True, the Dash was by far the biggest winner of this world cup. The good news is that this is an organization that is in the best position to convert these news fans into permanent ones. With respect to the Lloyd trade, if it was not initiated by Lloyd herself than I say in hindsight it was a pretty terrible one. The Flash was banking on making headway during the WC break but that haven't paid off and with most teams that are below them expected to get significantly better with returning players (Flash for me won't improve leaps and bounds with the return of Leroux and Engen), that makes the decision even more painful. That is also not factoring in the fact that Lloyd genuinely will be attracting crowds as the breakout player of the cup. Either way, kudos to the Dash for getting Lloyd, Morgan and Kling who are not only excellent players who are sure to propel the Dash forward but now are super stars. If the Dash don't average more than 6k the rest of the season, it will be a disappointment
It will be interesting to see what happens Sunday against the Red Stars. Dash took out a full page ad trumpeting the return of their three WC players. Apparently the lower bowl is almost sold out and they r making seating available in the upper level. Ching has thrown out 12K as a number but even 10K would be huge. But here's the rub. Players hit town on Saturday. Is there any expectation at all they will take the field? If u bring in a big crowd to see them, and all they get is introduced at the half what does the team get out of it? They r trying to build a fan base not be a stop on the appreciation tour.
Being that the game is sunday night, I think the Dash and Red stars are the only teams that could realistically play their US world cup stars
I honestly don't expect any of the US players to play this weekend, and that's fine with me. After the grueling tournament they just went through, let them have some time to recover physically and mentally.
After five days non-stop of plane rides around the country, interviews, texting back, standing on podiums, ticker tape, sleeping in hotels, talking heads, and non-stop pats on the back ... ... Lloyd just wants to lace them up, run around on grass and lob somebody
IMO the instant the USWNT won its QF game, ideally club teams, USSF officials, and agents should have gotten in contact to outline exactly what the expectations were so club teams could advertise correctly. Houston in particular seem to pushing this Sunday as its "welcome back" game for its NT players - whether that's full game, throwaway minutes, to just a halftime show would be great to know now.
I can see Houston wanting to make something of this opportunity because they arent home again until July 29. A similar thing happened at the beginning of the season in Houston when the US players showed up right before a home match but then they had the next two on the road before they left again. I also agree that Houston should be very specific about what the fans r paying for. As to the players themselves, they may arrive with instructions from USSoccer but I would think if they r at the match, they will want to play some.
Well that is all fine and good but than you don't figure in an impromptu parade on friday which I'm guessing is the event that is pretty much screwing everyone.
Well, my point was that once you win a QF, you can plan for one of two scenarios - a win or not - and still have two or three weeks to work around just those two scenarios. In that sense, planning for a win would mean expecting some sort of celebratory tour, in which case you would know advertising your players in the next game would be risky business.
If Im Houston management Id like them on the field even if it's only coming in as subs in the second half. It's a short season and Houston only has 5 home matches left.