and just when CRS was getting on a roll...... last night happened Seems like everything goes wrong in 2018 for CRS! Just when we have folks healthy we get this "three games in seven days" crap - meaning we do not have our best nine starting against NC last night. Would it have made a difference with Short and Yuki in from the start? Not sure. Maybe this was the throw-away game since it was NC, anyway? Just frustrating. Our line-up reminded me of early season with all the injuries. A lot of talented CRS players but new starting line-up plus formation caused them to not play as a cohesive unit. NC pretty much had their regular starting line-up in. Oh, well.............
I think this is old news, but maybe what he meant is that SH asked for a trade so she could play outside back, but was traded to a team with another player who is already an outside back. The team he traded her to really needed offense, and I guess they see her as the substitute for Press, who they didn't get. I would be interested to know why Sofia is wearing 23... solidarity with Press? Irony? I think she'll be great there after she settles in. New reason to watch the Dash, who I always have liked, even in their worst moments.
Good to see you post again goaleemama, where have you been? IMO, it's possible these players like Press, Huerta, Johnson, wanted to go where they wanted to go, because it's all about the National Team. But the Clubs have their own interests. Rory needs to win, Vera needs to win for Houston and they need to make trades that will better their teams. Pauw, IMO was never going to use Huerta as an outside back, she wants her in midfield where she feels Sofia can make plays, and I agree. Sofia on the other hand has to get her foot in the door of the USWNT and right now under Jill Ellis's infinite wisdom the only way she will be able to make that team is outside back which Sofia Huerta as far as I know has never played previously. So here we are. The pressure to make the USWNT for the players because that's when the REAL money starts rolling in and the pressure of the Club coaches to win games and play these players where they need them. Press, on the other hand, I don't know what she wants. To be like Alex Morgan? Sorry, Alex Morgan is on her own planet when it comes to popularity and even her place on the USWNT. Press from what I saw was treated very good in Chicago. She was made Captain, they tried to build the team around her with great players, the fans treated her like a queen and gave her resounding ovations every game. What did she want? Red Stars fans loved Sofia Huerta and Taylor Comeau became a fan favorite due to her non-stop work ethic. Those two will be sentimentally missed, for sure.
I agree, good to see goaleemama again, a Santa Clara mama if my guess is correct. The internet chatter was the Huerta wanted to leave Chicago to go where she could play outside back, but I don't recall seeing any actual evidence of that although maybe there is some. For Press, I suspect it was pretty clear to her that the WNT was not going to be "built around her." So perhaps she didn't want to play on a team that was going to be built around her. That would be consistent with her wanting to leave Chicago and to not play for Houston. But, I haven't seen any actual evidence of that either.
Trivia question for those that remember Red Stars history. Sam Kerr scored a hat trick today for the Red Stars against Sky Blue. But that's not the first Red Stars hat trick. Cristiane scored three goals in one game in 2009 against FC Gold Pride while playing for the Red Stars in the WPS. There is one player who was on the pitch for both events, in 2009 and today in 2018. Name that player -
Mmm, I wasn't around yet following WPS back in 2009. I could anyway try a guess, based on the info you're giving. It has to be a player whose career at these professional levels spans through the last 9 years! There aren't many of them. Also, the way you formulate the question ("..who was on the pitch for both events...") makes me think that she could have been playing for a different team back then than she's playing right now. Based on the above reflections, my wild guess is... Lloyd?
Oh, some stats from NWSL : - with this hat-trick, Samantha Kerr leapfrogs Sinclair, Dunn and Horan and now tops the scorers' ranking from this season with 8 goals; - with the two assists she gave to Kerr, Yuki Nagasato is now at second place in this season's assists' rankings (although tied with 7 other players).
That is correct. Carli Lloyd Carli Lloyd played for the Red Stars in 2009. The Red Stars midfield back then consisted of Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Karen Carney and Cristiane. Here's the video highlight of that game. Watch Cristiane totally juke Brandi Chastain in the 64:28 minute and score a fantastic goal. .
Wow, that goal was epic!!! Also, Brandi Chastain was still playing in 2009, a full 10 years after WWC 1999? Those US Champions do have long careers! Another similarity between the two games: judging by the video, Cristiane is another player who liked to celebrate goals with back-flips! I am sure Kerr would have celebrated yesterday's hat-trick with her signature backflip too, if it wasn't that she didn't want to look unrespectful towards her former team-mates of Sky Blue FC, as I already mentioned in the NWSL Week 15 thread.
From over here in WNY, I always got the impression that Cristiane was well-received in Chicago, and that it seemed she liked to play there. That seemed to happen, even given the potential fan animosity left over from the 2007 World Cup. IMO Cristiane has been the most under appreciated player in Woso.
The USWNT has some good right backs no? Can Sofia really make the team as a RB? I guess it would still be much easier than making it as a forward where the USA is loaded.
Its her best chance, imo. The RB position has been a revolving door with the USWNT for the entire cycle. While Smith seemed to be a favorite until falling out of favor, currently the only player that seems to have a claim to the spot would be O'Hara. There's no solid back-up.
I suspect that the starting lineup at the World Cup at left and right backs at the WC will be O'Hara and Dunn. Huerta and Short will be the subs -- if they can both be included in the WC roster. I see Dunn as the starter at right back because the forward starters will be Rapinoe, Morgan, and Heath, with Pugh and Press as subs. However, there's probably more than a 50/50 chance than an injury will befell one or more of the injury prone Rapinoe, Morgan, and Heath, so Dunn might have a chance to move forward. That makes Huerta's chances of making the team as RB a bit better.
In addition to the Soccer gods giving a thumbs up and blessing CRS with their return for 2019, fingers crossed, toes crossed, eyes crossed, paths crossed, Tees crossed and whatever else you can cross!
.....is this a thumbs up and a blessing, though? IIRC this is far and away the earliest ever that an NWSL team has put up season tickets for the following year... The only reasons I can think of for selling tickets this far in advance are A) fishing for interest, or B) you need the deposits now (for whatever reason - and thus they won't be going toward next year either). I don't like either option. Please someone tell me that my memory is playing tricks on me and that teams (or at least Chicago) have sold this early before!
Thorns season ticket renewals, for season ticket holders, opened up around July 1. They get first choice to renew their current seats and to go for new seats in the Providence Park expansion seating area. The deadline for season ticket holders to renew seats is July 31. This is about 2 1/2 months earlier than previous years. I wonder if the Boston experience led the NWSL to conclude they need to finding out earlier where they are in terms of season ticket sales.
Thank you! I'm glad both that I wasn't misremembering and that Chicago isn't the only team offering earlier-than-usual renewals. I'm not sure if it's directly fallout from Boston, since (lack of) season ticket sales were not the problem (and in fact became a problem once the team folded), but I wouldn't be surprised if something else came up procedurally as a buffer of sorts that's forced earlier sales - I'm reminded of what happened after the Athletica folded midseason 2010 and WPS subsequently required a season commitment deposit, and that deposit was part of the reasons why FCGP folded and why Chicago self-relegated to WPSL.
I have to be honest and say that it crossed my mind as well. Do they need money that bad that they are offering early 2019 ticket sales? I don't know. I also thought that it could be that the Red Stars only have 3 home games left and are all played in the next 3 weeks and the rest of the games are away for the season. So maybe they are trying to strike while the iron is hot, so-to-speak, while fans are still coming to Toyota Park. As they say, out of sight, out of mind. Nevertheless, I will ask my ticket rep and maybe even Arnim a few questions about this.