News & Media II: Articles, photos, videos, etc.

Lloyd led the team also in assists. Even without this being her retirement year, I think there's a good chance she'd get it.

Stats aren't everything, but when I ran some 2021 numbers for all of the forwards and midfielders who had more than 100 minutes this year, it's Lloyd's efficiency that stands out here:

 

it’s more Champion’s League-centric(win it & their players are all over the top of both this & FIFA’s official top player lists)

to be fair both Barca & Lyon were in pre-season/NWSL been known to loose to college teams in their pre season(even though college aren’t in season either)

19 NWSL players did make the Guardian’s list. Just don’t get how NWSL chose Fishlock for it’s mvp, even though she wasn’t good enough to make the Great Britain Olympic squad(though they proved to be an dud)

most of Europe can be forgiven for not being too excited about the Olympics; only 3 NT’s were invited(and those were chosen 2 years prior)/ they made 7 out of 8 quarter finalists at the last WC.

but your point(ridiculous list/kidding too many outside Europe) was proven yesterday; Chelsea(9 listed/4 of the top 11) was upset by Reading(who’s got no one on the list), 1-0 and who scored the goal?; none other than Canadian Deanne Rose(Olympic hero vs the over-the-hill gang & recent U of Florida grad) yet college players completely ignored by this list, FIFA & by the USWNT as well

 

wonder if in paris 2024 the womens tournament will expand to 16 teams?. There's not logistical issue preventing that from happening because men can do it. 2.5 spots for concacaf, 2.5 for conmebol, 4 for uefa, 3 for AFC, 2 for CAF, 1 for OFC and host France.

 

idk on this Paris 2024 tournament, during what time of the year is this supposed to happen?

in my opinion there’s really no parity in woso club soccer to make this much competitive. NWSL is in an stringent budget where it shuts down for 5 months & don’t think they’ve ever left to play outside the US in its 8 year history. Most of the best NT players from the rest of the world like Australia Brazil Canada & Japan) play either in Europe or NWSL, so don’t expect top notch domestic clubs from them either.
This year’s new, over extended Champions League schedule is even exhausted their most elite clubs to point an point of sheer physical exertion; yesterday, Guardian’s pick for #2 player in the world, Miedema as well as former two time NWSL mvp Kim Little looked like an shell of their former self’s as Arsenal got obliterated by the mostly collegiate amateurs(Hoffenheim). Remember, in woso even the bigger Euro clubs have less thsn an 100 to 1 budget to work with than their broso counterparts , with rosters iof 20-25 compared to 40+ on broso clubs, yet still play 10 month seasons. So definitely feel(for Euro clubs) it be a suicidal burden/heavier injury rate to add another nonsense tournament to add that they got WC, Olympics & Euros, 3 out of the next 4 years coming up during their supposedly summer break

 

Lindsey Horan named best player in the US for 2021/Trinity Rodman best youth player
Trinity Rodman, Lindsey Horan are U.S. Soccer's top players after USWNT, NWSL success

 

So

read something from a less than reputable forum that Lyon was going to sign Lindsey but only if her ‘surgery was successful’. So dunno if it’s true or not(or how serious this supposed surgery is), but good luck Lindsey!

and nice they acknowledge Trinity, she needs to get ASAP on the USWNT(or at least for 2023 WC as I noticed Germany’s build their own monster 19 year old named Jule Brand(got the he feeling these two will be batting out for the next decade for world’s best player)

 

5' 10", giant strides, runs and moves like a deer. My European Operatives echo your sentiments.

 

I think you underate Hanna Bennison, as old as Brand (and thus 5 months younger than Rodman).

 

Early in 2021, Hannah was named ‘best youth player in the world’ by Goal website. But since then Trinity & Jule have popped up to whole different level;
there’s always room to grow for either Hannah or any other youth, but looking at her stats since signing an high profile contract with Everton last August; 1 goal, 1 assist in 3 starts out of 10 league games on an stacked but struggling club currently only in 9th place in WSL standings.

Trinity stats; 8 goals, 6 assists:/22 starts out of 25 games as she led her underrated Spirit club to the NWSL championship, with her first goal only coming in late June(about midway of the season).

Jule just as impressive; taking her ‘no name’ recognition HOF squad to upsets over the likes of Bayern, Wolfsburg, Rosengard & just week, wholesale destruction of Arsenal(9 of their players were listed on Guardian’s Top 100 including Miedema #2/Kim Little #19)

here’s highlights of Jule, where it appears she's an aberration with ‘supernatural’ abilities(caution; please don’t watch if you got an heart problem)

 

Shannon Boxx, Hope Solo, and Linda Hamilton will all be inducted in the National Soccer Hall of Fame's 2022 class. Christie Pearce will also be inducted this year after deferring in 2021.

https://www.nationalsoccerhof.com/n...tional-soccer-hall-of-fame-class-of-2022.html

 

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Sooooooo exactly what credentials do these women have that justify induction into the Hall of Fame you ask - - - -

World Cup Champion……………............... ✔️
Possessor of valid Bad*ss Certificate… ✔️​

Congratulations Ladies, see you in a couple months in Frisco

 

USWNT players have written a letter to both Parlow Cone and Cordeiro (the 2 USSF presidential candidates) as a response to the Washington Post article on Dames abuse allegations that I posted in the NWSL forum (https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/02/08/rory-dames-eclipse-select-misconduct-allegations/)

The full text of the letter is here:

Here's the full text of the letter sent to USSF president Cindy Parlow Cone and and candidate(/former prez) Carlos Cordeiro from #USWNT players Christen Press, Crystal Dunn, Tobin Heath, Carli Lloyd, Sam Mewis, Alex Morgan, Kelley O'Hara, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn. pic.twitter.com/ydCplFsXYU

— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) February 9, 2022

The USSF presidential election is March 5. This is not going to be a major issue for the election, but it's not insignificant either. It's probably worth noting that Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrunn, 2 of the signers of the letter, are also 2 of the members of the Athletes' Council, one of the major voting blocs in the election.

 

The response from President Cone:
https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2022/02/letter-from-us-soccer-president-cindy-parlow-cone

 

Today I read this excellent article for espn.com by Caitlin Murray:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-...er-contracts-as-both-sides-negotiate-new-cbas
and I wanted to share it. It is chock full of facts and provides an unemotional comparison of the men's and women's contracts.

The article cleared up my confusion regarding the claim by USSoccer that it offered the same contract to the men and women and the subsequent "No they did not" response from the players association. I figured one or both sides was lying. Apparently USSoccer was putting its own spin on the words "same contract":

"When U.S. Soccer says it has offered the USWNT the same contract structure that the USMNT has -- something neither side disputes -- it means that it offered to eliminate salaries for the women and provide the per-game fee and bonus structure....U.S. Soccer never offered the same dollar amounts for such performance bonuses."​

BTW: Caitlin Murray's 2019 book: The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer is excellent. Murray has an in-depth understanding of the historic and current contract battles between the USWNT and USSoccer.

 

This is how I'd rank them:

1. New Testament
2. Old Testament
3. The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer
   
4. All other works

 

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There were some (but not me) that were surprised when the Football Writers chose the MVP during the 1st Quarter of this athletic event. Ya have to admit they got it right this time.

 

During February 17-23 I will be happily watching England, Germany, Canada, and Spain in the Arnold Clark Cup on Paramount+, which I currently pay for to watch the NWSL. I will not be watching the SheBelieves Cup with USA, Czech Republic, Iceland, and New Zealand which is on ESPN, which I am not currently paying for.

 

Give us some reports on the matches, please! I don't have Para +, having to limit costs. I watch UCL on the Spanish language channels.

 

I will post about the games in the thread over in the International forum, if I have anything to say..........
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/england-germany-canada-spain-◇-arnold-clark-cup.2119597/

It looks like the Arnold Clark cup will be available free on the FAPlayer:

BREAKING NEWS 🗞️ | The Arnold Clark Cup will now be available to watch 𝙒𝙊𝙍𝙇𝘿𝙒𝙄𝘿𝙀 via our broadcast partners or by registering to watch free on the FA Player in all other parts of the world. 🌍

All the action kicks off tomorrow. #ArnoldClarkCup

— Arnold Clark Cup (@ArnoldClarkCup) February 16, 2022

"The Arnold Clark Cup will now be available to watch via our broadcast partners or by registering to watch free on the FA Player in all other parts of the world."

Actually, I have been suckered in by this in the past. They mean that if it is not on one of their broadcast partners in your country (such as Paramount+ in the USA), then you can get the games on the FA Player. Most of the top tier WSL games are like that now- you cant get them live on the FAPlayer if there is another broadcast outlet in your country.

 

Back to SheBelieves: I didn't realize that Katie Bowen was now with the NC Courage:

1494008751686361095 is not a valid tweet id

 

Shame the FA Player didn’t work out, I had to wait till the YouTube replays came out. Real good series, all tied up after first round(all 4 teams got an goal a piece)

 

Turner gets rights to many USMNT and USWNT matches starting in 2023: https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...-federation-reach-multimedia-rights-agreement

This does not include WWC/Olympic games, which would be separate deals. I'm not particularly happy about this (I know how the Champions League went), but I do like that all the games in the deal will be simulcast on one streaming service.

 

Yeah. Not great for the fan. Soccer continues to wander amongst the TV channels.

 

Great News

 

is this an misprint on our opponent? Or is it for the U20 squad? one of the most dominant displays ever in destroying a respectable #16 ranked Iceland, it’s hard to believe this would be their next team Vlatko wants to play