We've been looking at how we changed things around as a result of Sunday. But how in your opinion did the other 7 teams do? Who improved? Who didn't? Paul
With all the good debate and pre-draft speculation on the Charge boards (best on bs), I thought some of you might be interested in this article... http://www.carolinacourage.com/339282.html
My belief is 7 of the 8 teams will be fighting for playoffs. Only NY still has too many questions to say they are a solid team. Welsh and Orlandos will help, but we still need to see how their international situation evolves. With a 16+2 roster, injuries will drive what happens. No depth for anyone. So when the 16 get set, and people are cut, there'll be some players out there to acquire before the 1st match. When you add players, you improve, particularly when you fill needs. Even Carolina, by adding Breanna Boyd becomes far better defensively. The unanswered question is the Chinese, so you can't project until their fate has been determined.
Adam, you were one of the "some of you" I was thinking of. It's not like you just jumped on the bandwagon... your last post is consistent with much earlier speculation/opinion.
My doubt about Boyd had to do with a team would be willing to use an allocation for her. The Soccer America scuttlebutt had Boyd going to New York in the draft Carolina lost all 3 matches last year to the Charge by 2 goals. They just have match-up problems with the Charge. Boyd should help out reading what the Charge do. Boyd might have an edge over Orlandos reading what's going on. I'd take Boyd as the steal of the draft. As you may recall we had been debating Boyd to the Charge type acquisition also, particularly if Zhao is out. And San Diego getting Latham also brings a harder edge approach to their attack. Fleeting and Latham up top should be very nice forward for Wagner to service to
Adam, SA was right about NY interest, but the 4'th round prediction was a complete miss. Latham is a bull...same as Hooper. Like a USA announcer once said about Hooper "she won't turn down any challenge, in the air or on the ground". I'm think people (outside SD) are going to get more to'd when it's proven at the WUSA level what a steal Latham was. Better than a 4'th round draft pick. Canada has another young bull in the works who just turned 16 and already is doing NT duty.. Kara Lang. Wonder if it's something in the food? Maybe the harsh climate??
Sepaking of Charmane, what's her brother Linden doing these days? Became aware of him during WCQ for 1986. So how many brothers and sisters have represented their country at the World Cup Finals. They're the only pair I know. From memory Charmane's a bigger player than Linden. We all know about Kara Lang. Actually Heather O'Reilly is all the hype. Her dad ran for Villanova 20 years ago and is from Ireland, and he was a potential Olympian for Ireland. Seen O'reilly play a couple years ago in th NJ state championships, and even then you know who can play. And she can play. Personally, I think Canada makes the semis in China, and from there on, it's anyones chance.
it must be the harsh climate i remember when canada beat the USA 3-1 in columbus after the olympics, wendy gebauer made mention to how the weather was sooo cold, and that us canadians were more accustomed to playing in the cold then the americans....so that must be it since ya know...the weather in southern canada is soooooo much different than that of northen US...lol great article about bre! elaine
If Boyd had slipped to the second round perhaps New York would have taken her instead of Orlandos. I was really surprised that Carolina was able to select Boyd considering that they already had four international players on their roster. I didn't even know that it was possible for WUSA teams to have more than four foreigners even temporarily. At least this was one of the reasons that I was given for Bente Nordby being waived prior to Hanna Ljungberg being designated as a Discovery Player for the Spirit. You are definitely right about Carolina having "match-up problems with the Charge." If I recall correctly, besides the losses to the Charge, the Courage only lost once each to Atlanta and Washington all last season. Didn't the Courage lose once to the Charge the same day Prinz arrived (she didn't play), once when they were at full strength, and then finally when they were missing something like 4-5 players mainly because of the Norway - U.S. friendly.
Carolina had Prinz the day of the Norway-USA match. But Fair and Benson amd Mitts were called uo. So Pia had to totally change the defensive system using two man markers and a sweeper, Tietjen sweeping, and Alfiler on Fotopolous and Iverson on Prinz. Sundhage proved her magic that day. The Charge wide play just gives Carolina fits. The one thing is Monroe does a very good job on Riise for the two matches in Carolina, limiting service forward. Carolina didn't play Pichon very well at all in any of the matches. Still I think Boyd going to Carolina will help. As to the 5 foreigners, well I guess the same darwinian rules apply here, as applied to the acquistion of Latham. If you can get away with it, do it. Plus, the idea of contracts expiring december 31, and no cba, probably makes almost anything legal
You are absolutely correct. I hope it didn't sound like I was making up any excuses for why Carolina lost to Philly, because my intention was just to show that the Courage lost to Philly before Prinz officially joined the team, when they were at full strength, and when both teams were missing key international players.
You might be correct here as well. Prior to the contracts expiring perhaps you couldn't draft or even negotiate with a foreign player if you already had four on your roster. Maybe the Spirit did deserve a bit of a break here wrt Latham after the way their negotiations with Ljungberg, Anne Tønnessen, and a few other foreign players turned out so poorly for them.
Woohoo! Thanks.... My take on each of the 7: NY: Grade: A They got the best forward and the best defender of the draft, and to be a fly on the wall down there that Sunday when the Power picked #9 and Orlandos was still on the board. They will not give up 60 goals this year. SD: Grade: A. Wagner. Latham. And they got their new starting goalie. Prediction: Branam will get the nod over the fading Pagliarulo come April 5. If Bush is healthy (a huge if), then it goes to A+. But can their D step up? BOS: Grade: B The best (to SoccerAmerica anyways) d-mid in the draft in Hawkins. Pac-10 PotY Wallis will be helpful as well as Worden. But they also showed their stubbornness to not accept fair trade value for a player better than all three of them and who could have been in a Breakers uni by now (Iverson). ATL: Grade: A. The Beat could have drafted three women in the W-2 League after the first round and they'd still get this grade, since they got what may be for them the final piece of the puzzle. I pray that Krikorian doesn't have to face a post-game press conference question in a semifinal or the final like this: "Coach, if you had to do it over again, would you have still passed on drafting Callie Withers when you had the chance last February?" If Withers is all that and a bag of chips, what we *didn't* do here may be the WUSA's equivalent to the Portland Trail Blazers drafting Sam Bouie in the 1986 draft when Michael Jordan was still on the board. SJ: Grade: C. They only had two picks, and I'm not sure if Barr is going to make that much of an impact in a crowded middle. WSH: Grade: Incomplete They got a good middie in Rebekah McDowell and that will boost them there. The two keys to this is whether or not Gregg comes back from her PCL tear at reasonably full strength, and Laura Schott is as what East Coaster indeed advertises, the real deal. If both turn out to be right, and if Meinert is in fact headed there in a pre-season trade, then they will be very hard to beat. CAR: Grade: A-. The #2 defender (Boyd) and, to them, the #2 goalie on their depth chart behind Solo of the draft(Meghann Burke); sometimes you don't need a gaggle of picks to impress and improve. Paul
Elaine, you crack me up... very funny. Perhaps you can answer Adam's question about Linden... as "my hypocricy only goes so far" (quote from Doc Holliday in Tombstone).
I seem to recall a posting a while ago where I talked about the Charge drafting Boyd before anyone else suggested that she would be in the first round and I said also that her stock will rise immensely after this year's World Cup where she will lead Canada very deep into the tournament.
Good analysis Charge!. It would have been interesting to see the reaction of the Power staff after the Charge picked Mary McVeigh and they thus knew that they were going to get one of the top two defenders available in the draft with their #9 pick. I'm not sure if the Power will be ready to challenge for the playoffs this year, but I agree that if they can stay relatively healthy (and they never play Tammy Pearman at left back again), their defense will not give up 60 goals. I have to disagree with your prediction about Branam starting over Pagliarulo. Pags was looking good down at ARCO with the USWNT last month and I think that she is now close to 100% healthy and ready to have a big year. I expect Jaime to play more like she did during the 2001 season than the way she played last year. That was also a bit of a surprise to me that the Spirit moved up in the draft to take Susan Bush. If Bush is healthy then I think this goes from being an extremely good draft to an excellent "A+" draft for San Diego (aka "UNC West").
Pretty good job by Charge. These teams stand out to me. SD - looks like they came out of this smelling like a rose. Wagner... I'm really impressed with this girl...wish she was Canadian.... and Latham to boot...and they only used one draft pick to do it. Can't do better than that. NY - I got a feeling they're going to improve a whole lot this year. Welsh seemed flustered against Portland, but she is a real force on the field. Orlandos was in my opinion the 2'nd best defender in the draft, but I can't fault Charge on having a different opinion. And I hope DennisM and Adam are right about the CWNT. Pellerud needs to do a rapid-development on our midfield and add some possession into our game. If he can accomplish that....
I agree NY has added two players who make them better. But there's major retooling going on up there, so knowing exactly how much they've improved is difficult. And every other team has solidified, so the relative ordering of teams is hard to know until we see everyone play each other at least once. The thing about Pelerud is he knows the mental preparation required and a coach system and approach spreads through the entire roster. Canada is not a possession team, and I think they'll be very solid defensively, it'll be hard to put up more than a goal against them. And special players are what make the difference in elite tournaments. Sinclair is one... Prinz is the other.. and HOME field advantage... I did a big trip into Canada in 1999, Calgary, did the bobsled, did theBanff, Lake Louise circuit, spent 2 weeks in Edmonton for the World track and field championships, went out to Vancouver... Very enjoyable time and the people are exceptionally friendly.
"In the Blue Canadian Rockies, Spring is silent through the trees And the golden poppies are blooming round the banks of Lake Louise."
A lot of excellent hiking at Lake Louise..and the lake is very spectacularly unique .. I was there for 3 days, and was trying to figure out why they had a Saudi flag flying next to the Maple Leaf. Turns out a Saudi princess was staying there too. I assume her nightly rate was much higher than the back room I had there. There does seem to be a more ready cultural acceptance of soccer in Canada than here.
This is a great point that you make. If Sinclair has a huge tournament Canada could go very far. This could also be the final major tournament for Hege Riise and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Hege come up big for Norway just like she did down the stretch for Carolina last season. I also just heard from someone who was at the Four Nations Tournament that Dagny Mellgren was awesome, but it was clear that she really needed help up top and that Norway was not going to win this tournament playing a 4-5-1. Well Ragnhild Gulbrandsen is apparently healthy again so look for Norway to go back to a 4-4-2 at the Algarve Cup with Ragnhild and Dagny starting at forward together for the first time in nearly 1 1/2 years.
I was at Foxboro for the 5-0 thrashing dished out by China against Norway. Sittng about 10 rows up near the corner flag, and you could see the bewilderment on many of the Norwegian faces. I never recall Nordby being ever left so defenseless. My belief is a World Cup requires the injection of new talented youth, those players on the cusp of becoming the elite stars. You watch Argentina at the mens world cup and the choice by Bielsa to go with Batistuta simply left the argentines one step short. Using players past their prime will be punished. I think the womans game has sufficiently progressed where the gap between competing teams hs narrowed, making it ever more competitive. Perhaps the 2nd COMNEBOL side and Ghana would be the only sides where 7-0 scores might happen. For USA, Wagner evolution is the key, and I'd like a player like Hawkins to emerge too. Defensively, I don't like the system employed, I'd prefer a more technical approach, but that's not gonna happen, and that's where trouble will exist. China seems annointed by FIFA to win this year, so from draw rigging to a highly advantageous schedule, the Chinese will be a tough HOME side. At a neutral venue, I'd like Germany, I just think the depth and experience along with Prinz is enough to win against any team. All along I think the BIG 4 need to watch out for the emergence of a darkhorse, potentially Canada or France, so team, who will knock out one of the top 4 in the quarters.
You are definitely correct about Nordby never "being ever left so defenseless." That match really exposed Norway's lack of depth defensively. Linda Medalen was not at full strength and Gro Espeseth missed the entire World Cup after tearing her ACL earlier that year. Norway just played the 4NT with two defenders who had a total of 2 caps between them prior to the China trip. Defender Anne Tønnessen is healthy again and both Ingvild Stensland and Marianne Paulsen got some valuable experience in China. I actually think that 21 year old Ingvild Stensland is one of "those players on the cusp of becoming" an elite star and will be starting in the center of the Norwegian defense with Tønnessen in China this September. Remember too that Norway's "Baby-faced Assassin #2," Dagny Mellgren, is only 24 years old and I have a feeling that 2003 is going to be her best year ever now that it looks like she will be playing alongside Ragnhild Gulbrandsen both with the Breakers and the Norwegian National Team.
At 4 nations and algarve, a coach would be naive to show what they have planned for WWC'03. You tinker with personnel and tactics, and give experience to young players. All the coaches in China did it, after beating the USA, Ma went with 7 new starters against Norway. The Chinese are hard to know about, whether Ma is going with the old guard, or whether he'll introduce us to the budding Chinese. On the whole, I think this will be the most competitive of World Cups, with more matches being closely fought than ever. And it's time for upsets to happen in the womans game.