I just received an email announcing that all-time soccer great Sun Wen will play for the Washington Freedom in this Sunday's game (6 pm, Maryland Soccerplex).
Does anyone know what she's been doing since the WUSA folded? Did she stay in the US or return to China? Did she stay here and go to school? Any ideas?
I thought I read somewhere that right after WUSA folded that she went back to China and was doing school. I'll see if I can find a link.... Found it: http://english.people.com.cn/200311/19/eng20031119_128562.shtml
Thanks for the link. Hmmm, she's majoring in international relations. Her experiences over here should be beneficial. Maybe we'll see her back in the US in some capacity. On a related note, the TV show put on about the San Diego Spirit showed (oh rats, her name escapes me. She played forward for the Spirit the last two years) taking English lessons. It looked like an English As A Second Language class. I was impressed with her diligence. I hope the English will serve her well in her future life.
I *thought* she either took some classes or was some type of assistant coach at Georgia State?????????
Former Chinese Players The Spirit player you are thinking of is Zhang Ouying. I'll never forget the expression on her face the first time she saw "Hector the Spectre" at Torero Stadium. You would have thought she had seen a ghost or something. On the subject of former Chinese Players, has anyone heard any updates about the health of Gao Hong? I was asked by one of her former New York Power teammates this past week if I knew how she was doing.
Re: Former Chinese Players The local Chinese newspaper Ming Pao did a feature about Gao Hong a few years back (IIRC, circa WWC'03) and they basically just said she had immigrated to the Toronto area and taking classes at York University. They talked about her illness, but from what I recall, they never really said what "it" was -- I am assuming it was some type of cancer perhaps? They did, however, say she was making a full recovery and that she should be in full health in no time. Hopefully that is still the case today!
Sun Wen played about 60 minutes of the Freedom-Sparks match, coming out about a third of the way through the second half to enthusiastic applause. Her play was definitely inconsistent. At times she looked like one of the best goal-scorers in the world, at other times she looked like someone who hadn't played in two years. Since both of these are true, it's not really surprising. She made several good runs, including an early one through most of the Sparks defense, but the ball went right to the 'keeper. On another occasion, she got the ball in traffic in front of the goal and gave it a perfect toe-poke to the bottom right-hand corner. Only a diving save from the Sparks goalkeeper kept it from going in. She scored two goals on the day, and I don't recall exactly how she scored the first, except that she was fairly near the goal and just knocked it in. The second one, though, was for me the high point of her day. Some minutes into the second half, the Freedom had made an attacking rush, and the defense had cleared the ball. As the Freedom brought it forward again, Sun Wen was in an offsides position and was ambling back as if she wanted to do nothing more than have a good lie-down. I even remember thinking something like, "Get your butt in gear, old woman!" But I think now it was just striker's guile: she was left completely unmarked as a Freedom midfielder brought the ball down the right flank. When the ball was centered, there was no one between Sun Wen and the goalkeeper. She brought the ball forward a few yards as the 'keeper attempted to cut down the angle, then she chipped the ball delicately over the Sparks goalkeeper and into the net. There was absolutely nothing the goalkeeper could have done about it. She signed autographs after the game, and I got a chance to chat briefly with both her and the guy who was guiding her around. Much to my surprise, she came specifically to play in the match. It wasn't that big a deal, though, because she's now living in Chicago and studying there. Her escort said she was trying to get into the University of Illinois and get an MBA. She seemed very cheerful and upbeat (though tired after the match). She threw her arms up and grinned a few times by way of apology when her rusty passing attempts missed the mark.
Thanks for the update. I would have been there except I was covering field hockey that weekend in Virginia Beach.
Re: Former Chinese Players Gao is playing college soccer at York http://www.yorku.ca/sprtyork/MediaReleases/Archive/Release.asp?Release=1074
What was she thinking?, she was here where great universities are, why didn't she think of entering the UNC, Notre D, Univ of Portland, Santa Clara etc etc
She wouldn't have been eligible to play for any of them as she was a paid professional player for at least three years. That apparently doesn't make you ineligble in Canada though.
Actually, the CIS does have rules for professional/amateur status. I'm not sure how excatly Gao is playing for York -- I'll have to ask around, maybe go to one of their games upcoming. The University of Toronto's men's soccer team (IIRC) were disqualified from OUA play a few years ago b/c one of their players had played semi-pro or pro somewhere (forget where) and there was big kaffufle about that. Perhaps there was a way for Gao to play for York eventhough she had played in the WUSA, maybe a loophole or something that I'm not aware of. Being this is her first year of CIS play when she obviously has been attending York for quite a few years already, she might have gotten "permission" or met a certain requirement to play this season. Not sure, this is pure speculation.