No, I think you need a lighter color for the Red Stars to stand out on. Besides, they're red stars, not red shirts.
Chicago Red Stars Sign Sweden's Frida Östberg & Caroline Jönsson Tuesday, February 03, 2009 Bridgeview, IL (February 3, 2009) The Chicago Red Stars have secured the services of Sweden’s Frida Östberg & Caroline Jönsson for the 2009 WPS season, General Manager Marcia McDermott announced today. With a combined 15 years and 158 caps on the international stage, the veteran Swedes will bring a wealth of experience and a championship pedigree to the Chicago Red Stars. Chicago Red Stars Sign Australia's Heather Garriock Monday, February 02, 2009 Bridgeview, IL (February 2, 2009) - The Chicago Red Stars have signed Australian midfielder Heather Garriock for the 2009 WPS season, General Manager Marcia McDermott announced today. Garriock, 26, is a 10-year veteran of the Australian National Team, having earned 112 caps and scoring 19 goals. She made her Australian National Team debut in 1999 at the age of 16, and has competed in two World Cups and two Olympics.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11618270 FC Gold Pride has signed Formiga to a one year deal with two one year options after that.
Boston Breakers Come to Terms With England Defender Alex Scott The Boston Breakers announced the signing of English National Team defender Alex Scott to a multi-year contract this afternoon. Terms of the deals were not disclosed per team policy. Scott becomes the second international player to sign with the Breakers, following Canada’s Christine Latham, whose signing was announced on Jan. 9. “Alex is a great addition to our squad,” said Breakers President and General Manager Joe Cummings. “She is a young defender who already has a wealth of international experience and can help build our attack from the right back position.” C'Mon Kelly...
Formiga signs with that Bay Area team (Gold Pride? Is that what they called themselves? Are they planning on using leftover US jerseys from the last world cup?!)
So BOS and GP have officially signed players, too, now? That's great! Now every team has an international signing they can brag about! Oh, wait....
I would say something, but after Rokagrl13 got the inside scoop at the trivia night, I promised I wouldn't gripe for two weeks. We still have another week and I think we will hear something soon. Even Tom Timmerman at the Post-Dispatch said that we would hear about some Athletica signings shortly after the draft. Besides, Cooper's got a lot of irons in the fire right now. He's trying to get the WPS team ready for the season and still trying to find investors for the MLS team. I'll give them another week.
Oh right.... I forgot about that.... Still. Not fun to be the last team to make an announcement. <sigh> but I guess some team had to be last.... You'd think after all the "oops"es we've had so far they'd make a positive announcement ASAP.
Sol to Announce Signing of "Female Beckham" Aya Miyama Wednesday & More The L.A. Women's Professional Soccer entrant describes Aya Miyama "as the cornerstone of the Japanese Women's National Team and observes she is "touted as one of the best young players in the world." She'll be introduced at a 10 a.m. press conference at Home Depot Center. This is a big deal in the Japanese-language press with more than a half dozen outlets attending the event. The English remember her - and gave her the nickname - after she scored two goals from direct free kicks against them at the 2007 Women's World Cup.
I thought it might be a good point to summarize the signings, since they have been coming in fast and furious over the past week. Please correct me where I'm wrong: Boston Breakers: Signed-Christine Latham, Alex Scott Probably but not confirmed-Kelly Smith Unknown-Fabiana, Candace Chapman, Shinobu Ohno Chicago Red Stars: Signed-Karen Carney, Heather Garriock, Caroline Jonsson, Frida Ostberg Probably but not confirmed-Christiane FC Gold Pride: Signed-Formiga, Unknown-Adriane, Eriko Arakawa, Erika, Anja Mittag, Christine Sinclair Los Angeles Sol: Signed-Marta, Johanna Frisk, Aya Miyama Unknown-Camille Abily, Han Duan Saint Louis Athletica: Probably but not confirmed-Eniola Aluko, Sara Larsson Unknown-Daniela, Francielle, Melissa Tancredi, Renata Costa (no) Sky Blue FC: Signed-Collette McCallum, Sarah Walsh Probably but not confirmed-Rosana Unknown-Anita Asante, Ester, Ouying Zhang Washington Freedom: Probably but not confirmed-Lisa DeVanna, Homare Sawa Unknown-Sonia Bompastor, Erin McLeod, Louisa Necib, Lene Mykjaland (no) I know a lot of the players I have in the "unknown" category are really definite "no", but I just thought I would lump them all together. There are a couple of players that I know I have heard info on, but can't find it, so please correct this list if you have further info.
Sky Blue FC: Signed: Collette McCallum, Sarah Walsh, and Rosana; TBD: Anita Asante, Ester, Kelly Parker Ouying Zhang is not an official international. (I believe married to an American but honestly I can't remember why she's not considered part of the technical 5 internationals)
Candace Chapman turned down a contract offer from Swedish club Piteå and has according to Swedish sources agreed on a three year contract with the Breakers. Shinobu Ohno has, if I understand Google's translation from Japanese (not the easiest task), renewed her contract with Beleza. Anja Mittag is tied to Potsdam in Germany at least until June 30. It seems like she will continue to play in Germany even after that, but her statement wasn't completely clear cut. Camille Abily has confirmed (interview on French women's football site) that she will join LA Sol. She has already left Olympique Lyon and will travel to USA at the end of the month. Rosana has left her Austrian club Neulengbach. Club and player says she will join Sky Blue. Abily's Lyon team mate Sonia Bompastor wants to see Lyon through their UEFA Women's Cup campaign before joining Washington, this according to unconfirmed information. Semis are in early April, finals in late May. I have no idea how Washington feels about this. I have links to all this, but seriously, it's almost midnight here.
Thanks for the info Dandal, I had heard nothing about the french players. Have you heard about Daniela because I read that she was not on the roster of her swedish team? (tomorrow of course)
Sorry for the omission of Kelly Parker. I was at the draft and I can't remember for sure, but I thought that they renounced the rights to someone when Ouying Zhang was drafted. But like I said I could be wrong. Thanks for the info.
From all the info that you provide us, I was beginning to think you never slept. Thanks, once again, for keeping us up-to-date on these players. Although it may not come to this, because there is probably going to be at least one that doesn't sign on each team, teams at some point will have to make a decision on which of the five will finally be signed. Most have 6 that they are allowed to negotiate with, but can only sign five. I guess only Chicago is close to finishing with five players at this point.
Now that Dandal is reporting that Camille Abily is leaving Olympique Lyonnais, L.A. appears to have four internationals confirmed: Marta, Aya Miyama, Johanna Frisk, and now Abily. That means they'll have to choose between Karina LeBlanc and Han Duan.
Karina LeBlanc will not count as an international player since she's a dualie (Canadian/American) -- she was actually born in Atlanta as a Hurricane baby. Ouying Zhang won't count as an int'l player either as she's married to an American and now holds a green card.
Exciting about Miyama, but not just one of the best "young" players in the world - here's from an article quoting the praise by the Norwegian coach that she was "the best player at the Olympics" - http://sankei.jp.msn.com/beijing2008...0933003-n1.htm And after they lost the bronze game to Germany - http://sankei.jp.msn.com/beijing2008...0933003-p3.htm - She really wants to win, and probably knows she will be the sole lynch-pin for the Japanese national team once Sawa is gone.
According to this article St. Louis has signed or "reached terms" with internationals but has not annouced it "Actually, they have, but they haven’t announced them yet. They’ve reached terms with some of the players, but not others and some of those the team has rights to aren’t coming. I’m not sure why the team hasn’t announced them — originally they were keeping them under wraps to create uncertainty among their opponents as to who they would need in the draft — but that has passed. The team has just gotten a full-time PR guy on staff, so maybe that will open the floodgates." My guess is they are talking about Eniola Aluko, Sara Larsson, Melissa Tancredi