Will the league announcement identify the 18/4 split? Any word yet on the developmental players' status? What about transactions going forward? Are they allowed? How do they work?
Here's some information on developmental players from Mary Harvey (via the WPS website): Each team can have up to 4 developmental players, and these players regularly train with the full squad. Teams can use a developmental player when they fall below the 18 rostered players that are available to them. This could happen due to injury or an international call up, when players leave for national team duty and the WPS club team needs to replenish their squad while their rostered players are away or unavailable. After a developmental player participates in (e.g., is subbed in) a certain number of games, her team needs to move her on to the full roster.
This is how one team has done it: "The Boston Breakers and head coach Tony DiCicco released the team’s final opening day roster today, following three-plus weeks of preseason camp. Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) mandates that teams must announce their final opening day roster of 18 full-time players, plus four developmental players by today." http://www.womensprosoccer.com/newsitem_ektid10494.aspx?team=boston
Another Way: "The Los Angeles Sol of Women's Professional Soccer will open its Inaugural Season this Sunday against the Washington Freedom with 20 players on its roster (17 senior players + 3 developmental)..." http://www.womensprosoccer.com/newsitem_ektid10536.aspx?team=la I guess that is one way to be able to pay Marta.
Washington Freedom: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/newsitem_ektid10534.aspx?team=dc Developmental players not indicated.
interesting. very interesting. eta2: There are 3 keepers on that Sol roster! eta: Athletica roster doesn't indicate dev players, either.
Saint Louis... hey we're not last!! http://www.womensprosoccer.com/newsitem_ektid10544.aspx?team=stlouis
I hadn't noticed St Louis had Ashlee Pistorius in camp...she must have improved greatly from the combines... Also good to see Nikki Cross on the side...I would have loved to see her stay local... Should be a great home opener at Harvard Stadium!!
All the rosters I've seen so far have 3 keepers, except for the Freedom one, and that's only because Erin McLeod isn't official yet. I would expect two of the keepers to be in the regular lineup and one of them to be developmental - at least that's the way the Freedom did it back in the WUSA days. (And we had to start the 2002 season with our developmental keeper because the other two were injured.)
True. But I was surprised that the Sol kept 3 keepers given that they only kept a total of 20, not the 22 allowed. Are they waiting for a visa to clear or something? If they get an injury or two anywhere near an international call up, the Sol could be in for some trouble.
FC Gold Pride has not issued a formal press release yet, but the roster page has been updated to include the following 22 players: Adriane Allison Whitworth Brandi Chastain Carrie Dew Christina DiMartino Christine Sinclair Erika Eriko Arakawa Formiga Kandace Wilson Kimberly Yokers Kristen Graczyk Leigh Ann Robinson Leslie Osborne Lindsay Massengale Liz Bogus Marisa Abegg Meagan McCray Nicole Barnhart Rachel Buehler Tiffany Weimer Tiffeny Milbrett Broken down by position: GK: (3) Barnhart, Whitworth, McCray D: (6) Buehler, Dew, Abegg, Robinson, Massengale, Erika M: (7) Osborne, Formiga, DiMartino, Adrianne, Graczyk, Yokers, Chastain F: (6) Arakawa, Sinclair, Milbrett, Bogus, Wilson, Weimer (Obviously those positions are not carved in stone.) No indication of who the developmental players are.
It seems that it would be highly risky not to keep 3 keepers, 2 on the regular squad and 1 on developmental, to allow for injuries, national team committments, international committments etc. There are a number of international keepers on the rosters, as well Solo, Barnhart, Henderson, and others with Nats experience.
I seem to recall that Brandi was a pretty good outside defender on the Nats. In a pinch, they probably have that one covered.
St. Louis is doing the same thing from what I can tell. It appears that Solo, Jillian Loyden, and Erin Kane have all made the final 22, with I'm guessing Kane on the developmental squad. Solo almost surely will miss some time with the WNT unless they decide to give Barnhart and other keepers a chance for more playing time during friendlies.
Then I guess your statement about how they are paying Marta's salary and staying under the cap is closest to the mark
I don't know if this has been explained already somewhere, but can anyone tell me what do "Developmental" players do? Do they just practice with the team and not play in games? Do they get paid? Can they join the regular team if someone gets hurt or gets waived? How does this work? Thanks.
Here is Mary Harvey's explanation from her blog today: Each team can have up to 4 developmental players, and these players regularly train with the full squad. Teams can use a developmental player when they fall below the 18 rostered players that are available to them. This could happen due to injury or an international call up, when players leave for national team duty and the WPS club team needs to replenish their squad while their rostered players are away or unavailable. After a developmental player participates in (e.g., is subbed in) a certain number of games, her team needs to move her on to the full roster. http://fancorner.womensprosoccer.com/profiles/blogs/final-rosters-and-itcs It is a very confusing concept to those of us unfamilar to professional soccer. Developmental players are not counted against the salary cap, like the MLS, and fill out the team in case players are injured or unavailable.
Has anyone noticed how many of the true college seniors did not make the senior roster spots? Many of the college players that did make a team had red shirted for a year or two, the teams certainly went for the more experinced former college players with W League or european league play. Except, of the course the Freedom, where it mattered that you played for the W-League Freedom. I can only count maybe about 12 true college seniors, not including develpomental.
I think I figured out that Athletica has the youngest roster (developmental players included) with an average age of just over 24 years of age. They are the only team not to have any players over 30 (Sara Larsson turns 30 in May). Athletica doesn't have many current college seniors, only Kane, Logterman, Weber, and Hanks. I guess Hanks is a red-shirt senior. But the team does have a lot of players who are just one or two years removed from college....Cinalli, Gray, Loyden, McNeill, Pistorius, and Woznuk. Maybe the 2007-08 graduating class had more depth. The 2008-09 class might have more talent, but isn't as deep. The other thing to remember is that if you look at the active rosters of 18, that most teams have 5 internationals, leaving only 13 spots per team or 91 roster spots total. Only the Washington Freedom didn't use their international quota, so add 2 back for them and you get 93 total.
I was looking through the rosters to see how many WUSA players were still around. Most teams just had one or two, but Washington has four and Boston has (!) eight.
Washington has six - Scurry, Sawa and DeDycker all played for the Beat (DeDycker's maiden name is Warren), Janss played for the Power and Lindsey and Wambach played for Washington.
Okay, I missed DeDycker and then apparently miscounted. I probably missed a few other folks along the way, too, particularly if they got married in the interim and changed their last name.
I went through the whole list a little more carefully, and here's what I came up with: Boston - 8 (Augustyniak-Goffi (ATL), Crumpton (ATL), Hucles (BOS), Latham (SND), Luckenbill (CAR), Mitts (PHL), Smith (PHL) Chicago - 1: Dieke (ATL) FC Gold Pride - 2: Chastain (SJO), Milbrett (NY), LA - 4: Boxx (NY), LeBlanc (BOS), Wagner (SND), Welsh (NY) Jersey - 2 : Daniela (SND), Solo (PHL) Washington - 6: Scurry (ATL), Lindsey (WAS), Sawa (ATL), Janss (NY), DeDycker (ATL), Wambach (WAS) (I ignored the Hucles-Wagner trade since it occurred just before the demise of the league and had no practical effect.) Origins: ATL - 6: Augustyniak-Goffi, Crumpton, Dieke, Scurry, Sawa, DeDycker BOS - 3: Hucles, Lilly, LeBlanc CAR - 1: Luckenbill NY - 4: Milbrett, Boxx, Welsh, Janss PHL - 3: Mitts, Smith, Solo SND - 3: Latham, Wagner, Daniela SJO - 1: Chastain WAS - 2: Lindsey, Wambach Impressive the number of Beat players still around.