I agree. The beat situations are where both parties need each other. Lyon failed mainly when they didn't use her to her best abilities in the last year.
NWSL training camps do not open for another two months. Rapinoe would have definitely spoken to Laura Harvey stateside, who would have definitely advised her she wanted her 150% mentally ready for the start of training camp. They would have talked about Lair and Harvey would have sympathized and pumped up Rapinoe about her talent, her role on the Reign and the NWSL season. I'm not up to speed on the timelines but I wonder if she decided to scuttle the boat after talking to Harvey and informed Lair on arrival (ergo the bench on the weekend and no announcement to poison the air) or if she came back to play and if not having a taste of the field factored in. Seems like a win/win. As the season has gone, the loss is negligible. OL could accomplish what they have this season with 10 players on the field. And they can take the money and find a better fit. D1 followers - I know it's subjective and the subject of a novel, but boiled down to it's essence, do you have an opinion on why this didn't work out?
I'm wondering if Megan decided that one year in France was enough. It's one thing to go for a year. It's another thing to go long term and have all your stateside relationships wane. I think she has a lot of friends here in the Pacific Northwest (I saw her at a Thorns game when the Reign were off). The truth may be that she was homesick, as some have said.
Well, we don't know that. She is a USA residency player. Her primary contract is with the USWNT. Any other contract she has is really a loan. And we know that the USSF is pressuring players under residency to come home ( press is the prime interview here) We know that in that case the issue was that her team was still in the CL and she come home when they no longer are. Apparently Lyon no longer is.
If it really is pressure from the federation than Tobin Heath should be coming home from Paris since her team is no longer in CL either. But Pinoe wrote a blog recently and described being pretty homesick and generally burned out. And there was also an article today in a French paper alleging that she did not have a good relationship with the Lyon coach and he did not treat her well (which of course he denied).
I highly doubt Rapinoe was on loan to Lyon as all the press release after the left Seattle said she re signed with Lyon. That is contrary to signings like Harris and Krieger where it clearly stated they were on loan. While I think USSF is pressuring some players, I don't think it was the case with Rapinoe. I think this was the perfect situation for her because they had already been knocked out of the CL so apart from the money she would likely be giving up, I think it was an easy decision to make.
I'm glad she's back home now to rest in the coming week because she has been playing for two years straight now without a real break. At that pace she could be burned out by the WC in 2015
We shall see if Heath comes home in the next few weeks. Let's revisit that when the nwsl season starts.
I think for Heath her main focus is on getting healthy and even if she's back, PSG still have win out their games to retain their second place standing to qualify for CL so her services are still needed
I saw that interview also. Interestingly the players who left Tyresö after beating Hjørring weren't American, they were Hansen and Hermoso, a Norwegian and a Spaniard. Harris left end-of-season but it will be interesting to see how the spring plays out for Press, Engen, Klingenberg and Krieger. Tyresö drew the Austrians and barring eternal damnation will go past them and play in the semi's twice in late April against the Wolfsburg/Barcelona winner... two weeks after the NWSL season opens. Win that and they're in Lisbon May 22 a full six weeks after the start of the season. Most teams can absorb a player arriving late from a CL run, but if you're Houston and it's half your back line it makes things more interesting. Women's football used to be so simple...
She took it about as seriously as she does anything else. There is a reason why coaches love her for her creativity and risk-taking and at the same time, are driven absolutely insane by her inconsistent play. One of the reasons I was in favor of this move was to see if Lair could get her to play more consistently, but I guess this is just how she is. At her age right now, she's not likely to change, is she? She certainly hasn't changed before.
It's not like Lair didn't know what he was getting. Here is part of a Leander article four months or so before she went to Lyon. http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/...ature-uswnt-risk-taker-london-olympics-090512
having seen them interact i think he had as good a relationship with her as with anyone on the team; i got the impression he really liked her, despite the language barrier (it has to be said that she didn't learn much french in the time she was here: in the same amount of time i've seen other players both men and women makes ten times as much progress). sure he sent her to the reserves for a match after her dismal CL performance, but she wasn't the only one. he can give ferocious tongue lashings to players, he's a hotheaded guy, but he's lovable at the same time. she didn't get treated any differently tfrom any of the other players, but i think pinoe might have been a bit thin-skinned for it.
I'm not really sure why you would want a player that is predictable. I've told my daughter that she must build a repertoire, to be creative so that your opponnent has no idea what to expect from you. She is exciting and keeps you on the edge of your seat. AndI think that helps to keep the other players alert. Heather O'Reilly, very fast, but everytime takes it down the right side to the endline and passes back.
This is technically off topic but that's inaccurate. If Tyresö beat the Austrians, they will face Arsenal or Birmingham in the semis. Wolfsburg/Barcelona will face Turbine Potsdam/Torres. So the odds are certainly in Tyresö's favour and chances are Press, Engen and Klingenberg (Krieger is not returning to Tyresö) will not be returning to the NWSL until late May.
Ack! Sorry you are 100% correct, I was reading about Potsdam and an all-German semi and mixed the two up. Thanks for pointing that out, and Ali Krieger. Definitely increases their chances of the final and would love to see them win it.
of course you're right, but nobody's talking about predictable in the way you mean. when unpredictable means you have no idea if a player's going to play to her ability or be a stiff you have to bring off at HT or earlier, regardless of how she looked in practice during the week, or means that when she leaves on summer, winter or NT break you don't know what day or even what week she's coming back... that's a pretty crappy kind of unpredictable.
did her contract say she had to be released for all uswnt callups? if ol signed such a contract (press signed one with tyreso) then they knew exactly what they were getting into. failing that, they had the upper hand in determining her departure and return dates for uswnt callups outside of fifa dates. should not be unpredictability there.
it's not just NT callups, it's pretty clear she picked and chose there too, as has been pointed out elsewhere. it's also megan rapinoe soccer camps and just hanging with her peeps in portland.
meaning that soccer camps and hanging with her peeps are baked into her contract? that's crazy! ol is at fault if that's true. and if it's not part of her contract, the club decides when she leaves and when she returns. again, no unpredictability.
32-0 vs. Millikin University? http://www.olweb.fr/en/article/ol-beat-millikin-university-32-0-64407.html
That's worst than Pia's team in the qualifiers doing high fives while smashing Banana Republic teams. I would hope TS has some class this year and turns it down after 10-0, just play possession and keep away. Necib (24', 37', 41', 51', 69', 87') had a good game for once. Ops, it wasn't the OGs or WC.