Milbrett was playing with a torn meniscus in her right knee. The same injury Kelly Smith had and was out a good part of the season This explains alot about her subpar performance and why did US Soccer not do several MRIs to find out ? AT least we know why she was struggling
I'm one of those pathetic nerds that stays cooped up inside 24/7 Googling for stuff and I don't recall ANYTHING on this in any of the "retirement/quitting/stepping away/taking time off/whatever the ******** you want to call it" articles. Not that I'm an orthopedic surgeon that is a knee specialist nor have I suffered any devastating knee injuries...but wouldn't Millie herself KNOW that something was wrong with her knee and do all that she could do to get everything checked out? Oh yeah...and chargefan..do you have the article or whatever it is that you got this info from handy?
It came in the daily "Inside Soccer Newsletter" and had quotes from Millie. Yes, anyone with any intelligence would know they have a knee problem, especially meniscus. I had a simialr problem in the past and it is quite debilitating. That explains the physical problem but what caused her mind to stay on Mars? GB out........
Did she only find out about this recently? Not playing for the NT because you're injured is one thing. She never mentioned being injured, though. She stopped playing because she said she didn't like the style of play. How do you not notice you have a knee injury like that? In her last few matches for the NT she seemed to be running just fine.
And wasn't Millie looking to play for an England team after the league folded/when she announced her "whatever you want to call it" from the USWNT?
General, it's from the Soccer America Women's Soccer Insider e-mail, written by Scott French, and supposedly it's a copyright violation to post the stuff here and I don't have the balls to go breakin' laws at this hour. PM or email me, though, and I'll forward it to you.
WHen you get used to pain, it is easy to dismiss, I have had knee problems and some people have a greater tolerance for it. a lot of atheletes can disregard the pain Plus, if the Doctors tell you there is no problem, then you can dismiss some things. OH, She was not running fine, everyone was saying how she had lost a step(they contributed it to age, fatigue...) What this means is once she is healed(by the WUSA festivals) she needs to get fit, but then she will be back playing to her speedy scoring self (she is considering the Storm)
Chargefan, was it in the newsletter as well that Millie is considering the Storm? Or do you have a link somewhere you can post? Inquiring Millie fans want to know!
Milbrett was playing the best soccer of her career right before the WUSA league started and than she kinda faded away along with the league....., what was really happening w/ her during that period ? was it because she had so much pressures as a marking player at that time ?
She got older and she got slower. Not exactly rocket science. Once she lost that extra "step" that she had on defenders, her speed-built game was no longer as effective.
i agree about her decline. it was steady. She had a really good first year in the WUSA, exceptional in fact. Then her game went down on a steady decline. I'm not saying the knee wasn't a factor but it wasn't the biggest reason IMO. And yeah thats just my opinion.
The other thing is that the WUSA got a lot better in 2002. A whole slew of players with marginal professional experience had a whole year of seasoning and experience under their belts. And just as the WUSA exposed some serious weaknesses in Aly Wagner's game, it also served to de-mythologize most of the rest of the Founders. Once the players in the league stopped worshipping the ground beneath the Founders and international stars' feet, they realized that anyone can be beat. More than a few players with large number of caps in international play have gotten there more on smoke and mirrors, and opponents being intimidated, than on consistent ability. Millie should've been FIFA player of the year in 2001. Not Mia Hamm, and most certainly not Sun Wen (who finished 1st and 2nd). The wheels started to come off in 2002, and she was pretty much second (or third) fiddle to Christie Welsh and Shannon Boxx in 2003. That said, if I was GM of a WUSA squad, I'd consider signing her.
Someone posted the article at PTPosse. Yes the Storm is the team she want to have a "trial " period with. If she injured it in 2002, that would explain the loss of step in 2003. I think she can regain her form again, speed was not the only thing she had to offer. As Andy said, if I was a GM of a WUSA squad....
I think what happened to Milbrett were happened to all great players in the world, Roberto Baggio experienced it, and so was Maradona, Carla Overback, Michelle Akers, Jurgen Klinsmann, Pele, Cruyff, Platini, ...its a part of aging process i guess.....but there's an exception to this, Preki, He still plays great at 40.