Oddly, the main reason they said they skipped LA was because it's 1000 miles from the nearest other team. They were very big on grouping teams together to save transportation costs. Of course in that twitter chat they had last night someone asked about transportation. The answer from someone in the know was they were flying to every game
Tajonar also played there IIRC. That's one thing I called and was right about, if I can toot my own horn for a moment.
I dont think it helps Morgan but I do agree that they think it will. Morgan didnt need to be in Sinc's shadow the first time she crawls out from Abby's. Morgan needed to go somewhere and have a team built around her. That was the next step in her evolution. Portland rightly will be Sinc's team and there r at least five team's that would have been Morgan's had they put her there. The right way to promote the face of US women's soccer is give her her own team and then stack up the secondary talent around her. But what do I know?
As crazy trades r always fun here's what Id do. Portland trades Morgan and Heath to Seattle for Rapinoe, Rodriguez and there #2 pick in the draft. Portland then trade Rodrguez and LeBlanc to Sky Blue for Loyden and Schmidt. Portland ends up with M Megan Rapinoe GK Jill Loyden M Sophie Schmidt F Christine Sinclair D Rachel Buehler D Rubi Marlene Sandoval Nungaray D Luz del Rosario Saucedo Soto + the Seattle #2 pick Seattle with F Alex Morgan M Tobin Heath GK Hope Solo M Kaylyn Kyle M Teresa Noyola Bayardo D Jennifer Marie Ruiz Brown D Emily Zurrer And Sky Blue with F Monica Ocampo Medina M Lydia Nayeli Rangel Hernandez F Amy Rodriguez GK Karina LeBlanc D Kelley O'Hara D Christie Rampone D Melanie Booth Portland not only adds two popular local products (Schmidt and Rapinoe) but the pick helps compensate for Rapinoes European Vacation. Schmidt and Rapinoe r also better support people for Sinc's game. Seattle gets Morgan who has her own team, Heath to run the show and Kyle and Noyola to help Morgan. Morgan still has Solo but it's never the GK team. Sky Blue gets a real front line player in Rodriguez and the goalie swap is pretty much a push. The deal works because its fed player for fed player. Portland loses the best player in the deal but adds popular pieces that make them a better team. Portland also no longer has it's number one rival controlling one of the cities most popular players (Rapinoe...Imagine the dagger every time Rapinoe scores at Jeld-Wen). Seattle gets Morgan who will sell a ton of tickets. They also win the Casey Noguira sweepstakes. Sky Blue actually has a chance to score a goal before the third game. A-Rod also is just north of her Philly stomping ground which may help her a rekindle lost memories.
If I were running the allocation I would have simply switched Keelin Winters with Alex Morgan (and perhaps moved Perez to DC or NJ) and then the league would look more interesting and balanced at this point. I really thought Rapinoe was a lock for Portland and it just seems wrong that she's not there. Maybe we will see a Seattle/Portland trade for Rapinoe/Heath because Rapinoe is missing half the season? On second thought, no way CP will trade a Tarheel. Edit: I just noticed kernal_thai beat me to the Heath/Pinoe trade idea
Ur never prying loose Rapinoe without putting Morgan in the deal. What it does is turn Portland into Team Canada. The offense with or without Morgan will be get the ball to Sinc. Now Morgan will do that just like she does with Wambach because she knows she can always get her own shots. Still, Rapinoe and Schmidt can do just as good a job feeding Sinclair and balancing the attack while Morgan would be a god send to Seattle whose number one draw is a GK and whose number two player is in France and wants to be in Portland. It also saves us three months of Solo tweeting bad stuff about A-Rod til Rapinoe returns and rights the ship. Most importantly, Morgan wont sell one single ticket more than Sinc and Rapinoe would sell in Portland. In Seattle Morgan could put a ton of new fannies in the seats.
OK, if Grant Wahl wasnt on the list before he is now. As I recall, when he cast his POTY vote he decided that his three top players were, in this order, Wambach, Sinclair and Lloyd. How then, based on that bit of collective wisdom, does he not rank the team that got Wambach and Lloyd higher than the team that got a Sinclair and Morgan? Hell, he didnt even back up his vote by picking WNY second. A little consistency, Mr Wahl? Please?
It makes sense on paper esp. the GK's. LeBlanc has a history with both Sky Blue and Rutgers as a coach, But Loyden may have to be in NJ for family reasons even if Vineland is so far south in NJ it could another state. As you know, Riley is not coaching at NJ.
Our Game Magazine's take on the allocations: http://www.ourgamemagazine.com/nwsl-player-allocation-breaking-down-the-teams/
Yeah, for me to give the okay. I can't believe I started a thread that's gone 50 pages!!! And you know that Lindsey Horan thread is still alive, too! (tee-hee!)
Neither is Harvey. If the theory, as Ive seen it posed, is that the offense has to be designed around Rodriguez, then I think she has a problem where ever she goes. What she gets in Jersey is less pressure which may help her. In Seattle, without Rapinoe she needs to succeed right away. There will much lower expectations on the right coast. The other thing Im beginning to wonder about is Morgan's preference. It's been said that she confirmed Portland as her top choice. Maybe she also said she didnt want to be in Seattle (personal reasons). I believe they picked both the places they wanted and didnt want to go. That makes a lot more sense to me that the deal with Portland theory.
Bingo. Letting top players get want they want is a huge factor (though it doesn't explain why they gave them Heath when they could have gotten a defender).
Portland got three defenders. There had to be a mid in the mix. If Seattle is unhappy with Rapinoe, they might wish to see if they could trade Portland for a mid when she comes back from France.
The way the rules r they could only trade her for Heath. Theyd either have to expand the deal to balance it or make the trade now so that Rapinoe's missed time balanced her greater value.
I don't think they're unhappy with Rapinoe. I think it's more like they're unhappy to be without Rapinoe (for much of the season).
Congrats to former Notre Dame Fighting Irish and former Florida Gator, and now Boston Breaker (and Canadian) allocated player Adriana Leon, for scoring her first international goal, thee winning goal today for Canada against China. http://equalizersoccer.com/2013/01/12/adriana-leon-canada-first-international-goal/
I'm sorry; you tied in Philly with her to be in NJ like there is some personal reason to be in the area, versus IMO that it was Riley that made the difference. She could be in a number of other places then. The player made 3 choices first, second, and third only. No negative choices.
Really? I remember that clearly. Hmmm. With A-Rod I may have been reaching for a positive. She's a good kid and I kinda feel bad how it all seems to have faded away so quickly.
LOL, no doubt about that. Here is the complete match: Canada vs. China (for those that have soccer withdrawal right now) Canada vs. China: First Half: http://sports.cntv.cn/20130112/104020.shtml Second Half: http://tv.cntv.cn/video/C16624/0926de8cb659423eb31b53ced02a8e5d SPOILER ALERT: Leon's goal is at the 29:45 mark (of the 2nd half video, that's 29:45 mark in video time, not match time, 29:45 into the 2nd half video time).