WUSA is approaching an interesting offseason. It appears that the contraction of one team is highly probable meaning that there will be a large number of league veterans as well as rookies available in the offseason. If you were the Beat coach going into 2004, who would you consider "automatics" for your roster spots and who would be "on the bubble"? Here is my opinion based on the probability that we will draft a couple of players to shake up the team as we did in 2003.... Automatics 1. Briana Scurry 2. Melanie Wilson 3. Kylie Bivens 4. Nancy Augustyniak 5. Sharolta Nonen 6. Homare Sawa 7. Abby Crumpton 8. Maribel Dominguez 9. Cindy Parlow 10. Conny Pohlers On the bubble 11. Julie Augustyniak or Leslie Gaston? We don't have enough roster space on the 16 player active roster for both and Julie may become vulnerable in a dispersal draft if we try to move her to a reserve roster spot. I would stick with Julie on the active roster because the fact that Gaston has had 4 knee injuries and it would totally devestate out team to let Julie go and have Leslie go down with an injury. Based on current playing time, I don't think Coach Stone agrees with me. 12.-13. Two out of Nikki Serlenga, Marci Miller and Callie Withers. If any of these players are moved from the active roster, we could lose them. 14. Charmaine Hooper? She is a warrior, a key contributor to 3 years of success, and is in the best shape of her life. The problem is her age. How much longer can she go on. She may earn a roster spot next year but I think it would be a mistake to build the offense around her next year. I would like to see Maribel and Conny up front next year. 15.-16. Draft picks/new additions 17. Leslie or Julie? 18. The odd person out in the Nikki, Marci, Callie battle 19. ???? 20. ???? Warren, Carter, Minnax and Dieke would battle rookies for the final spots. Opinions anyone?
Don't know all the players well enough but... Abby Crumpton. Don't know that she's indispensible yet. She may well be. I like what I'm seeing from her. Can't comment much on the defense. Obviously Scurry, Parlow, Sawa, Dominguez and I gotta say Hooper. She's our stalwart goal scorer. You keep her and ride her till she gives out. In the meantime, keep developing Pohlers (she needs to develop her finishing touch a lot more IMO). Other than that, I can't for much of a knowledgable opinion. Anybody else care to comment?
Re: Hooper My rational on Hooper explained a little further... Our forwards literally score all the goals. You take Hooper out and BAM! there goes 8-10 goals next season if she holds true to form. Hoop right now has 8, Dominguez has 7 and Pohlers 4 (I think I remembered the stats from my other post/topic right). I think she makes too big a contribution to let her go or consider her expendable. Where would we be this year without her 8+ goals? Definitely not top of the heap. I think you GOT to keep Hooper. If our Midfielders were scoring goals, then they could pick up the slack. But our mids don't seem to be much on shooting, or at least scoring. Is that a product of our system where the mids just feed the forwards the ball? I don't know. But let's not fix what ain't broke unless you're darn sure you can make it better.
Difficult thread. Maybe with one team out, the league will expand the active roster by 2 or so. No matter what....I'd say Nikki should be on the keeper list...for one, she has a five year contract, and two...there's no way Stone would get rid of her. That would be waaaay stupid, even for him. Out: Deike for sure. I don't know about the rest. Callie will have to improve to make an argument about staying. She would have to be 90 minutes fit. I actually hate thinking about sh!t like this. I think i'm going to focus on the playoffs for now. This seems more like an off-season discussion. WAR BEAT!! Let's get that damn cup!!!!!!!!
Serlenga for sure. Hooper is great, but getting old and has actually mentioned retiring. I think Wilson is very good and would keep her, but don't be surprized if some other team steals her away this winter.
Well the season is over and we can look back on the contributions of each player. Does anyone have any opinions or changes of opinions regarding who is indispensable? Miller really impressed me in the semifinal and final. Her "air" game in midfield helped to disrupt opponent posession.
The off-season may bring a whole bunch of opportunties to pick up new players. I still want to keep Nikki. Withers must get in shape or ship out. Good-bye Dieke. I'm a big Parlow fan, but she seems to be off her stride recently. She should have to earn her spot. Is her role that of a mid or a forward?
Parlow seemed to have some very poor touches in the final. I wouldn't mind platooning her with Hooper at target forward until she proves herself and bounces back. I know the Beat would never do this because it wouldn't be seen as cost effective to platoon two of your highest paid players.
THE HORROR! Charmaine is a physical phenom, she can play as long as her heart tells her it wants to. And I for one don't want to ever see the Beat play against her. The first players to go are the developmental, Carter, Dean and Minnax. Tough call on our reserves, Crumpton and Warren, both had good first seasons and got more playing time than some active players. I would waive Dieke before either Crumpton or Warren, however all 3 may have to go. Julie is definitely on the bubble, as is Withers (and her wonderful potential). Wilson is a very tough call - she could/should be shopped around, but like the Erica Iverson deal, she is too good to just let go, the Beat have to get someone(s) worthy of the best #2 keeper. Our backline is solid and no need to mess with it. Gaston, (and her 11 knee ops), has proven all season long that she belongs. We will need capable backups for our defenders (now that it appears Bivens is USWNT call-up bond). We have a stack of talented forwards. Power, strength, speed, creativity...the Beat got it. But need a consistant finisher, (one who can make the lay up). And Maribel belongs up top, not in the midfield. Midfield...maybe its time to shake things up here. Change shape or something. We seemed to lose alot of control in this area down the stretch this season.
I Disagree with You All About Dieke Hey guys, I think you're wrong to want to drop Iffy from next year's roster. (Well, with a name like MsHyde what did you expect -- me to agree?) Last season Dieke played only 736 minutes in 13 games. She had a bumpy start, making rookie mistakes and looking woefully devoid of confidence. All of us got on her case and criticized a lot. BUT, the last 3 or 4 games she played were revelations to me. She seemed to snap to life. She is FAST, she can play one touch balls, her decision time is quick, she is STRONG, she has a good foot and can clear balls to the mids or forwards. Iffy scored 1 goal and sent a perfect ball to Pohlers for another. She can sprint up the flanks in flash time. Dieke committed 4 fouls, but suffered 23. She drew no cards. Lastly she has one thing that our other backs do not: she is a little taller than they. Think of it, Nonen is our tallest back at just 5'6''. At times our team looks like kids running shoulder to shoulder with giants -- think Prinz and Wambach. I love our backs dearly, but they could use some height at times, as do our set pieces. Ok, I've diagreed. I want to see Dieke play here another year and keep improving.
Re: I Disagree with You All About Dieke :: passes out :: You must be joking. This is a tightly contested high level (professional) sports league. There is no time for people who play nervous or tenative. Crumpton, Warren, Dominquez and Gaston were all rookies and they never needed time to get out there and play at the level expected. You can't say that about Dieke. She is fast and a little taller than most, I'll give you that...but, she lacks 1 v 1 skills, passing ability and quick decision making skills. She needs to simmer in the W-league until she can step up and play at this level. Now, lets keep this debate going...since we have no other WUSA things to discuss? Anyone else out there want to guess who is to get the boot this off-season??
I don't understand why Hoops age is such a problem. It hasn't affected her yet, at all, so why worry about it. It won't happen over night, so you'll easily beable to tell. LEAVE MY HOOP ALONE That is my insightful addition to this thread.