Some interesting info in the ‘Sidelines’ section! *** In the “Trophies” section: San Diego Spirit - Turns what figured to be an uneventful draft into a trade-fest, landing four potential starters despite beginning the day with only one pick in the first two rounds. In the “Sidelines” section: entitled “The next step.” Fresh off a productive college draft, the Spirit now turns its attention to the WUSA waiver draft and its allotted four foreigners. The waiver deadline is Friday and the draft of waived players will be next week. Of the four foreigners on last year’s roster, only Scottish forward Julie Fleeting is certain to return. Nigerian forward Mercy Akide will likely be gone unless she can obtain a green card and thus qualify as a non-foreign player. The Spirit is still in negotiations with the Chinese federation over defender Fan Yunjie and midfielder Zhang Ouying. China recently recalled Atlanta’s Sun Wen for the entire 2003 season to prepare for the Women’s World Cup that China hosts this fall, and a few weeks ago it looked like both Fan and Zhang would face a similar fate. Now it looks like the Spirit will keep one of them, most likely Zhang, for about three-quarters of the season. In the meantime, the Spirit is close to signing Brazilian midfielder Daniela and is actively negotiating with another international player. *** The main article wasn’t about the Spirit, but you might want to look at it anyway, as it is about an “all-girls” soccer club being created in San Diego. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/wed/sports/news_mz1s5ride.html
First WUSA Teenager? I just saw Brazil's current roster and noticed that Daniela Alves turned 19 last month. If the Spirit do sign her, I'm fairly certain that she would be the first teenager in WUSA history.