With the announcement of the Summer Olympics being delayed one year - - - - I fully realize that it is morally, socially, psychologically wrong to talk about age, but Father Time is undefeated with the exception of The Great Joy Fawcett. I copied this chart from one of kevin625 fine posts before the 2019 WWC and added 2 years for summer 2019 to summer 2021: 2019 POSSIBLE STARTING LINEUP 31.13 - Alyssa Naeher + 2 = 33.13 30.84 - Kelley O'Hara + 2 = 32.84 26.07 - Abby Dahlkemper + 2 = 28.07 34.00 - Becky Sauerbrunn + 2 = 36.00 26.93 - Crystal Dunn + 2 = 28.93 27.17 - Julie Ertz + 2 = 29.17 25.03 - Lindsey Horan + 2 = 27.05 24.07 - Rose Lavelle + 2 = 26.07 30.03 - Alex Morgan + 2 = 32.03 31.02 - Tobin Heath + 2 = 33.02 33.92 - Megan Rapinoe + 2 = 35.92 OTHERS 28.57 - Adrianna Franch + 2 = 30.57 33.63 - Ashlyn Harris + 2 = 35.63 34.86 - Ali Krieger + 2 = 36.86 25.53 - Emily Sonnett + 2 = 27.53 20.71 - Tierna Davidson + 2 = 22.71 31.82 - Allie Long + 2 = 33.82 26.66 - Samantha Mewis + 2 = 28.66 26.28 - Morgan Brian + 2 = 28.28 21.11 - Mallory Pugh + 2 = 23.11 30.44 - Christen Press + 2 = 32.44 31.27 - Jessica McDonald + 2 = 33.27 36.89 - Carli Lloyd + 2 = 38.89 First observation: None of the players above will lose any of their Complete and Total Awesomeness in those 2 years. After internal reflection, will this cause some Team Members to say goodbye rather than commit to another 16 Months? Time will tell. Stay healthy out there you rascals.
I wonder who on this board is whom. I think I'll take "Froggy" as he seems to talk more while saying less. For those of so young that they do not know what I am talking about see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Gang or
I've felt all along that Vlatko was in a difficult situation for the Olympics regarding roster decisions. Couldn't be easy as a new coach taking over a team that just won the World Cup to shake up the roster. If the Olympics were this summer, I believe Vlatko was headed for a roster that looked a lot like the World Cup roster and not all that many differences from Ellis in who started and who came off the bench. If the Olympics will be held in summer 2021, Vlatko will be in a somewhat different position. Everyone will be a year older, including the oldest members of the team. The World Cup will be two years in the past, not one year. I believe it'll be a little easier for Vlatko to make significant changes in who's on the roster, who's in the starting lineup, and who comes off the bench.
I think you're heading in the right direction with this, except I'd say Vlatko will be in a whole lot different position rather than a somewhat different one. I think the critical fact will be not that the World Cup will be two years in the past but rather that the World Cup will be only two years in the future. I've suggested in the past that the cycle for preparation for a future World Cup is four years, so that the Olympics must take a back seat to the World Cup. Others have argued that the cycle for preparation needs ony three years. Whichever is right, I don't see it being ony two years. So, in my view, it's a necessity that Vlatko start his preparations for the 2023 World Cup now, with Olympics next year (if that's when they happen) being treated as a step to the World Cup and not as an end in themselves. This has all sorts of player pool implications.
Thanks for this valuable response. Since at the moment I'm finding it rather difficult to think ahead to tomorrow (and fortunately my health is fine at the moment), I obviously wasn't thinking about the 2023 World Cup. But what you've said makes a lot of sense. And enhances where I was going with my comment. If we see the 2020 Olympics in Japan in summer 2021, I suspect the U.S. roster of 18 players will look significantly different than it would have this summer. For older U.S. players who hoped the 2020 Olympics would be their last great moment in the sun....
Something I only recently started thinking about, do you guys think that last game a few weeks ago was Lloyd's last game ever in a USWNT kit?
Suppose the USWNT has games again this summer (I'm highly doubtful.) Or begins again this fall. Or in January for (I hope) summer 2021 Olympics. I can imagine Carli Lloyd playing in some friendlies. But my guess is that Lloyd has played her last game that really counts for the USWNT. I can't imagine a voluntary exit for Lloyd. I see Vlatko making significant roster changes that will leave out Lloyd, some (many?) of the other older players, and some younger ones as well. The 2019 World Cup roster was Jill Ellis's roster. Without the pandemic, I believe the 2020 Olympic roster would still have overwhelmingly been Jill Ellis's roster. If there are Olympics in Japan in summer 2021, we're going to see Vlatko's roster.
Can you or someone explain more about this? Sorry, but I'm completely ignorant about roster spots being contracted. While I've read a lot on this board and elsewhere, I've never read a word about what you're raising.
If you have a contract, you have a roster spot. Contracts take time to phase out. Non contract players are limited with how much tine they can spend on the USWNT per year.
Yes. But she looked much better with her hair. Carlos Valderrama also predated Akers but neither male carried it off so well or looked so good. I know it sounds sexist but I find women with big hair MUCH more appealing than men. But thinking about this did make me think of Valderrama practically walking through MLS defenses and making them look silly. Of course, at the time, any reasonably skilled 12 year old could have done nearly the same. MLS defenses were barely able to be called defenses and the offenses were ........... offensive.
Thanks. Do you know which players on the World Cup team and since have contracts? When those contracts expire? Which players we've seen in the World Cup or since are not contract players?
At certain moments of her career (I am mostly talking her "hair-style career") couldn't Wendie Renard be considered for a defensive spot in a "hair" team? The additional advantages would be her height and the fact that she's in fact a World-level skilled DF (although, according to what's been mentioned in the press, her NT coach Corinne Diacre told her in her face that she isn't at the last WWC). Edit: also, as an Italian, i can't help considering Italy NT's CB Sara Gama for a DF spot in a "hair" team:
I am very tempted to open a specic "hair team" thread on the Women's International boards. Who knows? Some people could be interested and could give suggestions for other positions that we wouldn't even dream of!
I would be for that as long as I do not have to retype my posts. Everybody knows how I hate to be repetitive.
In these times fun is hard to come by and often "off topic" is a LOT more fun than staying on topic. I get off by being off topic.
This is not really true under the new CBA. There is not a limit on the number of non-contract players that can be called up, and the restrictions regarding how long they can be with the team were reduced by a lot, if not completely (see example of McDonald, Krieger and Franch below). This is because the number of contracts continues to be reduced (as it was agreed in the CBA). It used to be true that contracts come up for renewal twice a year, and I assume that's still true. However, as long as a player is on contract, it is more advantageous for USSF to continue to call them up since they're already paying them. Players currently under contract as of February (as reported by Meg Linehan on twitter): Abby Dahlkemper Julie Ertz Ashlyn Harris Tobin Heath Carli Lloyd Lindsey Horan Rose Lavelle Sam Mewis Alyssa Naeher Kelley O'Hara Mal Pugh Christen Press Megan Rapinoe Becky Sauerbrunn Crystal Dunn Emily Sonnett Non-contract Players called in during February: Adi Franch Andi Sullivan Jessica McDonald Lynn Williams Ali Krieger Casey Short Midge Purce Morgan Brian: severance (technically still contract, but moved to non-contract meaning her contract was not renewed but she gets severance pay for a certain, unknown length of time) Alex Morgan: maternity leave (under CBA, this means she's on 75% salary and has a chance to win back her spot and keep her contract) EDIT to add: Additionally, under the new CBA, the December ID camp that we saw this past December is mandated (veteran, contract players are supposed to get a break that month), so that new players have more opportunities to be called into camp.
I've read different. Vlatko can't take Huerta over Pugh if Pugh is healthy. Pugh's spot is guaranteed. The WC roster has more spots than contracts so an exception is made. If the Olympics were held this summer, Alex Morgan would have a chance to reclaim her place and the spot held by Morgan Brian would be up for grabs.
I feel like we're going down a rabbit trail, but what else do we have to do these days? Anyway, the number of contract spots is currently at 17, so even the Olympic roster would have one non-contract player on it. And contracts should go down to 16 next year, so the 2021 Olympic roster might have 2 non-contract players. I think we're basically saying the same thing, but from two different perspectives. Yes, Pugh is under contract as stated above. However, Vlatko can call in Huerta, depending on the number of spots in camp. But, like I said, in the case of bubble players, it is more advantageous to call up and roster a contracted player since USSF is already paying them, but it is not required under the CBA. (And even if you decide not to renew a contract, USSF has to pay severance for awhile, which is why it might still be advantageous to call in a player like Brian.) For a bit more evidence to that, besides the actual CBA, you can look up the quotes of Sauerbrunn where she is always worried that she's not going to get called into camp. Kreiger's story would be another example; she was initially still a contracted player when she stopped getting call-ups. And yes, under the CBA, Alex Morgan has to have the right to earn her spot back (that's the Kate Markgraf rule), but she only is guaranteed one shot. (As an example, see Sydney Leroux who was given a shot, but didn't retain her contract.) That shot to get back is also after being medically cleared and partially determined by when a player feels ready, so it would not have necessarily happened prior to the Olympics for Morgan depending on how quickly she could have come back after having a child.