that haven't signed anywhere will be lured to foreign teams if the money is right. Solo would definitely be one of them.
I guess the interesting question is will USSoccer pay more than 24 WNT pool players. If they pay the entire pool now and r gonna continue to do that then it changes everything. Players playing over seas will get payed for being in the pool but there will still be 24 slots available for the player actually in the WESL (Women's Economy Soccer League). If USSoccer is just gonna pay 24 players then I see them continuing to pay someone like Krieger or Press but not Engen for example, but at the lowest tier.
I think if u give a lot of credence to WNT players picking their team, some of ur probables become locks. Rampone, assuming she still wants to play, would be big asset to NJ/NY as would Lloyd, Heath and other home grown products. The same with St Louis product Sauerbrunn in KC. Fans love the home town hero.
This too - she's spent 3yrs with the old Freedom, 1 w/ mJ, and one w/ DCU. (And, as an STL fan now in DC, I want her here.) X-D
I thought that at first too, but I think Becky recently moved from DC to Denver, so maybe her preference has changed and she wants to play closer to home now. I see KC or Chicago as a definite possibility for her
It's also a regional team. I could certainly see people from eastern Missouri supporting the team and taking the occasion trek over I-70 to catch a game. The Cardinal fan base covers a huge geographically area not just St Louis proper.
She did just move to Denver but I don't think it was because she doesn't like D.C. anymore. She's spent a good bit of her adult life in D.C. and surely has a good number of friends in the area. I'm saying it's a distinct possibility.
Because STL supported a team with Chalupny (and Solo) in their own town SO WELL!! There'll be droves heading over to KC! Not to mention MLB support is SUCH an obvious indicator for women's soccer. You're killing me over here.
Athletica averaged almost 4000 a game their only complete season which sounds like the attendance the new league is targeting. The Seattle owner is talking about playing at Starfire which seats 4500 or so. Think he'll be happy with 4000 a game? Question is, why put a team in KC? Not tied to Sporting. They sited the Hispanic population but if that was the goal why not SoCal? It's 500 miles from Chicago not 200. Chicago is just as close to Toronto as it is the KC and Im fairly sure there is a lot of Canadians in Toronto. If u dont believe the team will get regional and not just local support then KC seems like a mistake from the get go.
I'm not saying she'll probably step away from the game. I'm just saying that nothing in her life seems like a "lock" right now. Not saying that to be mean. She simply lives her life a little differently than most of us.
and what have i been singing about? 12 Mexican nationals and they didnt' work to pair someone with the pali/striker combo. on top of that, three (horse, sydney and press) of the possible future forwards are south cal girls including a-rod, who in the right situation can give you 10-12 goals a season in a pro league. those 4, being split between two clubs, would make two cali clubs very dynamic upfront since the ussf would cover their salaries. good for press to stay in sweden and continue to grow instead of ending up in kansas city or something. or, maybe they were going to give her a peanut ussf contract or she is out of the 24 by word of mouth, which we don't here on these boards.