Who would you pick to make the 1st, 2nd and 3rd team? My picks(really off the top of my head)- 1st: Katia-duh. I think her MVP award is gone, however. Bryan-minutes played will come into consideration, plus she's just very good 2nd: Sissi-1 G, 9A and she's Sissi Chastain-her name will help her here, got 11 points, not too shabby French-? possibly 3rd, it's hard to judge defenders(I know this, I am one) 3rd: Beene-? 1.35 GAA, Moore and Luckenbill will easily take 1st and 2nd team. Scurry might come in here and take 3rd, maybe even Mullinix( ) Venturini-Hoch-strong second half of the season, but might not be enough to get her onto a team. Taking the 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 approach could determine her All-Star status. Lindsey-? We know she's good but does the whole league know? This could be totally off and it probably will be. This season had a huge amount of stars so it's hard to select ones from our team. I think these girls do deserve some recognition but I could be completely wrong. Only thing I can say for sure, that from our team, these are the 8 players that deserve consideration.
i agree with you on the following players: sissi bryan katia beene french i would like to see alagich - she has had a good season, coming back from injury and she has done well to recover, do you think it has been enough? i hope it has...haha i admit bias opinion GO AUSSIE!!!
She's done well but you have to take into consideration all this talent that the WUSA has. She probably hasn't played enough to garner the attention that All-Stars usually get. But then again, who knows?
Hmmm...I'm guessing we're talking about the WUSA Global 11 teams? OK, I'll bite. Here's who I think deserves consideration and where I put them on my Global 11 first and second teams. As always, just my only partially educated input! Katia: Let the team in scoring (darn near our whole offense). Led the league in scoring. Improved dramatically since last season. (Almost never dove! Actually ran for balls...sometimes!) SJ would be sunk without her. First-team. Kelly Lindsey: Backbone and organizer of the 4th best defense in terms of goals allowed and of the league's very best defense in not allowing shots on goal (San Jose allowed a league-low 108 shots to get through to our keepers. Even Philly's bunker defense and TIMBer line couldn't pull that off. That's impressive D.) Covered everyone's butts all season. Simply the best damn central defender/organizer in the league, IMHO. SJ would be sunk without her, too. First-team. Sissi: I have to copy here--"She's Sissi". I'm not sure what else is needed to say. Riise and others with more successful teams may bump her off the first team, however. Second-team. Michelle French: Arguments could be made for a lot of our defenders (see the stats mentioned above in my blurb on Boof), and the question is going to be if they're going to get individual consideration when looked at in comparison to the TIMBer line and others. If we do get a fair shake, throw French in the mix for a possible post-season nod. Solid, savvy, consistent defending. Maybe my favorite aspect of her game is that she works so hard off the ball to deny opportunities for forwards to even receive the ball on her side of the field (she plays a basketball-style denial D on occasion--midfielders won't even try to pass the ball to that side of the field because all they can see is French in the way to intercept the pass. In particular, killed Shannon Mac this way every time we played SD.) Tied for league's second-leading scorer amongst pure defenders with 7 points (behind Slaton's 8, tied with Barr). Besides, this is my (maybe slightly biased) Global 11 first and second teams list, and I like her! Second-team (I'll give Slaton the first-team left flank nod).
yeah... i admit that i can be biased when it comes to kelly and lakeysia, but kelly was phenomenal this season, even with her mid-season knee surgery. without her on the defense when she was injuried, the D looked like it was lost and disorganized. however, the only thing i can see holding her back from the first team nod is that she didnt score a single point the whole season, but she is a central defender ~Melissa
If it is anything like last year, there are many who I don't think deserve to be there, but will because of their name. This is why I hope the fans get to vote and I mean the fans who know the game, not just the name. (I didn't mean to rhymn.) Too lazy to list my wish team now, but will say that the following players from the Rays deserve to make one of the teams Boof, French, Pretinha (better at mid!!), Katia, Keesh and Brandi I bet Katia and Brandi will make the first team, though I believe Katia deserves it more Politics....
Unfortunately the goals that the defense did allow (out of the 108 shots) where mostly in the box - poor ball clearing - opposing team mid-fielders running though our defense - unmarked players, etc. Other teams did not give up those type of shots. Weak shots, shots from outside the box or shots with a defender on you are not as threatening. We should know that, SJ outshot almost every team and made hero's out of all the GK's playing against us. Lets face it our mid-field does not play or help out consistently on defense, our defense was not consistent - there were mental break downs in every game, defensive players were in and out of positions and the line up, defenders were hurt, etc. Considering, I do give a LOT of credit to them, but they were not the defensive unit that last year was. The goals allowed and the goals against doesn't tell the complete story, but we saw the breakdowns. We allowed more shots last year, but the majority of them came from outside of the box.
Our defense, my $0.02 for today! (note: quote edited for brevity, but I am responding to the whole post) First of all, I'm not going to argue with your basic premise--our D did have some crucial breakdowns this season which hurt us, no doubt. I am in absolute agreement there. I'm not sure if you were meaning to dispute my choice of Boof specifically, so I'm not really going to respond as if you had, since you never mention her name. Here's where I disagree, perhaps. Aside from the mental breakdowns, I think our D was rock solid. Other teams easily had as many or more breakdowns (can you say NEW YORK? Even Philly looked rotten last weekend against Atlanta, and they're "the best defense in the league"), but in our games against those teams, we didn't capitalize on them they way they did on ours, and that was the backbreaker. Great forwards will wait for those defensive miscues and turn them into opportunities. Our D was so solid most of the time, opposing forwards had to be extra-alert against us, hoping for some chink in the armor. And they were certainly ready for those lapses--they pounced on them and punished us. We had some moments of bad D for sure, but we also had just a touch of good old fashioned bad luck. As to why our D had some breakdowns, I've already discussed that everywhere else on this forum, so I'll just briefly reiterate--people gotta listen to Boof and not just do their own thing. We were better last year, because everyone was on the same page. It really is that simple. Mistakes will happen, regardless, but many can be avoided if people would just pay attention to our organizer. It's not like Boof's not out there giving very solid direction the vast majority of the time! Also, Beene herself had some mental lapses this season we didn't really see from her last season. She isn't superhuman, though she almost fooled us all last year. She's still very young for such a good GK. Most male GKs don't hit their prime until their late 20's/early 30's and female GKs should be the same. Goalkeeping is more about anticipation and being able to read the play, which comes with experience, and less about being a pure athlete. (My statement of the obvious for today!) Beene's got the second part nailed, and is going to continue to improve the first part, which is already pretty solid. 'Keysh is still absolutely my pick for GK over anyone else, any day. I think some better listening and better overall confidence next season and we will be right back on track as the best D in the league, both on paper and in our minds! We had some costly hiccoughs this year, many that made me beat my head againt the wall, but generally I still think we're awesome. Also, can't hurt if Ian would just stop jacking the lineup around...
All Star Games are a popularity contest for the fans. Expect Brandi to be in such an event. Katia should get in for her goal scoring performance, as should Sissi for her playmaking. Beene is another lock for such a game, as is Hoch. We'll see how the North/South format works--it's similar to East/West. For next year, maybe try the USA/Canada/Mexico against the World or US players (not the Nats) against the rest of the World. Hopefully, this will be the first of many. and All Star Games do involve a lot of politics--coaches will pick their own players to be in the game if they so choose... Cheers!
Duuuh Ok I'm confused. Maybe we're all confused! No, it's just me!! I was listing my Global 11 picks...rather than my All-Star picks. Since Global 11 isn't split North/South, obviously some 'Rays got bumped off the list. Now if I get to pick my North All-Stars.... There will be many more 'Rays!
Global XI is much different than the All-Star Game players. The Global XI is merely who were the best players for that given season. I can tell you that Katia is a lock for that end of season honor. Maybe Sissi, but everything else is up for grabs. Beene and Chastain might get a note or two.
Right, and that's what I was doing in my first post. I was really tired or distracted or something that I didn't know what was going on! LOL Oh well, we all get to have a couple of those posts every now and then, right? Speaking of which, how the heck did I get to 200 already? Someone please get me a life!! OK, the ballot is up so everyone go stuff the ballot box!