Earlier today I saw the following article posted at the "dfb.de" German soccer site and apparently the German National Team has scheduled their Euro2005 qualifying matches that will be played this year: Frauen-Nationalmannschaft: EM-Qualifikation terminiert It looks like Germany will be playing the Ukraine on August 9th, which would conflict directly with the Courage's final match of the season against the Philadelphia Charge at SAS Stadium. Carolina also plays their final road match against Boston on August 6th so there is the possibility that Prinz could end missing both of these matches unless there is a schedule change or if Carolina decides to not release Birgit for these matches.
Dates There is an overview about the upcoming dates on http://www.dfb.de/dfb-team/frauenmannschaft/termine/right.php I suppose Wusa runs from april till end of august so here are some translated dates for that period: 27.03.2003 Euro-Qualification: Germany - Scotland 19.05. - 25.05.2003 course with national team games 22.05.2003 Germany - Denmark 25.05.2003 Denmark - Germany 07.07. - 15.07.2003 WC-Course/Training camp 1 20.07. - 27.07.2003 WC-Course/Training camp 2 01.08. - 10.08.2003 WC-Course/Training camp 3 with Euro-Qualification 09.08.2003 Euro-Qualification: Ukraine - Germany 18.08. - 22.08.2003 WC-Course/Training camp 4 25.08. - 29.08.2003 WC-Course/Training camp 5 with Euro-Qualification 28.08.2003 Euro-Qualification: Germany - Czech Republik 01.09. - 05.09.2003 WC-Course/Training camp 6 08.09. - 12.09.2003 WC-Course/Training camp 7 with national team game Given the fact that the Ukraine can be considered the second best team in the qualification group Birgit Prinz might miss the Wusa game on that date. The upcoming world cup preparation can also be a problem for all national team players in Wusa. Are there rules about when a team can decide not to release a player?
Re: Dates "Danke" for posting all of this information Woody-99. Even though it is not good news to find out that there could be so many potential schedule conflicts for Birgit, it is better for this information to come out now instead of much later. If Birgit plays against Denmark and participates in all of the training camps, she could end up missing as many as 7 regular season matches, which is how many Courage matches she missed last season playing for FFC. Frankfurt.
Rules Governing the Release of Players I'm not sure exactly what these rules are, but last season I believe that Boston was the only WUSA team that didn't allow players to be released for an international friendly. Both Dagny Mellgren and Kristine Lilly missed the "open" friendly between the U.S. and Norway as I recall.
Friendly vs. France This was posted over in the Charge Forum: Since Carolina has a two week break between their first and second regular season matches there is a good chance that Birgit won't have to miss any action with the Courage due to Germany's friendly match vs. France April 17.
Re: Re: Dates I would be shocked if club teams would be obligated, or even expected, to release their internationals for training camps. And I doubt that missing training camps would affect Prinz's standing on the German national team. So my guess is that she won't miss more than four games (5/17, 5/24, 8/6 and 8/9). And she'll probably be there for the Washington game on 5/17, leaving for Germany from D.C.
Potential Worst Case Scenario I agree with you FC Carolina that Birgit probably "won't miss more than four games," and hopefully it will only be three or perhaps even less. All I was doing was showing what a potential worst case scenario might be if Birgit was to play in all of Germany's matches and participate in all of their training camps.
Updated German Schedule Here's the link to Germany's schedule (in English ) for the 2003-4: German Women's National Team Schedule
Does Birgit still have to play a few weeks at her german club then come back to the states to play for carolina like she and jones did last year?
No. This year, Prinz is under contract to the WUSA. Last year, she was under contract to her German club, and had to wait until the German season ended before she could move to the US. She did play for her old team this winter, but that was because the Courage and the WUSA loaned her to Frankfurt, with the understanding that she would return to the US in March.
Birgit's Knee Problems Birgit won't be playing for Germany this week in their friendly matches against China. Here is a quote from Birgit courtesy of Nadja who posted this German to English translation over on the WUSA boards:
Birgit's Knee Problems I get the sense that this is not something that is very serious, but perhaps Woody-99 or one of our other German friends who post here could give us an update when they come across some more information about Birgit's condidtion.
Re: Birgit's Knee Problems This makes it sound like a chronic problem, something that she has dealt with throughout her career. The timing of the treatment makes me think that she's trying to get herself ready to go for the WUSA season. Let's hope that's the case, and she'll be ready to go for the entire Courage season.
Get Some Rest Birgit This is what I am thinking as well. Hopefully Birgit will take some time off and report to the Courage preseason camp rested and ready to go.
Knee injury In the german article the knee injury didn't sound that serious so nordby1 and FC Carolina are probably right about that. I don't know if my translation was 100% accurate but it rather sounded like she wanted to take care of her knee before the Wusa season and the World Cup start. And she didn't really has to worry about her position on the national team at the moment
Re: Birgit's Knee Problems Germany managed to get a 2-2 draw and a 3-1 victory in their two matches played against China without Birgit. I wonder if she will be taking some more time off in Germany or if she plans to report to the Courage camp soon?
Re: Re: Re: Dates FIFA rules. http://www.fifa.com/fifa/handbook/regulations/player_transfer/2001/TransferRegulations-E.pdf Check out "Chapter XIII. Release of players for national association representative matches" This being a World Cup year we have to release players up for up to 8 matches, plus an appropriate preperation time (14 days) prior to the World Cup itself. The release for friendlies is only compulsory if the friendly dates are the agreed International Friendly dates. Now, the calendar, and these rules, were designed for the men's game, but there's nothing gender specific in them.
A match is one thing, a "training course," as the DFB puts it, without a friendly attached is quite another. Specifically, I'm talking about the courses on July 7 - July 15 and July 20 - July 27 I know that Birgit will be in Germany for the Denmark, Ukraine and Nigeria matches. But there is nothing in Chapter XIII stipulating that clubs must release players for training camps, unless that camp is preparation for an international match. Those two camps I mentioned are not.