A first for the Spirit - pre-Draft TV coverage Omid will be interviewed by KGTV, KUSI and KNSD on Thursday. Look for pre-draft stories on these stations. At this time, I am still trying to confirm KSWB and KFMB.
Omid On "Inside Soccer" I just found out that Omid is scheduled to be on the "Inside Soccer" radio show today, I believe during the second hour (5 - 6 PM). "Inside Soccer" can be heard on radio station KSDO AM 1130. If you have a question for Omid you can call 858-560-1130.
I got to listen to the show... The coach called in from Atlanta a little bit after 5pm, and talked to Brian Halliday (Brian Quinn was out of town, coaching the Sockers.) After saying that the team was still trying to move up in the draft, he basically responded to questions asked of him. Here is the gist of those answers. BH said that he had heard from a ‘source’ that the team had basically been able to essentially have a 2nd first-round draft choice because of an international ‘discovery’ player. Omid agreed with that characterization, but for some reason both of them tip-toed around who that player actually is. BH then talked about Aly being the first choice in the draft, and that the coach and Dave Presher had better not come back to town if she isn’t taken by the team. Omid laughed and when a bit later BH talked about how much of a difference Aly will make in the team his answer tacitly admitted that the team will indeed draft her. BH then asked if the team would be taking a defender with the 2nd available choice, and the coach said that they were ‘contemplating’ doing that – but he said that the 1 or 2 quality defenders would undoubtedly be gone before the Spirit had a chance at them. He did say that the team was also going to invite some possibilities to tryouts and also might be interested in players that other teams had to let go. BH switched gears at that point, wondering whether the two Chinese players would be back. Omid indicated that the team was still negotiating with the Chinese federation about that. He was asked if the team might get help from one of the European countries but the coach said that it would be difficult, as a lot of the teams were dragging their feet at the behest of their national associations, who wanted the players to ‘stay home’ so they would be available for any games or practices that their coaching staffs wanted. BH’s final question had to do with if the coach was getting on with the differences between dealing with female players. He said that he feels comfortable that he has a handle on things as far as coaching them – that the two biggest differences in the game were how to give criticism and that the play on the field was slower and thus more tactical.
A couple of things that the coach said made me wonder. Is the team (or is it really the league itself) still talking to the Chinese about Zhang because another team expressed interest in a trade for her? And is that why the team thinks it still might be able to get an earlier draft choice? If such a trade up is available, would the Spirit wait to see if a player that they want is available at the offered slot in the draft?