I just saw an article posted to the Norwegian website "toppserien.com" that says that a Finnish striker who played last year in the WUSA is considering an offer to play in Norway this year. If I am not mistaken, the only Finnish striker who played in the WUSA last year was Minna Mustonnen. I wonder if a deal could be in the works right now so that Mustonnen goes to a Norwegian club and in exchange the Courage get to sign a Norwegian player without having to pay a transfer fee? The name of the player was not mentioned in the article, but here's one of the sentences from the article in Norwegian followed by my "rough" translation : "The Finnish striker played last year in the WUSA and she is waiting to see if she receives a new offer from her American club." If you happen to see this Bauser please feel free to make any corrections to my "rough" translation or add any information that you might know about this news.
Keep in mind too that Anne Makinen of the Washington Freedom is another Finlandian in the league albeit not a striker.
Good point. I actually looked up Makinen on the WUSA website to double check and make sure that she wasn't listed as a midfielder/forward. Here's a quote from her WUSA bio:
Did anyone hear anything mentioned about Minna Mustonen during today's draft coverage? Mustonen is still listed on the Courage roster, but I wonder if she has already been released now that the Courage have drafted, Breanna Boyd, another international player, along with Heather Ragsdale, a 5'10" forward.
Status of Mustonen According to an article in Soccer America, Mustonen is still on the Courage roster: Here's the link to the SA article: Trades and surprises as WUSA teams load up on attackers
Status of Mustonen I can't help but think that Mustonen is soon on her way out. I didn't understand why the team picked up another 5' 10" striker anyway, when they needed help in the midfield and on the backline. The Courage's picks yesterday have to confirm that. By taking an international player and two forwards, I just don't see any room for Mustonen. And now there's this news from Norway about a "Finnish WUSA striker" coming to play. It certainly can't be Makinen now that she was acquired by Philadelphia. I doubt they'd turn around and let her go. Not to mention the fact that she's a midfielder. The writing is on the wall for Minna.
Welcome FC Carolina Welcome to the Courage Forum FC Carolina! BTW - very screen name. I was quite surprised when the Courage first made the trade for Mustonen, but I think it was mainly done to accomodate Kim Yankowski-Montgomery. Perhaps Minna was just insurance in case the Courage weren't able to acquire either another international player or a tall striker?
Thanks for the welcome You may be right about why the Yankowski-Mustonen trade was made in the first place. I've also read that there were geographical considerations for Yankowski heading to N.Y., not to mention the fact that the Power seem to be acquiring Long Island natives like they're going out of style.
Hunting For Top Finnish Striker The Norwegian website "toppserien.com" has just posted an article saying that the Tromsø club Fløya is definitely interested in acquiring Finnish striker Minna Mustonen now that she has been "placed on the transfer list" by the Carolina Courage. The coach of Fløya, Jan Aksel Opsahl Odden, has confirmed that the club is working to get Mustonen "in the stable." We knew that Asker has tried to bring her over and that she has not had her contract to play in the WUSA renewed. We have been in contact with her earlier and are working to get in contact with her again," said Odden to "toppserien.com." Here's the link to the article: Jakter finsk
Re: Hunting For Top Finnish Striker I wonder about the timing of all of this and if Fløya had been in contact with Minna before she signed with the Power? Otherwise, wouldn't it be "tampering" for a foreign club to just decide to contact a player directly when that player is under contract with another club?
Mustonen Wants to Play For Asker It looks like Minna has decided she would rather play closer to Oslo instead of Northern Norway. The Norwegian website "toppserien.com" reported this morning that Mustonen will likely play for Asker this season and take the roster spot that Asker had been saving for Marianne Pettersen.
Mustonen Already Playing For Asker Minna has already played her first match for Asker and she really impressed her new coaches by scoring a goal in the 18th minute yesterday against one of Norway's perennial powers, Trondheims-Ørn, which was Unni Lehn's previous club team. It was the New York Power connection all over again as Linda Ørmen, who is on loan from New York to Asker this season, assisted on Mustonen's goal.