Sayonara, Sawa Popular Beat star leaving to captain World Cup team By WENDY PARKER The Atlanta Journal-Constitution http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/0503/31beat.html This will really hurt - but best of luck to Sawa and her National team. Maybe she can bring Kobyashi (sorry if I got that spelling incorrect) back with her.
$&!%!!! I believe this falls into the same time frame as the Canada v Mexico friendlies. And a USWNT v some bottom feeder friendly on the 14th. double $&!%!!!
I guess this means that we get to see EXACTLY how deep the Beat are. Sawa cannot be replaced but her roll can be filled by several players that currently play and will not be gone BUT the others do not quite have the same spark. I think that Pohlers could do well on the outside mid and Miller could make a GREAT attacking mid. It would not surprize me to see a midfield of: Serlinga - Deffensive mid Miller - Offensive mid Pohlers - on the left Bivens - moving up to the right mid for attacking reasons. There are also defenders that have the flair to move up to wide mid like Julie A. for one. I think the Beat will be OK during this time but they must stay focused. No injuries! No red cards! No yellow card suspensions! Sawa will be missed but the problem can be overcome.
I think "the player" that is toughest for Stone to replace is Nonen. You take her out of the lineup, and most likely either Bivens or Gaston move to the Center-D with Nancy, (no Bivens on the right flank affects their attack very negatively). Hopefully Withers will be fit to play and Serlenga's hip will be healed completely. They will both be need to be in the lineup. Sawa, Hooper, Nonen, Dominguez, Parlow and Scurry all could be gone for the June 14th match @ Carolina. Anyone think Stone and Rockwell will deny a Nat. player a callup that week?
First of all, there should be no surprise that we would be losing Sawa for this stretch. They will need her to give them the best chance at winning their group (which they are the favorites to do, with only Taiwan really providing opposition). What other teams are losing players to the qualification later this month? What about the Chinese players with other teams?
Kobayashi, as in Yayoi Kobayashi. Whatever happened to her, anyway? She was the cream of the rookie crop from the preseason games that I watched.
Re: Re: Sayonara, Sawa she got cut. we didn't have a spot for her because hooper's greencard paper work hasn't been cleared yet. i think stone said he wanted kobayashi, but couldn't get her yet
Re: Re: Re: Sayonara, Sawa I don't know why so many people on here were confident of a rapid processing of her green card. Having been through that experience with my wife (she is Taiwanese), I tried to tell people that it could take years (30-36 months most likely) unless given some form of dispensation.