Except, it did involve a player who only wanted to play for Portland, same as this year. That it ended up never happening is on NWSL/USSF for jumping so fast to figure out a way to make Pugh to Portland happen. Perhaps Boston could have gotten more knowing it would never reset and they'd be stuck with the 7th spot for awhile.
I'm guessing you mean a say in whether or not they (have to) get her? I guess we'd have to wait to see how this pans out. I think last year Portland wanted her. They had the draft spots to trade, was a rebuilding year, and were already getting so much in the Pride deal, plus Nadim from SB & Dagny from Boston... Free player, why not. Now? I'm not so sure. The timing of this isn't exactly great since its post draft and season has now started. Good chance she got an offer from overseas and USSF and the league probably don't want to lose her to Europe so is scrambling to figure out a way to keep her here. I don't see how Spirit-Thorns come to a deal that involves players without messing with Portland's chemistry or hurting their limited backline depth. Maybe trade out Kling and pick up Ochs? Considering Portland has collected so many players that already wanted out of the teams they were on/had their rights, its tough to trade them out and not see them being gone from Washington by 2018 which puts them back at square one. So does Washington see a benefit to just accepting 2018 draft picks while making Portland even stronger? If I was just about any other team in the league, I wouldn't want that to happen either. Just how badly does Pugh want Portland versus any other team? I would guess the only other teams even slightly under consideration have MLS facilities or equivalent (Orlando, NC, Houston, Chicago). And of those teams I see only Chicago or NC having anything to offer. Although I'm quite curious exactly what overseas team would have made the offer if that is what drove this decision. Lyon doesn't need more forwards but we know they love to collect players. PSG could probably use her and have history already of paying a player well to skip college but atm don't have room for an international so they'd have to drop someone. Montpellier I don't think spends near as much as Lyon or PSG. One of the top English clubs maybe? German league doesn't seem to spend that much on single players. China is apparently spending a ton of money but player development in that league is likely questionable among other things. Not really sure Japan league finances. Seems a good league to develop but I don't think they pay that much. Edit: forgot a team like Barcelona still in CL hunt but I haven't a clue what they spend on the women's team. Maybe there was no offer, the new CBA happened, and she played some UCLA spring games and decided it was a waste of her time. I know Herdman has said he doesn't care about NCAA when someone asked about Fleming doing so well at UCLA. If the money was there for Canadians, I'm sure Fleming would have passed up the free ride as well.
News flash: Chicago, a team not known for dipping its collective toes into international waters, have just signed Japanese NTer Yuki Nagasato
I wouldn't be too bothered by USWNT players not playing in NWSL this year or next. If you're a young successful international women's soccer player, this is exactly the time to take advantage of your skills and get paid to explore the world. The next semi-meaning full game the USWNT plays is at least 18 months off, and - let's be honest - with 24 teams qualifying for the World Cup, CONCACAF's WCQing tournament is a mere formality. The next meaningful game with consequences for the USWNT is a full two years away. Just because a 25 year-old wants to spend a year or two in France or England or whereever, while getting paid to do so, it doesn't necessarily have anything whatsoever to do with the NWSL.
Funny how the articles and press releases never mention the player that's losing their job - only the player coming in. I miss the old newspaper "transaction" lists.
Considering the spotty record of international players coming in the NWSL, I think it's relatively safe to say any international signing still has to earn her way on to teams. Especially considering several teams don't use the full 20 players slots that they're allowed anyway, so you don't necessarily have to cut anyone, whether a starting job is lost or not. Granted, CHI is not one of those teams, so one of their 20 definitely has to be cut. My money's on Kaskie or Luba.
And the Transactions list would only include final actions. With a visa and ITC required plus travel time, no one has yet been released and may not for a couple of weeks.
Well, I assume she's well-known enough for people to know "who" she is, so you probably want to know something about her recent years of career. Anyway, just to make sure we're on the same page about her past career, she basically won everything there was to win: World Champion in 2011 (although she scored just one goal in that tournament), Silver medalist in 2012 in London, Asian Champion in 2014, just to name the most important things she won with NT, where she's second just to some Homare Sawa for total number of goals scored. With her clubs, she won Japanese League (thrice), Frauen-Bundesliga (twice), she was top-scorer in Germany in 2013, she won UEFA Women's Champions' league in 2010 (scoring one of the penalties in the final's penalty-shootout). Probably some people remember her as Yuki Ogimi (she was married not much after WWC 2011, then returned to her maiden name of Nagasato when she divorced in 2016). US fans in particular should know her very well. She scored one of Japan's lonely goals in the final of WWC 2015. Also, she scored another goal vs USA more recently, about one year ago, in a friendly match on 2nd of June of 2016, that ended in a 3-3 draw (not the only times she scored vs USA, but the most recent ones for sure). So, assuming everyone knows who we're talking about, what can we say about her right now? Although she's just 29, she looks like she's past the peak of her career. She played the last two seasons in 1.FFC Frankfurt, but she didn't score much and she didn't impress either (it has to be said, though, that the coach couldn't seem to decide if he wanted to play her as a striker or as a play-maker in the midfield, a role she seldom tried in her career, and this didn't help). She declined Asako Takakura's call (Nadeshiko Japan coach) for Algarve Cup 2017, because she said she wanted to concentrate on her club duties. It's not clear if this is a kind of retirement from NT, or if she's going to come back (after the end of Sasaki's era, Takakura had anyway called her in NT multiple times, and didn't seem to consider cutting her). Her best seasons were probably 2010 to 2014, when she was scoring a lot of goals both with NT and club. She's another one of the "big names" of women's soccer who want to try the USA experience before the end of their careers. As you surely know, some succeed and some come in NWSL a little too late to make the difference. I am really curious to see if Nagasato will be spurred by this new challenge in this moment of her career. She's been a world-class player: I am curious too to see if she still can be.
That's a scary thought... though I would think that even a deal that seems very out-of-the-blue like this one had to have been in the works for at least a full week, right?
Thanks for the info! Would Nagasato be more of a #9, #9-1/2, or #10 (or all of the above)? In my world the CRS need a true #10 to serve Press & Huerta. The joke I have with other supporters is Rory Dames is continually searching for the 11th starter. The Red Stars had 9 sure starters last season and have 10 this season. Hoy, Mautz, & McCafferty have all been given starts, but none have cemented the 11th starter spot. Another issue is that Dames has tried, but had trouble finding the right mix formation wise. The Red Stars seem a team where the sum of the parts (individual talent) is greater than the team as whole. Ertz at #10 looked inspired for a few weeks, but she has been poor the last couple of weeks with turnovers in her own half leading to goals. Huerta works hard as a wide player, but isn't effective tracking back in her own half. Most of the time Press has to chase down long clearances, or track back to her own half to touch the ball. The wide play in the midfield is nonexistent and the slack in the attack has not been picked up by Gilliland & Short. Speaking of the attack aside from last Sunday's first half explosion Ertz was the only goal scorer from the run of play this season. Finally, perhaps she has some nagging physical issues, but the play of DiBernardo after this past winter (summer?) in Australia slipped from last season's level. On the plus side, Colaprico has been typically solid. Sam Johnson & Katie Naughton have been rock solid in the heart of the defense and Naeher has player like the US #1 in goal. Could Nagasato as #10 provide service to Press and Huerta, as well as chip in a few goals of her own? I hope so.
Nagasato is an out and out forward. Hasn't scored a ton at the club level since her Turbine Potsdam days, but she's quality.
Yes, she's a striker. I'll add that an area where she always excelled was defending the ball while waiting for her team-mates to come up and shift numbers in offense.
In the Portland-Boston broadcast from last week, they said Savannah Jordan is joining the Thorns soon. I know she quit playing for Glasgow but I hadn't heard any news on her immediate future. Also the Australian Sykes is coming in June too. When the injured quartet of Heath, Dagny, Shim and Reynolds return Portland will have amazing depth.
i saw a game or two where jordan couldn't make glasgow's starting 11. that didn't fill me with confidence - tho i'm a big believer in this player.
Ochs joins NC. (Has there been official word on Williams?) 875808937932673025 is not a valid tweet id
Ochs has been in camp for at least a couple of weeks. But then there are some others that have come and gone. Paige Nielsen was around for a week or so after leaving Seattle, but last I saw she was bumming around Seoul. This is obviously a reaction to Yuri's injury.
Washington is signing their 22nd player. I think we can safely say that the roster rules that were published at the beginning the season were, at best, rough guidelines. It was apparent at the time that the Salary Cap calculations did not work as explained. Now the roster limits seem to be flexible.
Defender Nora Holstad (Norway) and Midfielder Denise O'Sullivan (Ireland) signed by Courage. Bolstering defense is good, especially with a career defender, which Ochs and Smith are not. I have already said that Mewis, Zerboni, and Debinha need rest in the midfield. O'Sullivan reportedly asked to be waived due to lack of PT, so Riley must have promised her some real time in the lineup.