News & Media II: Articles, photos, videos, etc.

The next Mia Hamm?

Today, the New York Times ran a full page article (!) on a 12 year old soccer player named Olivia Moultrie. She already has a soccer scholarship to attend the University of North Carolina -- and is training with European clubs.

Regarding the problem of the U.S. U-20s, April Heinrichs is quoted as saying that none of the American women on the team had participated on a first division professional team -- but 19 Japanese, 18 Spaniards, 19 French, and 14 English had.

The article says that "the best talents from Europe and elsewhere have increasingly been following a path long open to boys by turning professional in the late teenage years."

Well, if you look at Ellie Carpenter of Portland, 18 and accomplished, maybe that is a correct statement.

 

There was a long discussion about her some months ago on the College boards, and specifically on the UNC Tar Heels 2018 thread. The Father of Olivia Moultrie took part himself to that discussion: you can read everything, if you're interested (a pair of pages of thread).

 

Interesting thread. You can put me down as one who doesn't think 12 year old kids should be recruited by colleges. Period.

 

I agree. She does not, however, have a soccer scholarship to UNC. They can't give her a soccer scholarship at that age.

Also, her father is a massive promoter. Whether she'll be as good as the aura he's created for her won't be known for a good number of years.

 

Hey, it's Aunt Sanchez.
Amazing how our youth players grow up so fast.

 

Just to prove the USWNT is on the cutting edge of Social Responsibility, I noticed something new on my ticket - -

403 hours and 45 minutes to the start of the defense of OUR Cup.

 

There is one is in France at the Stade Oceane in Le Havre. 18th or 19th.

 

Yes, the Mayor? of Le Havre announced that months ago but both federations are hush hush because they want to build suspense I guess. I was referring to (hoping for) yet another match. Makes nooooooo sense at all to travel that distance only to turn around and come right back. Would kinda be nice to know about this and other matches soon. However, I wouldn't hold my breathe till after the CONCACAF Tournament is over.
I remember trying to get tickets for our matches in Sweden/Norway last summer and spent about 12 hours on the phone with Ticketmaster and another 8 on their website and made absolutely no progress.

 

Did I just see our Mal Pugh in a Gatorade commercial?
Is it new? Did I miss this somehow? - remember my mind is going.

 

That makes you better off than me.

 

Please don't confuse "operating" with "off a cliff"

 

Its been airing consistently for at least a month on ESPN. Almost as run out as a gieco commercial

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/sports/soccer/uswnt-bayern-munich-olivia-moultrie.html

 

Related to this, there are definitely games in November, but the opponents are uncertain:

#uswnt planning to play 2 friendlies in Europe in November. Switzerland and Netherlands were in the works but both now preoccupied by Women's World Cup qualifying playoffs. New opponents to be determined soon.

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) October 1, 2018

 

Lots of tidbits in this Equalizer article:

Jeff Kassouf reported that the two games in November will still be in Europe. Its good to get some away games!

Also in the Equalizer article, Kassouf said there will be no long training camp in January in SoCal. Instead the USWNT will do another trip to Europe (probably for those previously reported games against France).

The 2019 SheBelieves tournament is set to be England, Japan, and Brazil coming to the US, according to Phil Neville.

There's some more news directly related to WCQ that I'll put in that thread.

 

Major #USWNT news: Youth national teams director April Heinrichs will resign at the end of the year. https://t.co/aGJKs2qskT

It is notable that she has not been involved in the GM hiring process.

It is also notable that several YNTs have not performed well in her tenure.

— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) October 8, 2018

 

Kinda surprised there isn’t much talk in this. Gonna start a separate thread

 

I had this thought a few days ago: the USWNT players’ Club-and-Country dynamic is shifting, with more and more players having a very strong Club team attachment or identity, in contrast to historical times with most players not having a significant relationship with any club. Claire Watkins brought this up on today’s Equalizer Soccer podcast.
The list I made below indicates, IMO, about 1/3 of the current team has a strong club attachment/identity.

Players with a significant club attachment/identity (8)
NWSL-Era

Dahlkemper, Ertz, Sonnett, Mewis​

Older Vets

Rapinoe, Heath, Zerboni, Long​

Players not having a significant club attachment/identity (16)
Older Vets

Naeher, Harris, Sauerbrunn, Lloyd, O’Hara, Press, Morgan​

NWSL-Era

Dunn, Horan, Brian, Short​

In College or Too New

Mace, Davidson, Sullivan, Pugh, Lavelle​

 

I don't get the distinction between having and not having a significant club attachment/identity. For example, I don't think there's any way Horan doesn't have a signifiant club attachment. (Just ask her!)

 

Assuming you are correct about Horan, you're just furthering CoachJon's point. Not sure if it's really significant at this point, but if things keep going in that direction then the entire landscape will eventually change.

 

Ticket Sales will commence on October 19, 2018.

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Since we don't have a home and home with Argentina in November to qualify, mmmmmmaybe we will get an announcement after the Finals about the "2 Matches in Europe" next month that I have been hearing so much about.

 

Ah yes, his main point was absolutely right, I think.

 

Regarding a distinction between having/not having the club attachment/identity-I was looking at tenure with a team and most of the "haves" I listed were players with 4 or more years with the same NWSL club.

I think the NWSL has made it easier for players to become attached to the club because, in general, they are not playing under the cloud of "Will my team and/or the league be here next year?" Formerly, each season was potentially the only one - there was no incentive to put down roots.

I put Sonnett with the "haves," even though it has only been three years because she joined right out of college and due to the impression I have of the "Portland Thorns effect (PTE)." I did not put Horan there initially because she did 4 years professionally at PSG as a counterpoint to 3 at Portland, however I probably did not consider the PTE. Moving her to the "have" category makes sense.

My list was based on my impressions as well as number of clubs played for and duration of time at each. A poor way to try and articulate how the difference between "have" and "don't have" might be manifested, would be for a player to feel the club is the main course in her soccer life, while the national team is dessert. Of course I have no clue about how these women feel about their clubs or about the club-country dynamics in their soccer career.

 

Excellent! I think the "put down roots" phrase captures it.

And, I think it's very interesting to consider whether the establishment of "legitimate" leagues in nations may be really important. I wonder if "legitimate" means leagues where there is parity among teams, as in the US and in Australia. I can't comment on whether there is parity among teams in other nations' leagues, although I gather it is doubtful in some.

 

Excellent! I think the "put down roots" phrase captures it.

And, I think it's very interesting to consider whether the establishment of "legitimate" leagues in nations may be really important. I wonder if "legitimate" means leagues where there is parity among teams, as in the US and in Australia. I can't comment on whether there is parity among teams in other nations' leagues, although I gather it is doubtful in some.