IYO, what does the upcoming World Cup mean for the WUSA and vice versa? We might immediately think that one will benefit from the other; the World Cup might generate an interest in the WUSA, and the WUSA provides "training" for the players in preparation for China. Maybe this has already been discussed but as I read the articles, the interviews, (Ape's on link: http://www.spiritedsoccer.com/news/transcripts/radio/heinrichs_is111.html and even our posts, IMO, the pressure placed on this WNT exceeds that of most other athletes in professional sports. Most of us (the fans) have already resided to the fact that we will win the World Cup this year. With this in mind, we also expect an exciting WUSA season in 2003 with the slight dismal reality that the league faces financial struggles. How will the league best survive? They will highly advertise the founding players (the ones everyone wants to see), who will also be playing in the WC in China. So now we have the WC players playing the WUSA season with their league teams, with occassional departures (sometimes abroad) to practice and train with the WNT. This might sound okay to some but is it? From the WUSA perspective, these players on the WNT are the pulse of the league. Suffering even a few games without key players on the teams could be detrimental to the league by way of attendance and television ratings. When the players are with their WUSA teams, they are pressured to win games (especially at home), and are heavily involved in promotional work to promote the league and keep it alive. They are also practicing and training with a team different from the WNT, a disadvantage to both the WUSA and the WNT. From the WNT perspective, they are expected to repeat their grandeur performance of '99. The players (most of them) on the team have had exactly one month of rest from the WUSA, followed by the WNT Gold Cup Tournament, or collegiate teams. This is much less time off than most other athletes in professional sports, with the survival of the WUSA resting almost solely on the performance of this year's WC. Add even more promotional work to promote the team, the event, and even the league. In '99, the WNT primarily trained with the team for the WC, without the added pressure of the WUSA, although I would not doubt that the possibilities of a league lingered on every one of their minds. But this time around we have a different scenerio and undoubtedly, a very fatiqued U.S. team. Now this brings us back to the original question.... will the WUSA benefit from the WC or vice versa? I think these women know they have to win the whole thing in order for the league to survive and that's an awful lot of pressure with very little rest.