Melissa Moore Scheduled to Play Against Japan! I heard from Brian Halliday of "Inside Soccer" that Melissa Moore along with a number of other San Diego based WUSA players including Mandy Clemens would be the playing in a scrimmage today against Japan up at UC San Diego. I haven't been able to get any more details about this, but if I do, I will post them here.
Moore shuts out Team Nippon!!! Thanks to Nordby 1 for the scoop. Scoreless draw today at UCSD. Melissa played 60 minutes of the exhibition and held them off with the likes of Margaret Tietjen and Kim Pickup in the back. Nordby1 said she was outta this world in the first half and gave her his PotM. Yeah, it was just an exhib, but our goalie pitched a shutout at a full national team. Congrats, Melissa Paul
Paul, this was just a scrimmage. Don't get too excited here. How long have the Japanese been in the country, and how much jetlag do they have?
Melissa Moore It may have been just a scrimmage, but it was very entertaining to watch. Japan had several great scoring opportunities in the first half, but Melissa came up huge and denied them every time. By my count Melissa had at least 5 saves in the first half and two of them were extremely impressive. San Diego WFC also had Lori Lindsey playing in the midfield and Mandy Clemens on top playing on the left in what looked like to me mostly a 4-4-2 formation. Several of the other players for SD WFC looked familiar so I probably saw some of them before at Spirit camps. Mandy Clemens had two of the best scoring opportunities for SD WFC with two left footed shots that sailed over the crossbar in the second half. Kim Pickup created some excitement late in the match with two "Pick Flips," but for the most part the Japanese goalkeeper wasn't tested much at all. Lori Lindsey played a solid physical match winning several 50/50 balls and doing a good job helping to contain Sawa, the only player on the Japanese team that I recognized. Lindsey and Sawa had a big collision early in the second half and both players went down, but Sawa was much slower getting up than Lindsey was. I don't know how long the Japanese team has been here, but they played with a lot of energy in the first half. Perhaps jetlag was a factor later on because the SD WFC backup GK was not really tested much at all during the final 30 minutes of the scrimmage. On a side note, San Diego Sockers head coach and "Inside Soccer" co-host Brian Quinn was the "acting" coach for the SD WFC so I'm sure he will talk more about this scrimmage during the "Inside Soccer" show this Saturday if he is not on the road with the Sockers. Quinn was very entertaining to watch on the sidelines during this scrimmage as he continually barked out instructions to his players. I'd love to see Quinn get a shot at coaching in the WUSA someday.
Nordby1, thanks for the report. The meaning of my earlier post should be read with a ton of sarcasm. Paul won't be satisifed until Melissa is starting for the USA in China. And he'll take any positive performance from Melissa as evidence for his claim. I think Moore is a professionally competent keeper, and in year one WUSA wanted her to play in place of Webber. However from being professionally competent to being a national keeper requires a certain alignment of the stars. The way youth team selection affects your perception at the national level is a mark against her. There are OTHER preferred younger keepers who get selected because they have a history of being selected. The old boy network... and this old network does support another view, which is, in elite competition, older more experienced keepers are less likely to make the critical error. and Moore falls though the crack here because she doesn't have experience. Is this UNJUST? yes, but its how the system works here in the usa. The emphasis on athletic keepers hurts Moore, but as long as the UNC mantra emphasizing superior athletic ability over less athletic more technical style, then Moore and other keepers like her are doomed to watch events like the World cup on tv.
Heinrichs Could Be On "Inside Soccer" Today There is a chance that April Heinrichs will be on "Inside Soccer" today so this could be an opportunity for Charge fans to ask her what it would take for Melissa Moore to get a shot at making the USWNT roster. If Heinrichs is on the show it could be anytime between 4:05 and 6 PM PT (7:05 - 9 PM ET). I won't be near a computer much this afternoon, but I'll do my best to post something over in the Courage Forum as soon as I find out for sure if and when Heinrich's will be on today's show. BTW - Lori Lindsey and Kim Pickup of the San Diego Spirit are scheduled to be on today's show at 5:10 PM PT. The phone number for "Inside Soccer" is 858-560-1130. If Charge fans want to call in and hear directly from Coach Brian Quinn about how Melissa played against Japan, Quinn will be more than happy to speak with you on the air. If you don't want to wait on hold, call the show and tell the Engineer that you either want to talk to Heinrichs or you want to talk to Quinn about the Japan scrimmage and they will call you back and put you on the air.