What jumps out at me first is that - despite rumors to the contrary - Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Hope Solo are on the list. Anything else of interest? ETA: The most interesting names not on the list - unless I've missed something - are Klingenberg and Press, both Olympic alternates.
Here's more of the NWSL release. Question: Which team will get only two USWNT players? I could see Portland getting Rapinoe and Winters only; plus Sinclair and Schmidt; plus Garciamendez and one other from Mexico. That's a very strong group, compensating for one fewer USWNT player. Allocations will be announced Friday. The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has announced the list of 55 U.S., Canadian and Mexican National Team players that will be allocated to the eight clubs. All 18 U.S. players on the gold medal-winning 2012 Olympic team are included in the allocation, while 13 of the Canadian players were part of the bronze medal-winning team. Once the allocation process is completed, the club location for all 55 players will be announced on Friday, Jan. 11. The allocation process will be conducted with assistance from a panel of experts familiar with the player pool, including individuals from the collegiate level, recent professional and semi-professional clubs, and the youth and senior national team level in North America. Along with the panel’s collective input on the technical ability of the players, in preparation for the allocation, players have selected their preferred destinations and the clubs have provided their preference with regard to specific players and qualities of players desired. Based on the input from the panel of experts and teams, players will be assigned numerical values on quality and desirability. “The allocation will provide each club with a foundation of talent to build a competitive roster,” said NWSL Executive Director Cheryl Bailey. “Ultimately, the goal is to pair the teams and players in such a way that we achieve a fair distribution of talent across all eight teams. This is another important step as we continue to build towards the inaugural season of the National Women’s Soccer League. We are looking forward to sharing this news with our fans in the coming days.” U.S. Soccer is subsidizing the salaries of 23 players, while the Canadian Soccer Association and the Federation of Mexican Football will each do the same for 16 players. With 23 U.S. players available for the allocation, all but one of the eight teams will receive three U.S. Women’s National Team players. Each club will also be assigned two Canadian National Team and two Mexican National Team players. The NWSL is an eight-team league organized and administered by the U.S. Soccer Federation that will begin play in the spring of 2013. The eight founding clubs are the Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Sky Blue FC (New York/New Jersey), Seattle Reign FC, the Washington Spirit and the Western New York Flash.
Since one team is going to get only two USWNT players, maybe that team will get first pick in the college draft? It would make sense.
I was probably the only person on here to state that the U.S. would subsidize four goalkeepers. Not too many seemed to take me serious on that. I didn't have any shared info on that or anything, I just knew it. They are not quite sure yet who they want Hope's replacement to be. Barnhart has some seniority, Loyden is younger than Barnhart, and Ashlyn Harris may be the best overall out of the younger goalkeepers coming up. Although Franch may have something to say about that once everyone sees just how good she is. Franch will be a subsidized goalkeeper in this league within time.
Or they'll get Stephanie Cox when she's ready to come back after her leave of absense. Or Klingenberg.
This normally would be a good idea, but there really isn't a clear cut go to number 1 pick this year, even if Amber Brooks enters the draft (which we know now she isn't). Everybody is going to draft based on their needs. They could give them this years #1 and guarantee them next years #1 (which is loaded with 3 or 4 players who would go number 1 this year.) It is more likely they increase the cap for any team that gets shorted. Or the NWSL is still trying to get somebody into that final 24 spot because of Klingenbergs late decision.
(AP) - Associated Press Brandi Chastain is the 24th player for the U.S. The 57 year old, who Bleacher Report ranks as one of the Top 5 soccer broadcasters of all-time, has announced she will be subsidized. She posted on twitter that she hopes to be allocated to FC Gold Pride, and then twitbobby on twitter tweeted her back and reminded her that they no longer have a franchise.
Let's hope not. She is too valuable in the booth calling the action on the field from her color commentary seat.
First of all, it would be Brianna Scurry tending goal with the help of a walker because u cant apparently have too many goalies. Yes WPS did call the four goalies (and the right four) and yes, as I mentioned before, it makes no sense. Well it does from a league standpoint cause goalies r at a premium. But u cant use 4 of 23 slots to pay GKs. In a non WWC year the WNT only needs to be paying two...four is maniacal. As to the 24th slot, I think it's Press. I dont see them giving money to anyone else not to play in the league. My next choice would be Engen who I could make a much better case for than either a fourth GK (Loyden) or Winters.
I think I said already I see wisdom in it. Hope Solo is injured and aging and we need somebody coming up and we don't know who yet. This is how we find out.
Not a bad theory but Barny is the same age as Solo while Loyden and Harris r both 27. If that were their concern ud think Loyden or Harris would be the back-up.
But they "owe" Barnhart based on "seniority", right? It seems they're going with the whole seniority thing.
Speculation From: http://equalizersoccer.com/2013/01/09/nwsl-allocation-and-rules-what-we-know-thus-far/ Here’s how one fan (me) thinks the 23 U.S. players could fall. Note that this is pure speculation… Boston Breakers: Heather O’Reilly, Keelin Winters, Lauren Cheney: Winters and Cheney are old Breakers and O’Reilly was on her way to being one when WPS went under. Chicago Red Stars: Amy LePeilbet, Shannon Boxx, Jill Loyden: Loyden was a budding “Red” star when the team dropped to the W-League and Boxx played her college soccer at Notre Dame. FC Kansas City: Amy Rodriguez, Becky Sauerbrunn, Heather Mitts: Rodriguez and Mitts would be excellent marketing tools for a brand new franchise in a city with no ties to any specific players. Portland: Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Kelley O’Hara: Everyone expects Sinclair to wind up here and if Thorns FC get Rapinoe as well they will automatically be a drawing card for more than just playing in soccer-mad Portland. Seattle: Hope Solo, Sydney Leroux, open spot: The presence of Solo and Leroux, both excellent players able to give the club high exposure, make the Reign the perfect team to lose the spot. Sky Blue FC: Carli Lloyd, Tobin Heath, Christie Rampone: Canadian goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc has ties to Rutgers which makes her a suitable addition to three players with ties to the area. Washington Spirit: Ali Krieger, Lori Lindsey, Nicole Barnhart: A decidedly older and defensive group would put the Spirit behind the 8-ball but likely land the some of the top Canadian and Mexican attacking talent. Western New York Flash: Abby Wambach, Ashlyn Harris, Rachel Buehler: A Wambach homecoming could help fill Sahlen’s Stadium which figures to be one of biggest venues in NWSL.
Then Im back to Brianna Scurry....they really owe her It just makes no sense to me. If they thought Loyden was the future then ud think she would be good enough to beat Barny out of the number 2 spot. If they think Barnhart is the future then their future is just as old as their present tho with lower miles and a ton less athletic. If they think Harris is the future then they should get rid of Barnhart and give her the back-up job. Four slots is a lot of money to pay for a position where one person gets all the caps.
The allocations will be announced tomorrow, by each team online, and by the league itself. This includes all allocations. All 55 of them. We know who the players are. Now we'll know what teams they're on. Grab some popcorn. It's coming in less than 24 hours.