Natasha Kai

Ronaldo didn't help his team out too much this WC because he was so badly out of shape. Maybe the reason that she is so productive is that she's only playing 30 minutes a game. She wouldn't be able to up and down the field with such speed if she was winded.

 

I still have problems with Aly's lack of speed, but she is one of the best distributors in the world. She can put the ball on the foot of an attacker better than anyone. She has improved her fitness level and that's helping her game more than anything. 34 assists is about one assist every three games and 20 goals is one every five. That's not a bad percentage.

She's made a lot of progress. I wouldn't be adverse to seeing Woznuk play a some, but she's got a big downside in the strength department. She gets pushed off a lot of balls and knocked around a lot because of her slight stature. Good and bad for both of them.

 

Yeah, Aly is a mixed bag. And frankly, for an a-mid her goal stats are pretty decent. I've long felt that she was hurt by the failure of the WUSA more than any other player. She has a huge problem with her game that college soccer and the odd U.S. games prior to 2003 didn't unmask. Three games into her rookie season it became apparent that tightly marking - read: keeping a defender in her shorts - really affected her game. The 2003 WUSA season reveiled her weaknesses, and she never had the following season(s) to work on fixing them.

She has improved. She's certainly not the best a-mid out there, and I doubt she'll ever make it up to the Bettina Wiegmann/Hege Riise class, but she's definitely serviceable.

Against most of the teams we play in friendlies and in CONCACAF she's great. The problem is when we play the Germany, Sweden, Brazil, China class teams.

Is Woznuk better? Hard to say. I don't think Woznuk is better now than Aly was in 2001-2002 - before the international teams were able to take advantage of the scouting in the 2003 WUSA season that reveiled Wagner's problem. But then, life's not fair.

Woznuk may just be the "next big thing." It's always easy to annoint someone who has yet to play more than a handful of minutes as being better than someone with 100 games under their belt. But for similiar stages of their careers, I think Wagner was ahead. But then the USWNT was desperate for a-mids after Akers retired. Foudy was never going to be the longterm option, and the other top options were converted forwards and d-mids. Wagner was in the right place at the right time. Maybe with a bunch of caps under her belt by this time Woznuk would be "all-that". It's hard to say.

This is where I get in trouble in the women's forums. There seems to be some "right" for entrenched players to play every game, and virtually every minute of those games. Aly Wagner is the 18th woman to get 100 caps. That's in under 20 years. In 90 years, the men are up to 9. The most capped man in the world is somewhere around 180. How many USWNT players have hit 200? It's ludicrous.

Looking at substitution and callup patterns over the last 12 years, players pretty much only get replaced when they retire. Only a handful ever force their way onto the team. We take old, broken down players to major tournaments because there really aren't any readily available replacements. Lilly has 300 caps? Wagner already has 100? Heather O'Reilly is at 49? Damn. That's great for them, but how about spreading the wealth. Do we really need all three of them in a meaningless game against Ireland?

Wouldn't it have been better for the longterm development of the USWNT program to throw a bunch of players like Kai, Woznuk, Trotter, et al out there? I was excited when I saw the roster being sent to China for the 4NT - then I saw who was sitting on the bench not playing - the very players who needed the exposure and minutes.

Greg Ryan is doing some things I like, but I've yet to be convinced that he's not repeating the development sins of DiCicco and Heinrichs. He only seems to be slotting in new players when he has to based on injuries/retirements/pregnancies.

At some point, we have to start asking who's really selecting the WNT. Is it really the head coaches, or how much influence to corporate interests have? There's enough trouble selling tickets to see the Lillys, Mitts, Wagners, and Wambachs. Imagine if none of the name players showed up to play. Who would pay for advertising on espn2, then? I'm not suggesting collusion or pressure, but one has to begin to consider that the powers that be in the USSF (and the WNT coaching staff) find it in their best financial or employment interests to keep trotting out players that help pay the bills - regardless of the current and longterm sporting needs.

The United States has by far the best development system in the world for womens soccer players. From all the youth select programs, Division I NCAA programs, and W-League/WPSL teams. And yet, how many players never get a shot?

The second half of the 2002 WUSA season and the first half of the 2003 WUSA season (before injuries and small rosters took their toll) was the best womens soccer, game for game, ever played. The games were played at a high level. The bulk of the players were American players who often more than held their own against U.S. and international stars - yet never got a look themselves. A lot of blame has been heaped on Heinrichs, but to be honest, DiCicco never really looked around either. It's the USWNT program itself that discourages casting a wider net. I'm not sure why that is.

And while we've lost a generation of players who we'll never really know who could make it internationally, there's no reason to think that those players in the WUSA were somehow special. The U.S. development system is pumping out players just like them year after year, and year after year, the ones that never get a callup, never get a chance move on with their non-soccer playing careers - the vast majority never to return.

The 2002 WUSA Defender of the Year - who outplayed the two WNT defenders on her own team - had gotten an opportunity with the WNT she likely would've continued playing instead of retiring after that season and "getting on with her life." It was obvious that short of someone breaking a leg, (and likely four or five someones), she wasn't even going to get a courtesy cap.

The U.S. stays near the top of the heap because we frankly outproduce the rest of the world. We have a bumper crop of players each and every year. It helps to paper over the systemic problems with the system that has been horribly wasteful with young talent.

Competitive sports is usually a ruthless, earn your spot every game, business. Where it's possible to both honor a player for what they've done without trotting them out for each and every game. It's a world where the majority of professional careers are around five years long, where players over 30 are still the exception - not the rule. Getting to 50 caps doesn't entitle players to get to 200.

Whew, I guess I got off on a rant. I'll stop now. Got to get ready for work.

 

Yes, that's a bigger issue that probably deserves its own thread.

As applied to Kai, specifically, I think she shows the benefits of the growth in women's soccer during the 12 year time period you mention. Kai is a native of Oahu who played at the University of Hawaii. UH's womens soccer program started 12 years ago in 1994. There are more opportunities today compared to 12 years ago, because there are more college programs and a higher level of commitment to women's soccer at both the college and HS level. Played before mostly by girls in the suburbs, now the game has a broader appeal.

So, I don't think you're going to see the super high cap numbers in the future like you did before. Not really because of a change in philosophy, but just as a result of the structural changes in the sport creates a deeper talent pool and more competition than before.

Kai shows promise, but I don't think it is fair to compare her to others strictly on "production". Scoring second half goals when the U.S. has the lead which opens up space and you have fresh legs against defenders who have suffered in hot conditions isn't a huge accomplishment. That's not Kai's fault, she's doing her job. But, it also doesn't prove she's better than the starters. Production and strike rate have to be taken in context.

 

The reason for those ridiculous caps on the womens side is that there was no league and all the games they had were caps, for the most part. You would never see that in the men's game because they usually play at least 38 league game, not to mention the open cups, ect. If Kai is not match fit, I think she needs to go play in a league, once out of residency. I guess that won't happen in this cycle. I like what I have seen so far.

No league is another reson why you didn't see many new players come through the pipleline; and once in the pool, I think you did see an "entrenchment," because other players were not getting many meaningful and competitive games, once out of college.

Maybe some players need to go ahead and ply their trade in Germany, Norway, ect.

 

....and by the way:



what poem is tattoed in her side?

 

I agree that it is impossible to compare the men's game and number of caps with the women's game. Except for those three years of the WUSA, the only way for players to get game experience was/is to play in a foreign league if they were/are out of college. It's not like the men's side where they were/are getting roughly 30 league games a year plus various tournament games.

There's only so much fitness you can do in practice. 90 minutes at match speed is needed when you are only getting maybe 10 games a year.

 

Look at the current World Cup holders - Germany. They keep their key players around forever as well - Prinz, Rothman, Jones. There is something to be said for riding your best horses.

You can not criticize Ryan playing Lilly when she is the strongest attacker out there.

 

Coaching is like refereeing, in a sense. You can't please everybody all the time. I like the record so far 17-0-4. Has nice ring to it. I used to get miffed when west coasters supplanted my dear Heels or someone I really liked. I got over it. We have a chance to win this thing (WORLD CUP). Let's keep a postitive attitude! I think we are on the right track!

 

It about time the nay sayers shut up... we a team in transition, a few weeks ago I boast we will win the both WWC and Olympics mark my words for it.

 

I am going with Erica Iverson ? do I get a gold star ?

She did not want to retire, Philly would not trade her to the Breakers

 

If she didn't want to retire, she wouldn't have. Professional athletes make the choice to be away from loved ones all the time.

Basically, her monster season in the WUSA, barely got her a courtesy camp with the WNT and no hope of game action.

Make a limited salary in a league that was on the verge of bankruptcy wasn't enough to keep her playing soccer. I'm just wondering if actually being given a fair shot at the WNT (and the pending WWC and Olympics) would've been enough incentive to stay and play.

It wasn't Philadelphia's job to trade her to Boston.

 

She was moving to Boston regardless of Philly to be with her husband, they could not accomadate her... and she was not going to play for Philly and they would not give up her rights or trade her so she choose not to play. Who knows what could have occurred if the WUSA had a 2004 season if she may have played

 

Let's not make O'Reilly and Kai rivals. They face such huge hurdles to reach these heights. I look at where we've come from and where we are going and, having seen Michael Jordan play early in his career at UNC, we can only dream of what a player may be capable of!

 

May have been a very good player but not the most honest person. Or maybe it's more fair to say she lives in her own world. Husband has an ego the size of texas....sorry texans.

 

It was Slaton, though Iverson was a finalist for the honor.

 

Seconded

 

Kai is exciting to watch. The unpredicability of the inexperienced is refreshing. Hope she can improve and stay on the team.

 

she explains her tattoos in the new SI, the "Players" section

 

Do you have a link because I can't find it.

 

It's actually contained in the hardcopy edition (College football cover), so no link. Very interesting article. I agree that if she continues improving, she could possibly be one of the teams' identifiable faces. In his interview with Foudy, Gulati said that the women's squad needs more 'Mia's', and while I don't know if the USWNT will ever have or want a single galvaning force, I can see Kai stepping into the role. Hawaii supports its athletes big-time, and the image she offers is the antithesis of Hamm's clean-cut, All-American one.

I haven't followed women's soccer much over the years, but I attended a few UNC games back in the days, and it sounds like you're describing Hamm. In college there wasn't a lot of deception in her game, she just basically outran her opponents. If O'Reilly is faster than Hamm, then she's already ahead of the curve as Hamm didn't develop into a consistent striker on the NT until her 20s. I might be completely wrong on this, but wasn't Hamm's game mainly dependent on her athleticism?

 

i think athleticism and skill.