Damn, NCC with nearly $150k in *extra* allocation money could be quite scary - and RGN made a net of allocation money anyway with their trade to POR. Odd to see POR liquidating almost all of their allocation money, even for a player like Dunn; would love to have seen them try getting other internationals instead. Interestingly, we now have two teams (RGN and DC) poised to get conditional money on players, assuming they come back to NWSL. Even more interesting since, recall, NCC got Dunn from DC in the first place, so this three-team trade almost plays into a "delayed four-team trade". Gotta get out the notebooks to keep track of who gained and lost what over that stretch. X'-D
So the Courage now have, what, 4 goalkeepers? and 3 #1 GKs? Canada #1 and 2019 NWSL Championship game-winner Steph Labbé 2018 NWSL Championship game-winning GK Katelyn Rowland Sam Murphy And now 2018 French League GK of the Year Casey Murphy Something has to give. I'm guessing Louisville will have some options in net from Carolina.
Expansion draft rules for this year haven't been officially announced yet, but we've been piecing apart previous drafts' rules in the Louisville thread.
2 possibly, if its a member of the USWNT, they can only get 1 player from a team cause you practically stole one of their top players.
In past years ( 2014, 2015) the teams in the playoffs got to protect 9 players. Teams not in the playoffs could protect 10. in 2015 if a player from your team was taken, you could protect 1 more player . the most players that could be taken from 1 team was 2 players.
Here we go! Red Stars making moves: #NWSL trade: Racing Louisville acquires first two players, Savannah McCaskill and Yuki Nagasato, plus int. slot for 2021 and 2022 and 1st round pick (5th overall) in exchange for protection of remainder of Red Stars roster during expansion draft— Dan Lauletta (@TheDanLauletta) October 26, 2020
Per Jeff Kassouf, the Thorns have signed Finland native and 2018 NCAA champ Natalia Kuikka from Goeborg in Sweden.
Louisville pick up the Spirit's Cheyna Matthews off the Re-Entry Wire. She'll give birth to her second child in about a month, and then begin working back to training fitness. https://www.racingloufc.com/news_article/show/1130794
I am always confused with maiden names and married names of US-based players: this is the player formerly known as Cheyna Williams, isn't she?
Vero has said she's definitely heading to Europe this next year: "Especially after this year, where we have already lost many months of being able to compete, I don’t want to go without playing. So no matter what, this season I’ll be going to back to Europe. Where, we’ll see soon." The Utah Royals offered Vero Boquete a contract for 2021. https://t.co/D7qBWDBxKC— Alex Vejar (Tortured Poet version) (@AlexMVejar) November 3, 2020
Didn't we used to have a retirement thread? Anyway, Jaelene Daniels announced her retirement: https://www.nccourage.com/news_article/show/1131214
I think it was because there were so many retirements happening with young players and it was a concern. Seems to have eased a bit.
Yeah, with salaries growing, staying in the league longer is becoming comparatively more appealing than going for a "real job" once you get your year or two of pro soccer experience. Also, rosters growing means more spots and less competition from other players, which also helps keep players in the league longer. You have to go back nearly 10 pages in the forum to find the old "retirements" thread, last post in June 2017. There's clearly been retirements since then, including Kat Reynolds just a few posts up, but the frequency has certainly dropped, especially for younger players.
Ok, that makes sense. I knew I remembered one, but didn't remember how long ago it had been since we were posting in it. I just like to post things in the right place!
Respect for Reynolds, a reliable journeywoman player whose career stretches all the way back to WPS. Never flashy but you could depend on her to put in a solid shift. I guess that settles the question of whether Hinkle/Daniels will ever play for USWNT again. Did she find a job with Focus on the Family or what? At any rate, we can move on in our search for a long term LB now.
After the first four matches of the Challenge Cup, I thought we would still be seeing NC dominate whatever 2020 threw at them... And then they went 1-2-2 in their remaining matches (or 2-2-2 if you count the DC friendly). Now they've lost Dunn and JH/D, and will likely lose two more to Louisville. Kinda interesting to me that their slide started *before* a roster dismantling and not after... but then again, 2020 is weird. I wonder if Riley will splash for another big int'l to compliment Debinha (whether or not it's at LB).
DC have signed Japanese international Saori Takarada https://washingtonspirit.com/2020/1...t-sign-japanese-international-saori-takarada/ @blissett thoughts?
Just wow!!! Have you checked her performance at the U-20 WWC 2018? Winner of the title with Japan, Silver Ball of the tournament behind Barça's Patri Guijarro and Bronze Boot of the tournament with 5 goals and 3 assists. Although Japan haven't played international matches in the latest months, lately she's being consistently called in the Senior Team by coach Takakura, including a recent training camp that is taking place in these very days (you can see her at some point in the video below, wearing #20). In Japan, the full season of Nadeshiko League 2020 took place regularly (although later than usual) and has been just concluded: Takarada ended at 4th place (out of 10 teams) with her Cerezo Osaka Sakai Ladies, a team mostly made of young former U-20 players or even younger promises (one of their most prolific striker was 16), and she showed that her versatility allows her to play basically any position, from defense to attack (she's been recently played as Full-Back). I am really excited that such a special player is given the opportunity to further advance her skills overseas!!!
Sorry if I look too much excited, but just to give you all guys a glimpse of Takarada's worth, let's give a look at U-20 WWC 2018 final between Spain and Japan, where Takarada (wearing #11) shows how good she is at scoring, at assisting and at showing up for big matches (it's worth noting that the referee of that final was Stéphanie Frappart, who recently became the first women to be appointed as referee in a men's Champion's League match ):
Kelley O'Hara finally gets her deal to go to the Washington Spirit (still awaiting details of the actual trade): Washington Spirit acquires USWNT's @kelleymohara in trade with Utah Royals #nwsl https://t.co/n5ugtNtpws— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) December 2, 2020
Yet another article about club soccer, but with the player seen wearing her USWNT jersey. This shit really pisses me off. Especially from a paper that is in an NWSL market and has access to countless photos of the player in NWSL play. It's lazy and a total measure of disrespect to the NWSL and a cynical play towards the WNT stans.