Yank Women On Foreign Wnt & Wynt

Monica Sanchez
Frosh at Brenau University, MF
dual citizen of the United States and Columbia
Has been invited into campus for the Colombian teams

 

Diana Redman
Israel: appeared in 6 Euro Qualifiers for NT
MF
Born in Queens, NY
Played for Queens College

 

A couple to pay attention to for the Italian team:

Catiana Vitanza (age 22) MF

At the end of her contract with the Italian club, Catiana decided to return to the US after being away from home for so long. She immediately got back into a rigorous training program with her trainer Lomic. Her next goal will be to play for the Italian National Team and help Italy win trophies.

She has a sister Aricca Vitanza (MF/F), a year older.

Looks like the sisters skipped college soccer and played in Serbia to start their pro careers.

 

Here's an interesting tweet I just saw:

Daniel ‏@DandalBs
Sundhage also threatens to bring over a young American player with dual citizenship to shake things up a bit. Who? She won't say.

Here's the article (in Swedish) that's referenced: http://www.expressen.se/sport/fotboll/sundhages-plan-jag-tanker-skapa-kaos/

 

Another English GK:

Ashley Baker
Just finished up at Georgia

Born March 15, 1990 in Grantham, England ... Daughter of Nigel and Joann Baker ... Older sister Alana attends Georgia College and State University, older brother, Aaron, is a member of the U.S. Coast Guard ... played for England in the U20 Women's World Cup in 2008 and 2010.

Baker, who was born in England and holds dual citizenship with the United States, used a redshirt last year in order to join England at the 2008 U-20 World Cup competition in Chile. She was called up to the England National Team last November.

Ashley Baker

Ashley Baker

 

Since the Philippines rely on a US connection for the men's team, it's not surprising they have US born talent on the women's roster, too.

PHILIPPINES

Cat Barnekow
University of North Carolina-Greensboro (finished eligibility in 2012).
She was invited into camp for the LA Viking Cup and played in a couple of non-NT friendlies in the tourney.

http://uncgspartans.com/sports/wsoc/2012-13/releases/20121114qxjrrb

http://uncgspartans.com/sports/wsoc/2012-13/releases/201211261j4co4

 

Looks like UCF grad Andrea Rodrigues (not to be confused with Adriana Rodrigues at Jacksonville) has been part of the Portugal NT for a few years:

Newly graduated Andrea Rodrigues is set to compete in her second Algarve Cup with the Portugal National Team. "I am extremely excited and very honored to be called up again," Rodrigues said. "It was an amazing experience last year to get to share the field with players like Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan and (Japan's) Homare Sawa. I can't wait for this year's tournament."

Rodrigues joined the Portugal National Team in 2010 and has worked her way into a starting role. She scored the game-winner against Hungary in last year's Algarve Cup. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native will report to Portugal March 2 with the first game scheduled four days later. Portugal's bracket includes Hungary, Mexico and Wales, and the 12-team field also includes Germany, Norway, Sweden, Japan, USA and China.

 

We have found the threatened "American talent" Pia was talking about.

 

MPS is what we generally refer to as a "club team" here in the US. Players move up the pyramid to join their top youth teams. Most of the girls playing also participate in high school soccer (if available), but this is the team they join to get national exposure and a better level of training/competition. Their top level teams usually are below W-League or WPSL (those are considered "adult" leagues; MPS mostly seems to operate youth teams).

It's not associated with a professional club the way it might happen in the rest of the world. I assume it's still a "pay-for-play" system as that is the only way to support the coaching and the facilities (at least for women).

She goes by "Maria" and appears to be a high school senior forward at Beaver Country Day School near Boston. She played (and scored) with Italy's U19 last year in UEFA qualifying:

Waltham, 26th October 2012; Global Premier Soccer product Maria Zecca scored for Italy U19 WNT in their UEFA Championship first qualifying round this week. Maria played the whole 90 minutes for Italy in their first two UEFA European Women’s U19 Championship first qualifying round against Kazakhstan and Greece, and came off the bench in the first half in their third game against Austria. In the first game against Kazakhstan on Saturday, Maria, playing forward, scored her first international goal for Italy in a 6-0 win.


http://www.uefa.com/womensunder19/season=2013/teams/player=250056460/index.html

I wasn't able to find anything that confirmed dual citizenship or much else about her background.

 

I can't find another source, but it looks like Kelley Monogue of Texas A&M has been called up for Canada:

U.S. loses another great youngster to Canada in Kelley Monogue. Can't believe she was never given a look at U20/U23 team for U.S.

— Chris Henderson (@chris_awk) May 13, 2013

 

She was born Sept. 1, 1992, but it may not matter.

3 more @AggieSoccer stars called into National Teams! @sheabayy6 to USA U23s, @kelleymonogue to Canada U20s, and @karlmuellerrr to USA U20s

— G Guerrieri (@CoachGSoccer) May 13, 2013

 

Heather Cooke is heading off to AFC qualifying with the Philippines:

Off to Bangladesh! My adventures continue! Representing the Philippines, we will take on Thailand, Iran, and Bangladesh to qualify for AFC!

— Heather Cooke (@iamheathercooke) May 18, 2013

 

The Philippine women held a tryout camp in Corona, California, in March and it looks like they loaded their roster with Filipina-Americans. Here's a link to the women who tried out: http://usapangfootball.com/thread/2001

Here's why the coach came to the US: One of the reasons that coach Nierras decided to look abroad for players was because of the difficulty in asking the universities in the Philippines to release his players in order to take part in WNT training.

Here are the players he is taking to the AFC:

Confirmed Yanks:
Joana Houplin
JoEllen DeLeon
Maria Dela Cruz
Marisa Park
Rachel Nichols
Megan Jurado
Camille Wilson
Katherine Wilson

Probable Yanks:
Shelby Salvacion
Chalise Baysa
Sarah Cook
Monika Lee
Maria Shipe
Morgan Brown
Raylene Larot

With Heather Cooke, Cat Banekow and Patrice Impelido, that means 18 US-based players (not counting the UMiami player who is from Canada) on the roster. I also found a 2012 roster for ASEAN Football Federation Women’s Championship that mentioned Ashley O’Connor, Abby Komarc, Angeline Impelido as "Fil-Americans".

 

A little more on the Philippines effort to add US & Canadian players:

“(If ever) We would be the first Philippine team ever to qualify for the World Cup,” said Fil-Am Alexa Diaz of Seattle Pacific U, one of 35 US and Canada-based players vying for slots in the final 23. “(Nierras) put some high standards on us at that last camp, and he mapped it out for us.”