Ellis is not supposed to develop players. She plays contracted players to the best of her abilities. If she attempted to open up the pool she would have been fired a long time ago. See Sermanni, Tom.
agreed. heartbreaking for both. but in the harsh realities... short was never ellis' type of ob., and i see long and a healthy brian as both better than zerboni.
So, is there any player left out that is an under contract WNT player? Are Long, Brian, Krieger under contract? (forgive me for not knowing the proper terminology)
One major difference between the two teams is that many of the older players on the 2015 team were coming off the bench, whereas, many of them are starters on the 2019 team. I was curious, so I calculated it myself (may be errors, but I did get the same average roster ages as you, so I think these are correct)... AVG AGE OF 2015 WC FINAL STARTERS = 28.23 (28 years, 84 days) AVG AGE OF FIELD PLAYERS = 27.67 (27 years, 244 days) 2015 WC FINALS STARTERS 33.85 - Hope Solo 30.86 - Ali Krieger 23.16 - Julie (Johnston) Ertz 30.00 - Becky Sauerbrunn 26.84 - Meghan Klingenberg 27.02 - Tobin Heath 22.27 - Morgan Brian 27.68 - Lauren Holiday 29.92 - Megan Rapinoe 26.03 - Alex Morgan 32.89 - Carli Lloyd AVG AGE OF 2019 WC POSSIBLE STARTERS = 29.11 (29 years, 40 days) AVG AGE OF FIELD PLAYERS = 28.91 (28 years, 332 days) 2019 POSSIBLE STARTING LINEUP 31.13 - Alyssa Naeher 30.84 - Kelley O'Hara 26.07 - Abby Dahlkemper 34.00 - Becky Sauerbrunn 26.93 - Crystal Dunn 27.17 - Julie Ertz 25.03 - Lindsey Horan 24.07 - Rose Lavelle 30.03 - Alex Morgan 31.02 - Tobin Heath 33.92 - Megan Rapinoe OTHERS 28.57 - Adrianna Franch 33.63 - Ashlyn Harris 34.86 - Ali Krieger 25.53 - Emily Sonnett 20.71 - Tierna Davidson 31.82 - Allie Long 26.66 - Samantha Mewis 26.28 - Morgan Brian 21.11 - Mallory Pugh 30.44 - Christen Press 31.27 - Jessica McDonald 36.89 - Carli Lloyd The average age of the players that see the bulk of playing time might be a year older than the 2015 team.
I think your 2019 starting line-up is right on -- but I would start Sam Mewis rather than Lavelle in the midfield. Mewis is so much stronger on defense, and pretty good on offense also.
Yeah, that's not my preferred starting lineup, just the lineup that Ellis seems to want to play the most. I love Mewis and think she should be a starter along with Ertz in the midfield. I have my reservations about both Horan and Lavelle and would be fine with either starting, but I think we're better with just one of them plus Mewis.
Developing "players" was the wrong term, and I misspoke. I meant scouting the right players, and building a roster. The WNT is not a development program.
What is ellis' type of OB? A center back or forward playing out of position? I would have less of an issue with her selections if they were coherent. She claims to like attacking OB's, yet her preferences for Davdison and Sonnett (now apparently Krieger) at those positions make no sense in context. Looking at what the team needs, and Brian's performance compared to Zerboni's over the past 3 years... I just don't understand why Brian is on this roster. They need a defensive midfielder that can fill in for Ertz. Brian is not that. Long isn't that either. Zerboni is very good at winning the ball and making forward plays. The other two mostly back pass.
She has little say in roster building. Almost all of the spots are contracted. As much as I don't care for Ellis' coaching, I can't fault her for roster selection.
Well, i'm not sure what this means--she's not Ellis's type of OB. I think everyone agrees she's a very good defensive player, which is job 1 for a fullback, and who was Short just dropped for? Answer: Krieger, another defensive player. Is Krieger better defensively than Short? I don't really care one way or another, but if Short was not Ellis's type of OB, why keep inviting her to camp and having her on the squad? She been a a regular roster player for, what two years--and yet almost never played--which was very strange indeed. It's very weird for someone to be a regular on the squad for as long as Short as been and then suddenly be dropped in favor of a player, Krieger, who'd herself been in soccer Siberia for two years. Now, wham, she wants Krieger again. It makes Ellis look bad, IMO.
How can you not fault her for roster selection? She's bringing in aging, injured and/or out-of-form players to fill the final spots on a team that already has a lot of age and injuries. This is the same coach that brought an injured and embarassingly out-of-form/condition Rapinoe to OG16. Her decision to bring Rapinoe with a limited roster was immediately questioned by everyone. She hadn't played since tearing her ACL 8 months prior in December. She brought her though and played her in the last Group Stage game and Rapinoe was awful. Then, in the QF, she brought her in and had to waste 2 subs to get less than 30 minutes out of her, which was inexcusable. It was one of the most brain-dead coaching decisions I've seen in my lifetime, which 100% started with a roster selection mistake.
Doesn't Ellis pick the Allocated players every year? It is possible she can only change a certain number or something, but she is the only one with input on who is under contract, afaik.
Zerboni and Short are allocated. Krieger, Davidson and McDonald are not allocated. 22 ALLOCATED PLAYERS FOR 2019 Morgan Brian Julie Ertz Alyssa Naeher Casey Short Abby Dahlkemper Crystal Dunn Sam Mewis McCall Zerboni Ashlyn Harris Alex Morgan Adrianna Franch Tobin Heath Lindsey Horan Emily Sonnett Allie Long Megan Rapinoe Carli Lloyd Kelley O’Hara Christen Press Becky Sauerbrunn Rose Lavelle Mallory Pugh
20 or 21 spots are guaranteed. Her hands are tied for friendlies let alone World Cup. Please don't get me started on Rapinoe. I think the international game has passed her at the top levels and she will be exposed. I hope I'm wrong.
You know who I feel bad for? Crystal Dunn. She's the new Lauren Cheney. What does Crystal Dunn have to do to actually play the position where she helps the team the most. Her versatility is being used against her. She's not even the third choice outside back for the Courage, but she's going to find herself playing there in France. While it's a step up from criminally being left off the 2015 squad (for marketing reasons - the injured Alex Morgan shouldn't have been on the squad), it's still another cycle where she's marginalized. I suppose it's better than being left off the squad altogether had Ellis actually decided to take some healthy outside backs.
The WNT WWC squad took injured players to pretty much every tournament since (and including) 1999. The MNT took a couple to Germany 2006.
I don't disagree with this at all. I'd personally rather see Press than Rapinoe, but Rapinoe is good (usually) at taking corners and has a pretty good outside shot... she's just too slow for me.
Without a doubt, Dunn helps the team the most at LB. She's good, but there's definitely better options at forward and midfield, so she'd be coming off the bench and probably not the first choice off the bench either.
I was hopeful a Florida State grad would make the final roster. Casey Short is a wonderful young woman and I can't help but feel terrible for her. Maybe the writing was on the wall, I cannot remember the last time she actually played for the team. To make 20/21 rosters leading up to this tournament and not make the team is a real punch in the gut. I'll still be pulling hard for team USA this summer!!!!
That's the number of contracts, but contracts come up every 6 months. Ellis and the coaching staff are the ones who decide who stays on contract and who loses theirs. Her hands were somewhat tied in 2015, but having been coach for this entire cycle, this is the roster Ellis built, and she owns it.
I would start Mewis over Horan. Mewis is way better on the dribble, wayyyyyyyyy better defensively, way more mobile on offense and defense, a better passer. Horan is better in the air and has a moderately better shot. But, Mewis is ok in the air, and we have Ertz for set pieces. It's kind of surprising to me that Horan starts over Mewis.