No, I mean ....I read she has had some trouble with her green card and is going back to Finland. Who ever it was didn't say where they heard it from.
A poster said she's going back to Finland due to the green card being withheld?? No source, except says it isn't announced yet. I think we know next Tuesday at the U-19 match... Anyway, France came 2nd in their group, good result. The Finns failed to score at all.
Just got the latest Women's Soccer Insider newsletter and I'll try to summarize what it said about her... She is in green card limbo. She is still counting as an international player thus leaving German Melanie Hoffman off the official roster. League officials will meet on Monday to try to figure out what to do. One option they have is giving Mak her resident status before she officially gets her green card. That clears the way for Hoffman to get onto the active roster. But this option also sets a precedent, the Beat's Charmaine Hooper is still awaiting her green card as well (she married an American citizen last summer). If the league grants Mak resident status, then Hooper should be given resident status as well.
If they can't resolve the Makinen green card thingy.... Then it may be wise to just forget about Hoffmann. Paul
Did WUSA/Charge have to or alread did pay for Hoffmann's rights?? Sounds like it could be a "Well, we paid....and we want to get our money's worth..." by allowing Mak the exception. Or I could be completely wrong What a world of muck..
Here's the story: Awhile ago, the date March 23 was the date when Hoffmann would be coming to the Charge. And, indeed, she did arrive on March 23. If you look at the Charge roster, there are two reserves with number, and 16 players with numbers, including Makinen. So Makinen is here. Melanie Hoffmann is listed without a number, and the story is she's waitiing her work visa. Last Monday when the rosters were defined, next to Hoffmann's name was an INA. INACTIVE??? IMMIGRATION & NATURALIZATION APPROVAL?? Then the INA disappeared. I have no idea whether Hoffmann is training with the Charge or NOT training or simply NOT participating in scrimmages. In the global scheme with how the Charge perform this year, this is a relatively unimportant matter . Pichon and Smith and Arrington and McVeigh performances will go a long way to determine the final standing status for the Charge.
The league SCREWED up AGAIN! That is what happened! The "make it up as you go attitude" has come back to bite them in the A...s! Why did they ever let the trade happen when they know that VISA'S and Green cards are never taken care of in a timely manner. If the 2 teams couldn't wait, then they should have gone in different directions. Who suffers? The players do. They are both in Limbo. The league now has to make decisions that most certainly piss teams off. Especially if they let Philly have 5 Internationals! I would hate to be DiCicco!
Sure the league messed up but the league nor should any of the teams be troubled because of the slowness of the INS. "Why did they ever let the trade happen when they know that VISA'S and Green cards are never taken care of in a timely manner." Well, we all hoped it would have been fixed by now. And athletes are always "special cases". I mean take a Cuban pitcher. If only. Women's soccer is lower on the pole so the INS or President Bush is not going to intervene. If only we had a vice-president who used to be a president of the FA...
League Problem? Why make the trade if there are issues such as these known prior to the trade? These were obvious considerations during the trade process, I don't believe these participants were oblivious to the possibilities. Now the league has to make the decision? Lessons learned are sometimes a way to structure future rules. Personally I believe they calculated the risk and were willing to move forward. Sometimes you gamble, sometimes you lose. If they choose to take the risk it was most likely knowing they would ask for some type of consideration from the League. Track record of the League considered and state of the League, IMO, they will get what they ask for. What ever happened to the other part of the trade, Ruth Montgomery, taken W/ that draft pick? Is she still part of this?
This is a player Gabarra couldn't wait to get rid of. Stone screwed up by NOT taking Arrington. If he'd have taken Arrington, they'd be hoisting the trophy in August.
Did you watch the Power v Beat match tonight? What would she have added to the Beat if she was drafted?
I thought the Power would put up more of a fight than that. Maybe I was wrong in suggesting their superior size advantage would help them out, but it's just the first game, like this was. Maybe Stone let word leak out he was interested in Arrington when he really wasn't and that he only feinted toward drafting her to throw us off our game plan. Paul
I watched the game again for a second time last night and I did not see a "superior size advantage" with New York.