USWNT without the WUSA?

Too painful to analyze thoroughly this soon after the announcement, but my instinct says no. Five years ago, there were only a handful of good women's NTs so the U.S. could more or less coast on its superior talent. Now? Definitely not. The USWNT would not have a chance to win the upcoming WWC without the likes of Abby Wambach, Shannon Boxx, et al. A domestic league is necessary for them to be contenders, IMO.

 

Please forgive me, I know the absolute required minimum about the USWNT, maybe. I do watch them, just not with much attention as I do the USMNT.

But my prediction is this: unless in two or three years something takes the place of WUSA, the US women's team is fast approaching the end of an era, as glorious as it is. The folding of WUSA was the thing that pushed it over the line, but the key players on the national team are retiring after this WWC anyways. I don't know too much about the quality of the W-League either, but if it is not at least a very good fraction of that of WUSA, there is not much in the way of fostering new prospects after college. For the American women's game, it is either W-League or abroad, and I would be inclined to say that going abroad may be prudent.

The eighties were a lot different for American soccer; unless there are some easily identifiable new talent out there for the women's side and I mean right now, there is no way US Soccer goes back to permanent residency camps for their senior teams.

Add to that the notion that the rest of the world is catching up with the US, and that makes winning 2007 a very difficult challenge.

 

I am more concerned with the short term impact.

What impact will the demise of the WUSA have on the teams in the WWC?

I cannot imagine it will be positive for the USA.

Now most of the team does not know what they will be doing on November 1. I suppose you could argue it will make for a new level of determination, but I suspect the impact will be quite negative.

 

Why will they be so bad all of a sudden? If I remember correctly, didn't they win two WC's before anyone had ever even mentioned the acronym WUSA? They will still be strong, just like they were before the league existed. It's not like the women from other nations now have a better league around with which to improve.

 

It's not that I think they will be bad all of sudden, and clearly the team will reap the developmental benefits from 3 years of league play.

However, it has to be distracting and dishearening.
For one thing,not knowing that you have a job when this is done has to be distracting.

For the founders, it has to be upsetting. They busted their butts and won the thing in 99, and yet could not sustain a league through the next world cup. In terms of their "legacy" they have to wonder, "What does it take"

Of course, they are profesionals.
Of course they have dealt with adversity and the lack of league before.
Of course they will say the right things about focus and determination.

But it will have an effect and at this level, there is not much margin for error.

 

OK, you're going to have to start reading posts from now on.

I never said anything about the women's team being bad. I am trying to say that it will be difficult for them to be as great as they are and have been in the past decade. That's going to take a lot of work, what with most of the active players having to find new clubs. They could always play full-time for the national team, but that's far from ideal. The progress of the women's team after '99 depended on the stability of WUSA. That's gone now, so a lot of rethinking is going to have to take place between now and the next WWC.

They are not bad, but if they want to continue to excel as other national teams move up in stature some great strides need to be taken.

 

The USWNT was facing a crossroads following WWC03 no matter what happened to WUSA. It's very likely that we will be seeing the last of Chastain, Foudy, Lilly, Fawcett, and Hamm in international football no matter the circumstances. However, without a top level domestic league to draw from, it would not surprise me if MacMillan, Parlow, Milbrett, Sobrero and Scurry also are seeing their last WNT action.

Without WUSA, I think it might be a prudent strategy to retire the "golden era" of USWNT and begin to rebuild the program around Wambach and Wagner and some very very very very very young players. It might mean we sacrifice a medal in Athens, but by the time professional soccer is reorganized in this country we'll be rebuilt and ready to compete for WWC07.

 

Beau Dure, USA Today's Soccer maven, believes it possibile that the Nats will play alot more next year, and that a number of the games will be against the "WUSA All Stars."

Cheaper than bringing in a foriegn national team you will beat 9-0 anyway. And it keeps the WUSA brand out there for when the league is relaunched.


https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=72320&perpage=15&pagenumber=27

 

If some kind of league is notgotten up and maintained, I don't see a great future for the national program because the young women in college today are not going to stick their college degree in their back pockets and shelve successful careers for Nat. team soccer the way the old timers did. It's not realistic or fair to even ask them to. Yankee Doodle patriotism for the national team is well and good, but it doesn't pay the bills.

 

The greatest loss for the US from the WUSA will NOT be the continued development of the players that are recognized at the youth levels and play with the U16 and up national sides. It will be the total, or nearly total, lack of development of the player that blooms late for any reason.

Throughout my 30+ years of coaching in the youth ranks I have seen players that developed skills or field awareness at all ages. I am currently coaching a 10 year old that has better field vision that almost all 17+ year olds. She just needs to develop skills to use that vision to be a top player. How far she goes depends on her interest and continued physical development.

There is also a 17 year old that I coached that did not get it until her senior year in HS. She just could not develop the vision to use her skills for some reason and then she suddenly got it.

A girl like my little one will be found and developed if she plays in a good youth program but a girl like the second will be completely missed most probably.

The WUSA provided a place where the very good but marginal player could win a place on a team and succeed based on skill and effort the W-League is not and was not the same kind of thing. Few players gained, or will gain, a US roster spot through W-League play.

Without the WUSA, or something at near the same level, the US team will have a much shallower pool of players to select from and THAT will hurt the US.

(Apologies for any spelling errors of the names)
I doubt that Wombach, Bivins, or Boxx would be playing this WWC without the WUSA and may others like, Nancy A. (From the Beat I won’t even try to spell her last name) and several others would even have made the radar. And even more like Scurry and Fotop(Who would most probably be on the WWC roster without her injury) would never have been able to get their game back.

A league at the top level of play is needed if we, the US, wants to keep the pool deep.

We need to get these players a place to play and show their stuff while making a living wage BUT we do not need the WUSA2 with a flawed business model. A modified W-League with a bit more exposure should suffice for a few years to build a core audience BEFORE trying to go big again.

 

So many good and noble reasons for WUSA or something like it to exist -- but good and noble too often just doesn't sell.

Unless we expect Congress to pass a law or mandate the creation of a Dept. of Womens' Soccer, WUSA or its clone will have to make good business sense -- at least in the long run to business people willing to invest in the lang haul.

Just possibly a number of corporations will step up for another round of funding for another season.
What can be done to make them stick around for more -- beyond being rewarded in heaven for doing the 'right thing' for deserving, young women?

MLS makes sense to a small number of determined men with very deep pockets. They are building stadiums, that's how commited they are to the future. They see what ManU did over the summer and want a piece of that for themselves in the DECADES to come.

We even have team owners from Mexico wanting in on the game.

If soccer is a hard sell in the US -- and it certainly is on a weekly basis, forget the one-off tours and Big Event Cups -- womens soccer -- women's team sports in general -- is even harder.

If WUSA or something like it gets a second chance, swallow some pride, and make some kind of deal with MLS that helps both not only survive, but flourish. Cheap shot ads -- Millbrett for the Power saying "Come out and see how soccer is REALLY played" -- will not win friends, and only preach to a very, very small choir. And the entire look of the PAX telecasts had a shoddy, half-pay aspect to it.

If you're going to pay to be seen, do it on the Deuce where most people have a chance to find you.

If...

If a second chance comes, do it right.