Pugh just cemented her spot on the Rio roster IMO with her performance today. Kept the offense alive almost the whole game AND tracked back many times in defensive support.
She is going to be fun to watch if she stays healthy and can maintain her current form. I hope the little cameo in the middle at CAM might be a glimpse of the future. We have issues in the middle of the park and her play is exactly what I think we need.
So Chris Henderson @ All White Kit suggested Pugh might be red shirted because between Olympics and U20 WC she'll miss a good part of the season. For me this is just another reason to turn pro.
Mallory Pugh and Ashley Sanchez look forward to playing together at UCLA. That team is going to be exciting to watch.
I'm excited. Maybe this is premature in saying this but I think she's the next greatest player we'll have after Michele Akers, Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach. Alex Morgan being injury prone will inevitably fall short of her potential.... BTW way off topic but I found out two days ago I got accepted into UCLA for Graduate School so I'm excited to be a part of the UCLA community and supporting Mallory Pugh's work with the team if she decides to stick with being a Bruin.
Congratulations! That is a great accomplishment. I hope attending those WOSO matches will fit into your schedule, sounds like an amazing team, on paper.
Pugh and Sanchez may end up being a better duo in college than Dunn and Ohai. Take that Dorrance. You better step up your game.
Maybe a more interesting question would be: "What is it about women's soccer that attracts conspiracy theorists?"
Pugh likely verbally committed to UCLA a couple years ago so doubt Ellis had much to say on the matter.
It's not surprising to me that she chose UCLA. If you are trying to maximize soccer rankings, weather, proximity to media outlets/internships (a lot of these girls seem to be angling for broadcasting opps)... you can't beat it. It wouldn't be my cup of tea but a lot of athletes are flocking there these days.
A lot of everybody would like to go there and it is quite difficult to be admitted. Last year, they offered admission to 16,027 of the 92,722 High School senior applicants. Of the 16K offered admission, 9,351 were in-state students and 4140 of them enrolled. UCLA is a great school -- and that's coming from somebody with a graduate degree from USC.
It does not make sense to me that Pugh is playing college soccer. I could see going to college ,certainly. But, she clearly can play at the most elite world class level, so it would make more sense to me for her to take classes and train with us wnt. She isn't playing u-20 World Cup, right? Also, let me acknowledge that it ain't my life and maybe if I was ridiculously talented at such a young age that I still would want the experience of a college team. I just hope she doesn't get injured with weaker players deciding that hard fouls are the only way to contain her. This happened a fair amount with crystal Dunn her senior year , though I don't recall her high ankle sprain that year being due to a foul.
Again, the problem is it doesnt up her market value like it would with a male player. If Pugh signs tomorrow or after any number of years at UCLA she still males the same because subsidized NT players make what they make. If her thoughts r try for more money in Europe than the $40K NWSL stipend then the time to do that is during the dead period after the Olympics. A rich European club who could afford her would rather have her developing in their program than wasting time in college. What this comes down to is Pugh essentially deciding to spend a couple years in the Peace Corps
Or she realizes the value of a UCLA degree and the value of playing for Amanda in terms of development. Her parents aren't poor. Her dad is a business owner. This isn't about money. She truly loves to play soccer and she is pretty close to Marley Canales in her recruiting class. Most of the national team players have encouraged her to go to college. If you have ever been to UCLA's campus and the west side of LA you know that it is far from the peace corps and there are lots of opportunities. Ask Lauren Holiday if going to UCLA worked out better for her than the national team. No meeting her future NBA husband if she skips college.
Everyone seems to equate going pro to not going to college. That isnt the case. Going pro means she cant play soccer in college. Soccer is hardly a full time job tho in her case it will pay like one. All she is doing is passing up a free or somewhat free education for one she will certainly be able to afford. Let's say she signs with Portland who kinda have her rights til the end of the year. If she goes pro she could enroll in UP in the fall. Yes there would be some in and out with NT duty but other college players seem to handle that OK. Yes she would have to tailor her Spring schedule a bit when the league starts up. On the flip side she makes at least a $200,000 each year plus big bonuses if they defend their cup and sponsor deals. She also gets to pick a good NWSL program to start in with a great fan base instead of going to whoever in the draft. Now, if u thumb back far enough in this thread u'll see I was against Horan going pro because the money simply didnt seem good enough to pass up a college education. In Pugh's case the money is good enough IMO. As to the opinion of other NT members, none of them were ever in this position. Alex Morgan didnt decide between Cal and the NT. Neither did Horan, who passed on school for much less, nor Holiday. If $200K a year had been on the table some of them might not have gone to college either. Holiday's husband didnt remain at UCLA very long once the opportunity to cash in came along. Lastly I keep seeing this notion that Pugh will likely go to school for a couple years they quit to turn pro. What a waste. For me the best policy is remove temptation. No full NT contracts to players under 21. Then getting an education is the easy choice.
I don't see any justification. Considering the case that she is on the NT and is doing the work of an NT player, deciding she isn't eligible for a full contract smacks of a huge antitrust case. There are age limits in NFL and in NBA ( with exceptions) but these were allegedly in the interests of the players and are tenuous at best. Considering the current NCAA athlete compensation suits working their way through the courts, they are likely to be struck down. Women's soccer has a couple extra legal hurdles it would have to cross. 1) there is no age requirement in the MLS or in the USSF men's national team contracts, nor is there one in FIFA. To my knowledge, none has been contemplated. Freddy Adu signed a pro contract at age 14 with the MLS. ( Leo Messi had one at age 8). Freddy signed his contract the same year the NFL age rule was instituted. Whatever you think of the success of his career (he's now 26 and plays for the Tampa Bay franchise) it followed FIFA statutes on the employment of minors, including a set aside for education. In Europe, youth players working under the same rules have played for years as youth, including women. Just as an example, Birgit Prinz ( degree in psychology fron Goethe) and Alexandra Popp ( fachabitur diploma, zookeeper apprenticeship) were/ are provided with educations while they played. In Popp's case it was in a program normally reserved for Schalke boys. 2) one of the reasons the NFL (3 year wait after HS) and NBA (1 year wait after HS ) were able to have these age restrictions was the argument that it was for the safety and well being of the players. (MLB has a age 16 tryout requirement in keeping with many child labor laws) This line of argument would be pretty difficult for a player who is already taking the risks and doing the work of all the professional players on the National team. If she is good enough to start and star on the national team, the argument that she isn't entitled to the compensation the rest of the players are because of her age seems impossible. Considering the entwinement between NT contracts and professional team contacts in the NWSL, it just smacks of age discrimination. 3) considering that Europe and FIFA accept youth players while providing for their educations, the net effect for talented kids choosing another path besides college would be that they just go to Europe. If you decided that youth players are too young to play on the national team it would be one thing, but that rule would have eliminated half tof the National team's best players. No Hamm, no Aker, no Milbrett, etc. don't see it happening. Perhaps the more reasonable path is to require the education requirements in the FIFA document on the status and transfer of players the rest of the world does and just require education until completion of degree or age 23 the rest of the world does. I could go into the success of college programs in actually educating players , but that would be a whole different can of worms. She's going to UCLA. Look at the soccer team's graduation success rate compared to the rest of the student body.
That would be another acceptable approach. What isnt acceptable to me to me is having USSF money the reason someone forgoes a college education. Very few players would turn down a scholarship to a four year school to play for NWSL pay. In the Pugh case it was the fed money that was the temptation and that seems a conflict of interest by the federation since they get the same amount of play out of the athlete whether she goes pro or not.
Well, what we are talking about is the most talented players going pro. Nobody is going to go pro for the $7-$10k that a non-national team player would get, unless they REALLY hate the idea of school. In that case, let them choose another path and provide for whatever trade of professional training that requires.
Yeah but even they got the max I dont think $37K over a very short career beats a free college educ. Pugh is the exception. If this is Horan she still has to put in the work at the pro level to get the contract.
So, serious question, are you against US males foregoing college (or part of college, in which case they don't get their degrees) to go play internationally for relatively low level pro teams? Is there a difference?
I dont really see the difference tho there is a much more achievable top end for males. If ur not getting life changing money get the degree first.