So..you think Henry will be a mess by the end of her Thorns career? I don't think CPT meant she is a bad player. It's just that there are very good technical players she is competing for time with. Some are even Americans. She's definitely a great asset to the team.
Didn't get her early enough. Gotta ruin 'em when they're young Amandine, by the way, checks in at #5 on the top-ranked players in FIFA17, according to a FoxSports article by Aaron West.
I did it for you. After the game as she was walking off the field I introduced myself and told her I blog on BS and that my Portland friends on BS told me to ask you to start blogging again. She laughed and said she was thinking about it anyway but didn't indicate if or when she would do it or not. Just a beautiful person was my impression of her.
http://equalizersoccer.com/2016/11/...erm-contract-extension-portland-thorns-coach/ #1 takeaway from this article for me: Mark Parsons is only 30?!?
Henry on a 3 months long loan to PSG. French press suggest they are also trying to get her back to France when her contract with Thorns end.
Better yet, Portland-Seattle-Lyon-PSG pre-season round-robin tournament over two weeks at Providence Park! Merritt, are you listening? PS - If this were to come to pass, pre-first game party for out-of-towners at my house.
PSG currently got the lead in the FF1 thanks to their upset over Lyon. plus their adding Henry(on loan from the Thorns) & signed(though unconfirmed)my pick as best player at the last Olympics, Ashley Lawrence. Lyon of course looks more inviting with their pickup, Alex Morgan. But I got the feeling she might just disappoint cuz she's used to a more direct style than Lyon's more deliberate, passing game, and besides that. most opposing league teams park the bus when playing totally agree with Turbine Potsdam; their dominating the Bundesliga right now without even having the big names and way more exciting to watch than the more heralded Wolfsburg & Bayern Munich, and to see if what my choice as the best cb in the world, JoJo Elsig, will do outside her country since she's never been capped despite having something like 9 senior & 4 youth English NT players, Man City doesn't have the certain oomph or goal scoring power like we all might of expected a better choice might of been the Flash over the Thorns, now only their the NWSL, but the other teams mentioned wouldn't know how to match up with the amount of speed, physicality & athleticism the Flash got whereas the Thorns seemed s bit predictable
Throw in a Japanese club, and I am game! For instance, champions of Nippon TV Beleza, sporting Mizuho Sakaguchi and most of the young stars of latest U-17 and U-20 WWCs.
has there ever been any J team in since to match the strength of Kobe about 3-4 years ago when they had Sawa, Kinga, Kawasumi, Ji, Yanez & Moros together on the same squad?
No, I don't think so. At the time, they also had Ohno at her best and they were a quite perfect machine. Despite the fact that back then they lost Mobcast Cup vs OL for a late PK in extra-timr, I am persuaded that there was a short moment when they actually were the strongest women's club around.
While a mini tournament would great, that's the type of thing that would have to be built into league schedules. The best time for that would be August when most leagues r in preseason and the NWSL could build in a one week break for friendlies. If that were the case then u have two double headers with two NWSL teams facing two clubs from other leagues and flipping opponents for the second date. As to Lawrence, the dynamic between the CSA and the NWSL is odd at best. Throw out Sinclair who'd play in Portland regardless and u have the Canadians complaining their players don't play enough in the NWSL while most of their players who could start go to other leagues because of low CSA compensation. Not really sure there is much value in having Canada as an allocation partner.
I think that's a false problem. If something is a friendly tournament, then who comes will never completely follow league schedules - if a team wants to come, they will, and on the flipside there's no way NWSL as a league builds in a break for one (or two) team's friendlies. If Portland wants to host something, they'd do it on their own time, either a fortunate gap in their schedule, in their preseason, or in the offseason. And if something is official, as @blissett brought up, then you (or rather, FIFA) can put it at any time of the year and the affected leagues would simply capitulate and tweak the schedules just for the affected teams like they already do for the MCWC.
On the other hand if the league were to a build a one week gap for friendlies it gives teams another way to add to revenue. Maybe American fans will pay to see foreign stars the way they seem to do for American stars. They probably only do it in non Olympic or WC years when they already have a gap. As to schedules, Euro teams already have league, cup and UEFA CL matches crowding their schedules while NWSL only has 20 dates plus playoff to work around.
This isn't BroSo - I can almost guarantee that most American WoSo fans know little to nothing about who the stars are overseas or even who the strong teams are. And? This doesn't have to do with making a potential tournament, friendly or otherwise, any easier.
The main problem is cost vs reward...that's a given. That's why I mentioned Lyon and Chelsea who now have very marketable US stars that would draw fans to a friendly. I agree that u just couldn't grab a team like PSG and expect American pay to see them play the local club. Morgan and Lyon likely sells out Providence Park just based on the Morgan returns factor. Chelsea with Dunn all draws large. That's a bunch of extra cash they don't get if the place sits empty.
To tell the truth, I think a lot of fans always thought Morgan's commitment to Portland was dubious. Her last year she managed four Thorns appearances ( one goal) while keeping a full National team schedule, despite claims of injury. That this was due to her health stretched credulity, and her total output for the team was 15 goals in three years, very few of them in critical games. The Morgan returns angle won't sell many more seats. The Thorns besting the best Europe has to offer, on the other hand, would be a definite draw.