the contract system is a stand in until club football can support the women. that's not happening right now. so if these are the only veterans you want out then the system is really working. maybe not perfectly. but working. once they're not good enough for the coaching staff, they don't get their contact renewed. ask ali krieger. lloyd is already reduced to mostly sub status, and that may lessen even more next year. she's just there as one of those experienced veterans you always tend to have on a team. pinoe is there because she's still playing well. in fact I don't know any of these "young players" who should take her spot.
Plenty of women are expected to be supported by club football. A spot on the USWNT should be not be guaranteed by contract. I'm not sure what is in the contracts and what isn't. I wish we had more information but we do not.
Dunn was tried at central forward for a chunk of 2016-17 when we were playing a 2 front and didn't really do well against decent teams. Her best position is wide mid and wing back, imo. The best CFs on this team are bar none Press and Alex. For some reason Alex never gets subbed off though, even when she's having a bad game.
I thought Dunn played well at forward during that period. Right now, seems we need her for speed in our back line. Can we clone her? Lloyd is still here because she possesses the outside shot that can break bunkers. I agree though, that she is nearing retirement.
Reminds me of my daughters HS Coach. They managed to win in spite of a terrible coach. Their talent overcame his horrible coaching. Jill Ellis is not the person to take this team anywhere. As I said in another post.... some teams are evolving and playing more sophisticated brand of soccer (see Spain and Japan at the U20 level). The USA is not evolving and are basically doing what we have always done. We can either get proactive and evolve our game or do nothing until it's too late. I tend to think we will do the latter but hope the new Womens GM realizes that a change of direction is needed