Great pick for Chicago. IMO, one of the three best players in the world. Great job marcia for choosing her. I think think she will jell wonderfully with Lloyd and Tarpley. Chicago has now jumped up to potentially being the team to beat. Now pick a solid goalkeeper.
And also, unfortunately, the top whiner in the world, who has yet to see a jersey go past she won't reach out and grab. And then fall down flailing. My absolute favorite moment in the Olympics was in one of Brazil's pool play games where she repeatedly kicked the ball away after fouls and throw-in calls to the other team and then SCREAMED at the ballboy when she didn't have a ball in her hands for a throw .02 seconds after the ball crossed the touchline. Can't. Stand. Players. Like. That. No matter how good they are offensively, and she is one of the best.
Here's my point. Are people going to get over the World Cup, our team are heros/theirs are villians stuff to embrace these players into their local team. Our players whine and fall trying to get calls also. It's not just the Brazilians. If and when she puts on a Chicago Red Stars uniform I will cheer for her as hard as I can against players of other teams. And that means Hope Solo, Heather Mitts, Shannon Boxx, etc. Is a Chicago fan who thinks Hope Solo is the be all-end all, greatest thing that ever happened to soccer, going to root for her or aginst her when Chicago plays St. Louis?
I can't stand players who signal for yellow cards, even when justified. Blanco and Christiane both do this. I don't like players who whine constantly on the field. Kerri Hanks of ND USED to do this a couple of seasons back. But you know what? Blanco plays for the Fire, so he's OK. If Christiane plays for the Red Stars, she'll be OK. Hanks plays for ND, so she's OK. Call me a hypocrite, say I have a double-standard, but I'm a fan. I really like Hope Solo, but when St. Louis plays Chicago, I hope she gets shelled.
I know, he's a b@stard, but he's our b@stard, yeah? I've grudgingly come around to that position on Blanco, but the histrionics still annoy me to no end. There's a woman on my own team who does the same kind of stuff and it's all I can do not to strangle her. Just play the damn game and leave the theatrics out of it. God knows Christiane is amazingly good enough not to need the extra BS.
I got into a discussion recently during the dallas game. This woman was complaining about the diving and whining on the field and said "You don't see it in the womans game, thats why I like it?". I basically wanted to just say "Are you blind?". But instead I insinuated that her statement was blatantly sexist.
Actually, at club level Cristiane has a history of not living up to expectations. In the Swedish league this year, she scored 6 goals in 14 matches, with only 3 assists. In the matches I saw, her play was often lacklustre and she was generally outshone by her lesser-hyped club-mate Daniela. Apparently it was a similar story in Germany. In Wolfsburg she scored 7 goals throughout the 2006/7 season of 22 matches, while the top scorer that year, Prinz, scored 28. At Potsdam she was a regular benchwarmer and also scored 7 in an entire season (top scorer Pohlers, with 36). Neither season was she even the top scorer in her team. When interviewed by a German newspaper, Cristiane attributed her lack of success to homesickness and "difficulty adapting to another rhythm of play". So yes, in a Brazil shirt, playing with Brazilians, I'll agree that she's one of the best. It'll be interesting to see if the rhythm in Chicago will suit her any better. Or even if her agent will manage to finalise a contract without getting too greedy.
Singing Christane is wonderful. I think she is the most underrated player in the women's game. Made my season-ticket decision that much easier!
Now that Marta is close to signing with LA, does anyone know how the negotiations between the Red Stars and Christiane are going?
Good news: news "I will be travelling to Chicago in February to join the Chicago Red Stars and I am confident that I will feel comfortable there." more: "I will go to Chicago in February," she said through an interpreter. "I am going to see if I can do the best I can. There are is a number of Brazilian girls playing there. We have many people looking forward to a great career."
Christiane hasn't really excelled in ether the German league or the Swedish one while making stellar performances in the Brazil WNT roughly at the same time. Some say she can't really be at her best without someone like Marta to feed her the balls she wants, but hopefully that's completely unfounded.
Well, she had Daniela "feeding her" at Linköping, but still didn't dazzle. Daniela consistently outperformed her.
I suspect she had trouble adjusting to the culture in Sweden and Germany and maybe that affected her performance? Hopefully she will be more comfortable in Chicago where there is a small but present Brazilian/Portuguese and a large Hispanic population. Although it still gets pretty FN cold in Chicago.