Pretty big news for the women's game. Don't know if this is written in the articles, but I hear a lot of major soccer people in the northeast are getting involved in this program. NUNO CRISTÓVÃO MUITO AGRADADO COM ESTADIA NOS EUA USL Goes International: New Portuguese-North American Women’s Player Development Program Unveiled EDIT: I'll provide a translation of the first article later on tonite.
the new coach, Jose Augusto one of my favorite players in the 60's is now the coach but doesn't know anything about the women's game, his like a padrinho got him the job, his invited Futsal women's players to the women's 11 team, it looks like the program just got worse, I hope I'm wrong
USL Goes International New Portuguese-North American Women’s Player Development Program Unveiled -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSTON, MA (Wednesday, March 3, 2004) -- USL President and Director of International Projects Francisco Marcos and Portuguese National Teams Director Nuno Cristovao announced today in Boston, Massachusetts the formation of a new international women’s player development program for American and Canadian females of Portuguese descent. The pilot program being developed is designed to aid other nations in strengthening their women’s national team programs utilizing the deep pool of talent available in North America, starting with Marcos’ native Portugal and hopefully expanding to other countries in Europe and around the globe. “The US and Canada have created a great excitement for the game in North America and can now also play a great role in giving the game as a whole throughout the globe an infusion by aiding in raising the competitive quality of nations that do not have women’s development programs or resources equal to countries like Germany, China or Norway,” said Marcos. Still in the early stages of its formation, the project will consist of a scouting system that includes, but is not limited to, USL’s W-League and Super Y-League, regional combines and tours of select teams comprised of players from the three nations playing in the Canada, US and Portugal. The scouting system will help identify players for Portugal’s Women’s National Team, U19 team and U18 team. Focusing on the future of the program, the scouting system will include players beginning at the U14 level. “It is important to begin identifying these players at a younger age so that they can focus on their development for inclusion on the U18 National Team when the opportunity arises,” said Marcos. “And with the new FIFA rules, this kind of system would allow a girl who shows well on the international level the opportunity to play under either nationality should the opportunity arise. It is a win-win for all the nations involved.” FIFA rules allow players under the age of 23 who qualify for national team eligibility in multiple federations to play with those federations at the youth level without locking them to any specific federation until they have played with one federation’s senior national team. Qualification is determined utilizing the heritage of the player, their parents and grandparents. “A lot of work will have to go into educating the soccer public of these rules as most parents are likely unaware of the opportunities their children have abroad,” said Marcos. Hopefully, through USL and the leaders of the Portuguese communities across the US and Canada we can help raise awareness of this opportunity.” The W-League will play a pivotal role in the identification process as players will be identified, in large part, through their play throughout the season. The W-League, heading into its 10th Anniversary season this spring, has long featured national team players from around the globe and saw 42 current and former players participating in the 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup. “I am excited to see a program like this being forged,” said W-League Director and former Canadian National Team player Tammy Crawford. “This not only will help the game around the world, but increases the number of opportunities for young women in the sport. I know all of our franchises will be energized by this news and help in furthering the careers of their players, who will no doubt appreciate this fantastic opportunity as well.” With over 230 girls teams U14 to U19 in the Super Y-League in 2004, identification of the next wave of prospective youth internationals will begin to emerge through the league’s scouting system immediately. “An important aspect to the SYL is to have opportunities for players at the highest levels of the game,” said SYL Director Matt Weibe. “This program will accentuate the Player Development Opportunity programs that USL is beginning to create. Our mission for the league is to help develop the top one percent of the players in North America and this is a wonderful opportunity to expand the scope of our goals to include nations outside of the US and Canada for talented young girls. Our PDO programs also include the tours abroad with Select teams and our ODP scouting system.” The pilot program is projected to have an official cooperation agreement in the coming weeks as the foundation continues to be laid in the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada by Marcos, who has been working on international projects as a part of his new role with USL while living primarily at his home in Portugal. “Everyone is on board and it is important to start on this project as soon as possible to include the upcoming USL season in the starting this program,” said Marcos. “With the high concentration of players of Portuguese descent in the Northeast, we felt it was a natural place to start, but we will be quickly expanding the scope of the program to the west.” As a part of the project, a Portuguese-American Technical Commission has been founded to help organize and operate the scouting systems and any team tours. The two initial members of the commission are Laurindo Lima of South Shore Select Massachusetts and Rhode Island Stingrays General Manager and W-League coach Mario Pereira.