Yes, more of the same: Damfotboll.com writes that Tiffeny Milbrett has approached Umeå IK to investigate the possibility of getting a spot on the squad (link). Umeå's head coach Andrée Jeglertz says that he "didn't know much about her, but has now realised that she is one of the big names in USA". Umeå annonuced that their squad for 2005 was set already before the holidays, but Jeglertz says that Milbrett would be interesting as a replacement for Hanna Ljungberg if Hanna doesn't get fit enough in time for the season opening in april. She is currently on rehab after a knee injury last fall.
That's great. Umeå is an interesting choice for her, over other teams. But Jeglertz did not even know who she was??? How closely does he follow the women's game?
That was my question too... It's one of those names that, well if you saw at least a couple of minutes of any pregame show on a game featuring the USWNT or any of the stories aired leading up to WC03, you should have heard "Tiffeny Milbrett" at least a dozen times... Still, he did look her up and he liked what he saw. My question is... Since she didn't play the Oly's, and she hasn't been with playing for club team for more than a year, is it wise to spend that amount of cash on her? I know, the Damallsvenskan has a lot of less impressive teams against which even a slightly out-of-shape Milbrett can cause lot's of damage with her game perception and skill alone. But as I remember 2004, the attack wasn't the problem. Even without Kalmari's 22 goals, Umeå still out scored the champions by 40 goals or so. And, as the results showed, it's just a waste to score more goals than the ones you need to win the game. What Umeå need, and what they actually may have gotten now, should they get their game together, is a more vicious defensive line and generally a more defensive play to cope with the Champions and Malmö and their fast counter-attacks.
Thanks for the info Dandal! I hope she's been keeping in shape this past year. Remember, she had knee surgery in March or April of last year, so she was not exactly 100% during the WWC03. Hopefully she's made a full recovery from the knee and has kept up her workouts, for wherever she may go.
Thanks for the update about Millie. I think her surgery was more like Jan. or Feb. of last year. She injured it in the game against Panama in Nov, 2002. (I think it was the Panama game, but my memory isn't as good as it used to be!) The team doctors did an MRI and missed the tear in the meniscus. She played the rest of the 2002 National team season and then the 2003 WUSA season as well as the 2003 WNT schedule. There was a lot of discussion about how she hadn't taken any time off in a long time and the talk was that she had gotten a sort of physical/mental burn-out. Her lack-luster season in 2003 was highlighted by her loss of playing time to Abby for the WNT. The prevailing opinion wavered between the thought that she had lost a step from age and the idea that she didn't have the fire and passion anymore. No one realized she was playing on a badly injured knee. If she's serious about playing, they would be foolish not to take her. When she's going full speed she's about as fast as they come. I don't know anything about the Swedish soccer leagues, but I know a sports truism that's universal...there's no substitute for speed.
Roland Arnqvist, Umeå IK's sport director and a man that actually knows what he is talking about when it comes to women's football, says today to a local newspaper that Umeå is not interested in Milbrett. They've already got 6 forwards on the team and if they should need any reinforcements it would be in the defense. And he also claims Hanna is fit as a fiddle.
Swedish daily Expressen seem to have phoned Millie for a quick interview in which she says that the Swedish Damallsvenska looks like it's the best in the world right now with players like Marta, Kristine Lilly and of course all the good Swedish players. She also says she has been to Sweden before, in 1995 of course, but never as far north as Skellefteå. The contract is initially for six games, after which she returns to Portland to teach, but if she likes Sunnanå, and they like her back, she may return in the autumn to finish the series. Former Swedish champions Sunnanå have had problems the last 10 years after losing key players to Umeå. Now they got Hanna Marklund back, and after seeing what that did to the attention from sponsors, they decided to go for it in a major way, hiring Millie and a New Zeeland NT defender, Rebecca Smith who will join them mid season. http://www.expressen.se/index.jsp?a=243018 http://www.norran.se/sektion_c.php?id=462950&avdelning_1=101&avdelning_2=0
For those people interested, here is an interview with Milbrett when she arrived at Skellefteå: http://www.norran.se/web-tv/tiffenymilbrett.mov