The US WNT Olympic Roster has been announced

Discussion in 'Group G' started by leviathan, Jun 23, 2008.

  1. leviathan

    leviathan Member

    Mar 5, 2008
    cheap seats
    Club:
    --other--
    ... and the official Olympic roster is up at ussoccer.com. Here's the link.

    GK: Nicole Barnhart, Hope Solo
    D: Rachel Buehler, Lori Chalupny, Stephanie Cox, Heather Mitts, Kate Markgraf, Christie Rampone
    M: Shannon Boxx, Angela Hucles, Carli Lloyd, Heather O'Reilly, Tobin Heath, Lindsay Tarpley, Aly Wagner
    F: Natasha Kai, Amy Rodriguez, Abby Wambach
    Alternates: Lauren Cheney, Ali Krieger, Briana Scurry, Kacey White

    The original article is at http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_7143429.html
     
  2. Mookie141

    Mookie141 Member

    Feb 10, 2008
    Mooktown
    Club:
    Sky Blue FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    Great picks! I'm so excited now.
     
  3. Crimson Ace

    Crimson Ace Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 4, 2003
    McKinney, TX
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    No real surprises. I'm a bit bummed that Cheney didn't make it, but I can hardly disagree with the choices.
     
  4. leviathan

    leviathan Member

    Mar 5, 2008
    cheap seats
    Club:
    --other--
    Yeah, I imagine it was a very tough call to make between Rodriguez and Cheney. I'm bummed for Lauren, too, but I would also have been bummed for Amy had the choice gone the other way. Both deserved to make the squad, I think, but there was only one open slot. On the positive side, it's nice to have that much depth throughout the roster.
     
  5. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    buehler over krieger!!

    this was my only question mark. but as i thought about it last night, i realized that krieger hadn't played with this team much, so i thought buehler would get the nod.
     
  6. melrose

    melrose New Member

    Apr 27, 2008
    CA
    No surprises. I'm glad the alternates are going to Europe with them in July. I'm hoping they will stay and train with the team, too. You just never know when someone will go down with another ACL injury.

    It's funny. Many of the "older" players that are going to shine under Pia are the same players that I was un-impressed with under the Ryan era.
     
  7. UFGator98

    UFGator98 Member

    Aug 13, 2001
    Florida
    I think this is the best possible team Pia could've chosen from the pool of players available.
     
  8. gogogo

    gogogo Member

    Apr 18, 2002
    Great lineup. Cox must be on Cloud Nine. And lest we forget, the alternates as well as Osborne and Whitehill are great players too.
     
  9. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    you know this? how?

    as i look at the list, these older players played well under ryan too. they have carried the team for several years now.

    i just hope the team can go past where they went in the wwc and bring home the gold.
     
  10. mingyung

    mingyung Member

    Jun 7, 1999
    What an emotional rollercoaster for Cox! One minute she's sent home, devastated, likely not even an alternate. A month later she's on the team. It's a nice story.
     
  11. Nacional Tijuana

    Nacional Tijuana Custom Titleist

    May 6, 2003
    San Diego, Calif.
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I wish I could find the main bio page. I'm getting rusty on some of these girls. I'm surprised to see Bueller on there, but I hope she does well. My parents live in Del Mar.
     
  12. dianamo-superstriker

    Sep 30, 2007
    California
    Which players are those?
     
  13. Mookie141

    Mookie141 Member

    Feb 10, 2008
    Mooktown
    Club:
    Sky Blue FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    Pia discusses her picks and choices in the Podcast that on USsoccer.com.
     
  14. htide

    htide Member

    Jul 28, 2007
    tks mook
     
  15. RUfan

    RUfan Member

    Dec 11, 2004
    NJ
    Club:
    Sky Blue FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Am I the only one who would respond “Hucles”?

    For all the criticism of Ryan, Pia takes 14 of the 15 players who went to the World Cup and are able to play this year, excluding Scurry as an alternative, plus Mitts who would also have gone.
     
  16. casoccerdad47

    casoccerdad47 Member+

    Mar 31, 2006
    How is this relevant. Those of us who have been critical of Ryan, criticized his tactics or lack thereof, not his team selection. I wouldn't expect a huge turnover in the player pool in the year between the World Cup and the Olympics. There will likely be more turnover after the Olympics.
     
  17. mingyung

    mingyung Member

    Jun 7, 1999
    On the podcast, Sundhage has some interesting things to say about Hucles' development. Paraphrasing, Hucles has really gotten exponentially better recently, especiallly in terms of speed and varying of play.
     
  18. kool-aide

    kool-aide Member+

    Feb 1, 2002
    a van by the river
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Only if you think a "nice story" includes 2 ACL tears by teammates. Don't get me wrong, I think she's a decent player and I hope she does very well in the Olys.

    I agree casoccerdad47, those who expected major roster changes in this very short window btwn the WWC and Olys weren't being realistic. Evan Pia stated that the lack of time btwn the two for adjustments is one of the shortcomings/weaknesses of this team. Of the 13 players on this roster who were on the '07 roster, several were underused (at best) and have had a great year this year.

    Time will tell as to whether this team will win gold or not. However, I think we've seen some much needed tactical and philosophical changes. In the conference call on the podcast, Pia mentioned the need for speed and shape/tactical variations in the international game. We've also seen this team make positive adjustments at half. All improvements, imo.

    Shout out to GLBryan for the Wagner question, too. As we though, the Peace Cup games were her last chance. Did she really play out wide at one point in the Peace Cup? Pia mentioned it. That's an interesting thought.

    eta: Here's a quote sheet from the players.
     
  19. melrose

    melrose New Member

    Apr 27, 2008
    CA
    Hucles is the first name. I agree with the quote from Pia about Hucles exponential growth as of late.

    Wagner is next. I think that she has never played to her potential. She was once the up and coming golden girl of women's soccer, but due to injury or the team system or some other reason I do not know of, she was never quite that player. When I saw her play in the final at the Peace Queen Cup, I could finally see what she was capable of. She may not be there yet as far as health, but she brought something different to the game that seemed to be missing.

    And finally we have Kai and A-Rod. Kai didn't get the playing time and Ryan wrote off A-Rod because she missed training for school. I know these 2 players aren't "older" but they are definitely benefitting from the change as well.
     
  20. MRAD12

    MRAD12 Member+

    Jun 10, 2004
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    What do you mean kai didn't get playing time? what have you been watching over the last few years. You can criticize ryan for his playing style and maybe a couple of other things, but giving new/ younger players a chance is not one of them.
     
  21. Mookie141

    Mookie141 Member

    Feb 10, 2008
    Mooktown
    Club:
    Sky Blue FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    He usually put her (Kai) in when there was like 15 mins or less left in a game and that was partly due to her fitness level at the time. Plus Lilly on hiatus really focused the attention to her as a new up and coming foward. And let's face it he favored the older players do a degree. I do appreciate Ryan for callin Tash to camp and some others but the fact that he didn't use his subs in the waining minutes of World Cup games (especially the Brazil one when he had nothing to lose) really weighed on me. I'm glad he kept her around but he really didn't do anything to her except let her collect dust. Pia saw that and said either you (TK) do these things I hear you can do on a good day when you feel like it or you're fired! ALOT of people slept on Natasha Kai! It's one thing to find a diamond in the rough but it's another to polish it up real nice. She's really stepped her game and mentality up this year and to me that's a credit to herself and Pia.
     
  22. casocrfan

    casocrfan Member

    Nov 25, 2004
    San Francisco
    Mookie makes a good point. It's not that Ryan didn't call younger players into camp, it just seems like he didn't inspire/motivate/develop players. Early analysis seems to indicate that Pia has this going for her. I'm optimistic she can continue this trend.
     
  23. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006
    To be fair to Wagner, she has never been put in a position to run a team by either Ryan or Hendricks. Both disdained the concept of a playmaking Mid in favor of the "direct" style of play. (You know, boot the ball OVER the midfield, Those players don't do anything but take up space on offense)

    If she did anything but boot the ball in the box for a forward to run under she got the hook.

    Ali is a great creative playmaker--USE her like one and see what she can do...

    BTW, today's European final was a great example of how a creative midfield can tear apart the "direct" style of play.
     
  24. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    nobody slept on kai except kai herself. she was pushed a lot by ryan to improve too and she kept not taking the game and her fitness seriously. i don't know that we can credit her (and lloyd's) improvement just to pia when young players simply have an unpredictable learning curve. these players are simply improving as they should with another season of soccer under their belts.

    now, for older players like hucles i'd give just about all the credit to pia. hucles is not a young player being brought into the team. i can't see any other reason for her improvement other than the new coach (and of course the player herself simply deciding to step up her game - we tend to forget that players are free moral agents and make decisions on their own as well).

    i don't remember this at all. i remember wagner being given full reign to quarterback the game. but she kept losing the ball because she needed too much time on the ball to make her exquisite plays. and when she had to play defense she just looked like molasses as players kept pulling away from her. but she was given a lot of chances.

    she was injured a lot in 2007, and by that time lloyd was already getting good. but in 2006 she played 21 out of 22 games starting in 19 of them and playing most of the game most of the time even going the full 90 a few times.
     
  25. Mookie141

    Mookie141 Member

    Feb 10, 2008
    Mooktown
    Club:
    Sky Blue FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    Pia gave them the playing time to improve. (TK was on the team for 2 years and Lloyd for 3) So you say Pia didn't have an influence (on Kai) but something tells me that if she (Pia) wouldn't have said in a nutshell "I'm about to fire you because you're underperforming." We wouldn't be seeing something that Kai always possessed but didn't think she had to work hard enough to implement. Ryan's "pushing" only made her a mascot who could quite possibly score off the bench if she was subbed in, but Pia's "pushing" made her a starter and a 90 minute player. I also stated in my previous post that Kai herself is also a credit to herself for stepping up her level of play. She could have easily been lazy and said I've been a soccer star all my life I'll do whatever the **** I want to, but she said you know what I need to step it up and I need to prove myself and damn it I'm going to do whatever it takes. A similiar occurrence IMO happened w/ Hucles. (Another player that I like but everyone was like "She just sucking up air.") I'm not saying that Pia is to total reason why the younger and some older players are stepping up, but I do feel that her frankness is a major reason. Not only that but it is often forgotten that coachability matters too. Alot of younger players are more coachable (they learn faster) but you still have to have the right coach at the helms. (This effects the "learning curve" along w/ the players themselves.) Alot of fans only recognized Kai for the tattoos and her heritage, but now after she's scored 10 + goals alot more people are like "Yeah she's a beast!" Alot of people at the beginning of the year didn't see or think she could do the things she's done this year until she did them, then they started saying I can see her on this team. So I think it is safe to say she was slept on.
     

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