I haven't seen a clue and believe your internet sources are better than mine. I plan on listening to Kick This on 1280 AM (foxsportsradio) Rochester NY at 11:00 am Saturday morning. As I think you know, Jeff DiVeronica is one of the hosts. http://www.iheart.com/live/fox-spor...e&pname=1167&callletters=whtk-am&campid=local He said this in his blog on 11/3/14 ( before the Amber Brooks trade): "For a team that had regular-season champion Seattle beaten three times but let if off the hook and one that lost 12 times by only one goal (Read: WNY wasn't bad, just not good enough), these are massive changes. WNY also had forward Abby Wambach for only 10 matches. I'll have more of my thoughts on this extreme makeover later this week."
Lines is scheduled to be on tomorrow's show. Since I have that minor annoying thing called a job, I'll wait until it's put up on archive.
RE: Amber Brooks - it's news to me: May 2, 2014 Jeff DiVeronica article: Rochester is about 2,700 miles from Portland, Ore., but there will be a pretty throaty group fans at Sahlen's Stadium on Saturday night rooting for Thorns defensive midfielder, Amber Brooks. Her parents, Allan and Jean Brooks, are from Wayne County, so between grandparents and 11 aunts and uncles, she expects about 80 family members to attend Portland's matchup with the Western New York Flash. Allan graduated from Palmyra-Macedon and played soccer at LeMoyne College in Syracuse. Jean, whose maiden name is Naeye, was a standout at Marion before playing college soccer on Ashland (Ohio) University's men's team from 1976-79. "Everything she has accomplished with sports, now raising a family and she's a boss at work, I look up to her in a lot of ways," Amber said. Allan, who worked for Bristol Myers-Squibb, died in 2009, shortly before Amber graduated from high school and began a career at the University of North Carolina that would see her be a two-time NCAA champion and team captain. He was 51. Her oldest brother, Allan III, who is 32, was born in Marion, but the family moved to Syracuse shortly after. Amber 23, was born in Evansville, Ind., and was 2 when her family relocated to New Hope, Pa., northeast of Philadelphia in 1993. She spent last season with Bayern Munich in Germany, honoring the contract she signed before the National Women's Soccer League launched. "It was good for me both as a person or player," Amber said. "I wanted to come back to the U.S. It's always been a dream to play in the U.S. league." The 5-foot-6 Brooks made her debut with the senior national team, teaming with Flash forward Abby Wambach, in November's 4-1 win over Brazil. They talked briefly about their hometown roots, and how Brooks' great, great grandmother lived at a nursing home near Wambach's alma mater, Mercy High. "She's clever on the ball, good vision, great range of passing," Portland coach Paul Riley said of Brooks. Her strong foot makes her dangerous on free kicks, too. "For such a young player, she seems so experienced," Thorns forward Christine Sinclair said. JDIVERON@DemocratandChronicle.com
Oh, no, feel free to post anything you can after the show airs. I'd rather find out tomorrow than wait until the archive is uploaded, to be honest. I just want answers as to what the hell they're doing gutting the roster for peanuts in return.
Just posted this at http://rocsoccer.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?pid=1797#p1797 Just heard KT show, they had coach Lines on, some interesting stuff: - Says he's building a team to complement Wambach when she RETURNS from WWC - Wants players here that want to be here, talked about Zerboni (for me the question is why didn't she want to be here anymore?) - Spoke to the marketing vs winning part, again Zerboni as example (what can he say? he doesn't handle the marketing, but to me they definitely need to improve on that, first thing I would do is have a practice session at Sahlens Stadium midweek and have it open to public) - Lloyd was a business decision (hmmm ...?) - Thinks thisdraft coming up is best so far (hope so)
Edit: RocFan14 - great information, thanks. I posted before I read yours, so below is my independent 'take.' Aaran Lines on Kick This! WHTK radio 1180 at 11:45 this morning. I’ve got to leave to watch NSCAA DIII #7 ranked William Smith Herons play in the Liberty League championship, so I will write staccato. Devo started by saying “I know you want to talk to the fans…” IMO, Aaran was the most well prepared for this interview that I have ever heard and was very positive and was charged up about the changes. WNY decided they needed to go in a new direction, revamp the squad, freshen things up, and build the strongest team they could. (my emphasis). He said this NWSL draft might have as many good players as were available to the Flash in the WPS expansion draft (he said 2009, but I think he meant 2011). Want to bring in players who want to be in the WNY area and “off-loaded” players who had an eye elsewhere. Devo: Why would they be looking elsewhere? Lines didn’t answer in general; he spoke about McCall. After four years, she had won two championships and was ready for a change and WNY was in agreement. Devo: The Lloyd trade was fruitful and bold. Is it a gamble or worth the risk? Lines: I have a good relationship with Carli - It was a good business decision – got back Edwards who will be here during the WC, and Engen who is the future of the National Team back line. Devo: You traded Zerboni and Williamson for Amber Brooks who has ties to the local community- was the Brooks trade in the plan when you traded Lloyd? (Note: both of her parents, and older brother graduated from high schools in the Rochester area) Lines did not answer directly. He said that Charlie Naimo and he have discussed every move. And repeated that McCall was looking for a change and said Williamson “didn’t fit into our market.” Lines talked to Brooks (mentioning that she now playing for Bayern Munich) yesterday and is exited to bring her in. Lines: We are close to coming to terms with an international world-class midfielder. Devo: WNY has traded away some very marketable players, does WNY value winning over marketing? Lines: WNY wants · Players who want to be in this area, · A roster that is sustainable in this WC year AND the following Olympic year, · To build a team around a centerpiece player – specifically Abby when she comes back from the WC. Then a commercial break and no more time. Devo closed by saying the Flash have built teams before and have been successful. “I think you will be building a winner.”
Thank you both. So what I gather is that all the players that were traded away except for Lloyd didn't want to be playing in Rochester any more. If that's the case, then fine. I wish the players leaving nothing but the best, but it does make the moves hurt less. I'd rather have a group of 20 non-stars who want to be playing for us than established players who would rather be elsewhere. As far as building the team around Abby, that's not exactly encouraging. She's got one, maybe two years left, and the fact that she wasn't with the team for a large part of last season makes me question how much she's actually going to give us once the WC is over. But having said all that, Lines has shown more than once that he's capable of building championship teams from the least likely pieces, so I still have faith that these efforts will pay off with more silverware.
Yeah, she started a relationship with Scott Vallow, which is why he left. Maybe we can get him back now.
Even tho he kept talking about market, I cant believe that applied to anyone but Williamson. Reynolds, Salem & Zerboni suddenly dont fit the market? The two things I noticed last year were Wambach's comments which might have rubbed team mates the wrong way and Lines himself. Now if they r building the team around Wambach then I can see moving players who arent on board with that philosophy. Also the two toughest players to figure last year in relation to Lines were Zerboni and Losada. He was hot and cold on both of them (I dont count Teghan Allen because Im not sure Lines knew she was on the team). Now Losada was new but Zerboni was a vet and a former captain so it seemed an odd way of handling her. As to Lloyd I can see that being a business decision. They got two NT quality players for one which is key in a rebuild.
As to the general idea of the rebuild, this is exactly what I was hoping Houston would do. Move some key vets for picks and bring in some talented youngsters and let them mature together. Sure it meant missing the playoff again next year but if u look up in a couple years and notice ur the team with a bunch of NT starters all under 25 then ur in the butter zone.
Lot of talk recently that veteran players were unhappy with coach Lines switch of strategy to fit Wambach's style, which was pretty much to get the ball outside and cross into Wambach for her to head the ball in, after awhile veteran players are left more and more unable to be creative on their own and always in a supportive role for Wambach, so unhappy veteran players are going and new young players are coming in who will be more amenable to what the coach wants. Everyone in Rochester, myself included, thinks Wambach is a great player, but it does get boring after awhile to see the same play and cross into Wambach, and it's easy for a good opposing coach to also figure that out and use it against the Flash, like what happened in the 2013 final.
To be fair, I think most of us were saying that CPC was definitely improving as we got later into the season. Besides, when the Flash's strategy was so simple...
During the Rose City Massacre this past June, the Portland commentators pointed out how predictable the Flash's offense was when Abby was on the field- go wide and cross the ball in. And I think it's somewhat telling that our 3 best wins (the opener against Washington, the aforementioned Rose City Massacre, and the win in Houston) all came without Abby. But the team actually averaged a slightly higher number of goals per game when Abby played vs. when she was out. So while Abby-ball is predictable, it still kind of worked.
So the real question here is does all this tell us something about Wambach's future plans. It's pretty much been assumed that she will retire after the WC season but would WNY really be going thru all this for 12 games? Maybe she has indicated to WNY she plans to play thru the Olympics.
WNY Flash signed India Trotter http://www.wnyflash.com/index.cfm?template=template&form_id=6092&page=news.cfm In 2014 she started and played in 8 games for the USL W-League Carolina Elite Cobras as a Forward. She played 670 of 720 available minutes and had 3 goals and 2 assists. The Cobras played from mid-May and Mid-July and compiled a 5-2-3 record. http://www.uslsoccer.com/teams/2014/43121166.html#STATS She signed with the Cobras in the spring of 2013, but I could find nothing about her 2013 season.
According to the press release: "She hasn’t played at the professional level recently, but she’s very eager to prove herself this season." Apparently not since 2011.
Right, but she has been playing, in addition to coaching at University of South Carolina - Upstate. The Cobras streamed many of their games and they can be found on YouTube.
My thought is this signing sounds like a stopgap measure and another one of the defenders from last season is going to be on the move.
OK time for more speculation. Does anyone think the world class midfielder is Marta? With it being a cup year, I can see her wanting to play closer to home. But than again, that could easily be in Brazil...
I thought I saw on Twitter yesterday that Abily had dropped a hint of playing abroad soon. I don't understand French and Google translate didn't exactly help, so I have no clue what that French fan was actually saying, though.