Rapinoe reportedly to play for Lyon

Discussion in 'Seattle Reign FC' started by ForeverLOST108, Dec 27, 2012.

  1. ForeverLOST108

    ForeverLOST108 Member+

    Jan 23, 2010
    Orlando
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    According to an article with quotes from Rapinoe's father, she will being going to play for Olympique Lyonnais for six months before coming over to the NWSL.

    Granted, it's not confirmed by Rapinoe herself but seems legitimate enough. Very interesting. I wonder if other big name players will follow suit? This isn't exactly getting off to the right start for the league.
     
  2. CANAmerican

    CANAmerican Member

    Aug 10, 2011
    Toronto
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Very interesting. I wonder if she agreed to a deal before the NWSL was finalized? She can still play a little less than half the NWSL season. I wonder if she will still be allocated with the other USWNT players...
     
  3. MRAD12

    MRAD12 Member+

    Jun 10, 2004
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Everyone is trying to cash in on the "Lindsay Horan effect".
    I still say those who are already making plans to go overseas before knowing how this new league will be, how much they will get paid, etc. are making a mistake.

    It is still my belief that US players should be all in to trying to make "their" league succeed.
    If it doesn't succeed this time, I don't know who in their right mind will ever invest in a women's pro league in this country in the foreseable future.

    IMO, it is so critical that our best and most marketable players are in from the get-go.
     
  4. kernel_thai

    kernel_thai Member+

    Oct 24, 2012
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Just what OL needs, a midfielder. :)
     
  5. CANAmerican

    CANAmerican Member

    Aug 10, 2011
    Toronto
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just to add, according to Equalizer the European season ends in late May. She can still play June through September/October or however long the season is. She may only be missing a month and a half of the NWSL season.
     
  6. kernel_thai

    kernel_thai Member+

    Oct 24, 2012
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    The time table on the new league has put them in a bit of a bind. European teams r looking to get their contracts done by early January. The new league seems to have built everything around the NSCAA convention date, which may turn out to be too late.
     
  7. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    i don't think we need all the big uswnt names for this league to succeed.

    the makeup of the league and its funding mechanism gives some space to the league to make a go of it without significant attendance figures, and allows them to get some of the few uswnt 'names' who get contracts overseas now to join the league later in the season - as rapinoe apparently will - or join the league full time in year 2 and/0r 3.

    footballers have a short playing life and especially women footballers have to get as much as they can now. they can't continually sacrifice their economic lives for the spreading of the u.s. pro soccer gospel. i fully expect a few more good contracts to be offered to top u.s. players by the few cl teams in europe who can afford it. they'll play there for the first part of our season, then join up with their allocated team in may or june.

    as in the last wps season, (when teams had to account for the repeated absence of uswnt players), some teams will have the difficult job of accounting for their absence with reasonable replacements.

    tough.

    in fact, here's my question.

    would you guys still allocate rapinoe to portland, knowing this?

    and would portland still be willing to take her knowing that she will be missing the first part of the season?

    and if they do, who should they be sure to pick up from the old wps or draft from the new crop of seniors to play in rapinoe's spot while she's in france?
     
  8. TsovLoj

    TsovLoj Member

    Aug 16, 2012
    What I'm thinking is that this may make it more likely, depending on how Rapinoe interacts with allocation due to this, for Portland to get both Sinclair and Wambach. Besides, they're likely getting Schmidt, who's no slouch as a mid.
     
  9. lukephan

    lukephan Member+

    Oct 1, 2012
    As much as I'm fascinated with Alex Morgan scoring ability and speed, Tobin Heath phenomenal ball handling and passes and Abby Wambach finishing and clutchness, I just realized that Megan Rapinoe is probably the best overall US soccer player.

    These french ppl know what they're doing... :thumbsup:
     
  10. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    as CANAmerican pointed out there's very little overlap.

    though no contract has been made final yet (otherwise OL would have made an official announcement instead of this teaser), acc to the article in the redding paper lyon has shown great interest in rapinoe and i don't think that interest dates from yesterday.

    note : the announcement may be for very soon as the link i gave has disappeared from the site and will probably be replaced by something more detailed next morning (at the very least announcing the official signing of ohno).

    well, horan already did a training camp in lyon in summer of 2011... and that's the effect which PSG finally cashed in on.
    your opinion is more valid than mine on that but i have long felt that pinoe is the only USWNT player i really wanted to see come to OL, who could really make a big change, and now it's true. at least for a few months.
     
  11. kernel_thai

    kernel_thai Member+

    Oct 24, 2012
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    I personally dont understand the move. They already r the who's who of French middies. Did they get rid of somebody. Ohno makes much more sense from a need stand point.

    From the Pinoe perspective, France seems like the perfect place for her free spirit to roam.
     
  12. WPS_Movement

    WPS_Movement Member+

    Apr 9, 2008
    I don't think she'll be in the 24 player allocation now.
    She would only be here for about half the season.
    That wouldn't be fair to a franchise to get 2.5 allocated players, while everyone else gets 3.0 players.

    Pinoe will end up being a free agent after her season is over in Europe.
    She'll sign with Portland of course.

    This makes me think that players like Nairn and/or Mewis may end up being in the 24 player allocation (which therefore means they would not be in the college draft). Otherwise, the league is going to be reaching toward players like Carrie Dew to be one of their 24 players to be subsidized.
     
  13. kernel_thai

    kernel_thai Member+

    Oct 24, 2012
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    I think she will be allocated and her pay adjusted. I think Portland wants her enough to play without her until June. If she isnt allocated (assuming the Thorns want her) the salary cap makes it hard for them to sign another free agent to fill her spot. They will end up with 3.5 WNTers, tho. If she's allocated they dont have to hold open a salary slot for her. They will be a player short tho.
     
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  14. WPS_Movement

    WPS_Movement Member+

    Apr 9, 2008
    Portland will do whatever it takes to guarantee their chances are at its highest that she'll be there in Portland.
     
  15. kernel_thai

    kernel_thai Member+

    Oct 24, 2012
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    I agree...I think they might do a little better in the allocation split with her there as half a player as well. The down side is maybe she likes France and doesnt come back.
     
  16. WPS_Movement

    WPS_Movement Member+

    Apr 9, 2008
    Well, the league in France is over by late May.
    She'd be back by early June, or mid-June (if she wants to take a couple of weeks off).
    Unless she finds some irresistible taboo to put her face in, she'll be back in the U.S. by mid-June.
     
  17. RUfan

    RUfan Member

    Dec 11, 2004
    NJ
    Club:
    Sky Blue FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Agree

    Agree
    Disagree, disagree, disagree, disagree.
     
  18. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Allocate her and give that team the equivalent salary from the time she is away to cover another US player who is a little deeper in the pool. Doesn't even have to be a named player... you just give them the money & let them figure it out. If it's Portland, they will be more than happy to work with a half season of Pinoe.
     
  19. WPS_Movement

    WPS_Movement Member+

    Apr 9, 2008
    They can only allocate her, though, if she guarantees (and signs) to the league before the allocation process takes place. If she only "verbally" says she'll be here in June, and then changes her mind, then that particular NWSL franchise who was supposed to get her as one of their three allocated players is screwed (as they'll only have two allocated players for the entire season, compared to everyone else that would have three).

    And if she gets hurt (for the year) over in Europe, then what?
     
  20. kernel_thai

    kernel_thai Member+

    Oct 24, 2012
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    I dont see injury as a factor...she can get hurt in the Thorns team photo on day one. Ur right that's they don't even have half a Pinoe tho. She could re-up with Lyon after the 6 month contract. As to her saying, or maybe her father said it, or maybe they guessed, that she'd be back to play after the contract was up, well, she also was very hot at the chance of playing in the league in Portland a month ago. Without a contract nothing is certain.
     
  21. kernel_thai

    kernel_thai Member+

    Oct 24, 2012
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    The real question is will this be the pebble that causes the rock slide?
     
  22. TsovLoj

    TsovLoj Member

    Aug 16, 2012
    I agree they'll want her that bad, and they're likely to be pretty stacked even without her. If they have a choice in the matter, they'll do as you say. And I suspect they wouldn't have had her do that little interview for them if they didn't already have a gentlemen's agreement (a ladies' agreement?) that she'd play for them. They're counting on having her, but I don't know exactly how they will do it, an allocation route or some other way.
     
  23. WPS_Movement

    WPS_Movement Member+

    Apr 9, 2008
    Portland should do everything they can to get her, even if it's just for half the season.
    They will probably be in the playoffs. And they'll have her blended in with the rest of the team (chemistry wise) by then.
     
  24. TsovLoj

    TsovLoj Member

    Aug 16, 2012
    Do we know for sure we're doing a playoffs system? And not the Euro-style just games until the end?
     
  25. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    here in lyon the take is the opposite of yours : we're stacking up strikers like cordwood, ohno is like the seventh wheel on the cart, but pinoe? as the song goes there's only one megan rapinoe... even if it's only 5 months the media fallout alone is worth the price of admission.

    but where will she play? i've gone so far out on a log everywhere else that i will open myself up to further ridicule here by predicting she will usually be RB. as you say, she's a free spirit, an électron libre. no one else in the women's game, not even soso, is so obviously suited to the role of the modern fullback as seen in the men's game, and no team comes as close to playing the men's game as lyon. imagine the despair of a defense already stretched to the breaking point seeing pinoe raiding up the right flank. can't you just picture it?

    besides, if you had all the footage of all the matches since the beginning of the season, and counted the minutes OL has had both fullbacks behind the ball, you might very well be able to do it on your fingers....

    can't i convince anyone of the genius of my plan? you're all mad i tell you! mad!!
     
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