Author: RJ Allen

A Move Across the Pond: The NWSL vs. European Leagues

Posted on by RJ Allen

It’s that time of year again–the offseason. It’s a time when the shape of our teams are changing as players and coaches move around. Some will stay in the NWSL, content to stay where they are or potentially switching clubs. But others will consider a move across the pond– such as U.S Women’s National Team midfielder Morgan Brian, who recently signed a two-year contract for Olympique Lyonnais in France. A player’s decision to leave their league is never a simple one. Players give up something when they leave the NWSL– but European leagues also have a lot to offer.

One of the biggest benefits players gain from moving to Europe is the opportunity to play in Champion’s League. In general, European teams often play more frequently and in multiple competitions. But Champions League is something special. It gives players an opportunity to challenge clubs from other countries and really test their skills against some of the best clubs in the world. It’s something that many players dream of competing in, and it can have a very strong emotional appeal to players.

But while Champions League may be a particularly competitive competition, many of the European domestic leagues are not. In leagues such as the FA WSL and Division 1 Feminine, there are usually one or two clubs that dominate. They have the money to invest in their team and buy the best players around the world, while many of the teams around them do not. This often builds great rosters, but it also leads to mismatched opponents. For example, in their last five league matches, Lyon has scored 24 goals and allowed none. With the exception of their match against PSG, they won each of those matches by four or more goals. In fact, Lyon has only allowed two goals in the whole season as of January 1st.

By contrast, the NWSL is a much more competitive league. Every week is a fight, and blow out scores that are common for Lyon are much rarer in the NWSL. The biggest margin of difference in the NWSL is five goals, and even that is an unlikely occurrence. This stems partially from salary caps, which restrain the teams with the most money from simply buying the best players. Limiting the number of international players on each roster also helps keep the league balanced.

Another appeal of moving to European leagues is 12-month contracts. Ella Masar McLeod talked about this issue when she left the Houston Dash to join FC Rosengard with her wife, Erin McLeod. She noted that the 6-month contracts and lower salary paid by the NWSL can make it difficult for players to make ends meet. Many NWSL players go to the Australian W-League in the offseason, offsetting the problem a bit. But the W-League doesn’t pay a high salary and players often aren’t taking home a lot of money.

Some players may also want to go to Europe to learn a different style of play. Some say the game in the United States is much more physical, while the game in Europe is much more technical. There aren’t many European players that play in the NWSL or vice versa. So when a player does make the swap, it allows them to learn from a whole new group of people. Staying close to home has it’s advantages too– especially when it comes to the national team players who want to stay on Jill Ellis’s radar. Going to Europe separates American players from everything going on at home– sometimes that is good and sometimes it’s not, depending on what point a player is at in their career.

Overall, there are many pros and cons to going to Europe vs. staying in the NWSL. The pay is often better in Europe, there are more leagues to compete in, and players get the opportunity to experiment with their style of play. But there are benefits to staying in the NWSL too– such as staying on the national team radar and playing in a more competitive league. Ultimately, it is up to each individual player to make their own decisions and different things will be right for different people. But don’t be surprised if we see more stars make the hop across the pond this offseason.

It’s The World’s Game – We Should Treat It As Such

Posted on by RJ Allen

When it was announced that John Herdman would be leaving his position as the head coach of the Canadian Women’s National Team to head the Canadian Men’s Team the soccer media world erupted. ‘How could he do that?, Was the team aware?, Does that man have any loyalty?’ were just a few of the shouts that could be heard throughout social media. But this article has nothing to do with any of those things. In fact, I could care less about the kind of man John Herdman is and the effects that his leaving will have on the CanWNT. Mainly, because I believe that the Canadian Women will continue to be an insanely talented and strong team without Herdman. But also because Herdman going from the women’s game to the men’s says something much bigger about the beautiful game:

Men’s soccer and women’s soccer have a lot more in common than the fans and media are willing to acknowledge.

I never realized how segregated the WoSo and BroSo fan bases were until I started writing for Backline Soccer. I am definitely in the minority at Backline as someone who watches both women’s and men’s soccer. Compile that with the fact that I watch the leagues both here and abroad, and that dwindles the group down even more.

And that is okay. There is nothing wrong with only watching women’s soccer or only watching men’s soccer. And there is nothing wrong with only watching a single league or watching soccer within the bounds of a single country. There is no right way to be a fan.

But the Herdman move lends to the idea that things can be learned between the two sides of the sport – that coaching and playing tactics can translate between the men’s and women’s game. It also begins to change the narrative from always saying that the women could learn a lot from the way the men play, to the narrative that the men could use some of the amazing resources and skills that the women have developed. They can discover and teach and share with each other – the monopoly on the evolution of the game is no longer a one-way street. It is a thriving metropolis with streets and highways, a metro system, and a railroad. Things can be learned and understood from both sides and globally.

I know that this is an unfavorable opinion. In fact, many of you reading this will vehemently disagree with me, and I accept that. But the thing that no one can deny is that although soccer is a game that is always evolving, the basic techniques and philosophies will remain, no matter what gender or nationality of the player is.

So what is the harm in reaching across the aisle and seeing what the other side has going on? What is wrong with experimenting with a tactic that worked for a men’s club in another league in another country? What is wrong with saying the same thing with regards to the women’s game?

There isn’t.

Soccer shouldn’t be consumed in a vacuum. There is so much that can be learned from not only other leagues, and other countries, but also from the other side of the game – the men’s or the women’s, depending on where your allegiances lie.

And I will take the argument a little bit further and say it would be a detriment to not be aware of what is happening on the other side of the sport, or in other leagues, and in other countries. Look at what is happening in Columbus, Ohio currently. Do we honestly believe that the NWSL is in a secure enough place to not have that happen to one of their clubs? What about the debacle of the USMNT not advancing to the World Cup. Could the men’s side have maybe taken a note from the women’s?

And if we only watch soccer that is played here in America we could lose on so much as well. Like, what makes Olympique Lyonnais so insanely well put together on the pitch, why is Fran Kirby so dominant in the WSL, or how was Norway able to make it possible to pay both the men and the women’s players the same salary? All of those things should be relevant to the women’s game in America. They are all things to take note of and evaluate. Because if they aren’t, then we fall behind in the evolution of the game. So if we are questioning why Morgan Brian went to France, or why Jessie Fleming is looking at playing in Europe over the NWSL, then we also have to ask the question of what it is that we could possibly be lacking.

And the only way to know what we are lacking is to look around us at what is happening in the game from a global perspective. From the perspective that we can learn something from all aspects of the game and from all leagues, clubs, and sides of it. The Canadian Men’s National Team did this when they tapped John Herdman to come and coach for them. They could have chosen a men’s coach from anywhere in the world. But instead they looked to the man who took the No. 12 ranked Canadian Women’s National Team to No. 5, and who lead that team to two Olympic Bronze Medals and a World Cup Quarterfinal.

What will he do with the No. 94 Canadian Men? Only time will tell. But his performance with the Canadian Women made the men’s side take notice and recognize that they could use someone like Herdman. It doesn’t matter that he coached on the women’s side. What mattered was that he knew how to coach the game as a whole. It wasn’t about sides.

Like I said at the beginning of this article, there is nothing wrong with only following one team or one league or one side of the game. In fact, it is the norm. There is no right way to be a fan and no right way for the media to cover the sport. But there should be an acknowledgment that the game does not simply happen in one place, or one country, or only on the men’s or women’s side. Soccer is the world’s game. And to discredit any portion of it is to discredit the game as a whole. Because this game does not live in a vacuum – it grows, it spreads, it evolves. And if we only pay attention to one small piece of that game, then we lose sight of everything that it stands for. It is a sport for anyone, everyone, anyplace, and everyplace.

Long Traded To Seattle, Stott and Johnson To Sky Blue, Foord to Portland

Posted on by RJ Allen

A three-team trade has shuffled several players around the National Women’s Soccer League.

Sky Blue FC acquired the rights to New Zealand Women’s National Team defender Rebekah Stott and Mexico Women’s National Team forward Katie Johnson from Seattle Reign FC in exchange for the rights to Australian international Caitlin Foord.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Rebekah and Katie to Sky Blue FC,” said Tony Novo, Sky Blue FC President & General Manager. “Both have performed on the world stage and have been exceptionally productive at every level in which they have played. They are two young players with high-rising trajectories, and we cannot wait to have them on the field for our club.”

Seattle Reign FC traded the rights to Foord and a 2020 NWSL draft pick to Portland Thorns FC in exchange for U.S. Women’s National Team midfielder Allie Long.

“We are very appreciative of Allie’s contributions to the club over the past five seasons,” said Thorns FC general manager and president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson. “She accomplished a great deal during her time in Portland, winning two NWSL Championships and achieving her goal of making it to the national team, and we wish her all the best.”

Embracing the Fan/Media Conundrum in Women’s Soccer

Posted on by RJ Allen

There has been something on my mind lately that I can’t seem to shake.

I have a hard time calling myself a fan of women’s soccer in the way I call myself a fan of baseball.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been a baseball fan since my uncle, who lived just outside of Boston at the time, placed a Red Sox hat on my head in the second grade. The draw of Fenway has been an unwavering part of my identity since. Baseball gave me something to share with my grandmother, a staunch Yankee fan; a woman whose own father walked her down the aisle on her wedding day in 1952 only to leave the church shortly after to go to his car to listen to the Yankees’ playoff game on the radio. The then Brooklyn Dodgers won that game, by the way, 6 to 5 in 11 innings before the Yankees won the Series. 

Women’s soccer is a much more recent addition to my sport loving heart, though often my devotion to the sport feels more academic than passionate. It’s the kind of non-casual pursuit that forces my attention to be directly on it versus simply having it hum along in the background of my life the way baseball does.

I put on a baseball game in the summer and go on with my life, looking up from my laptop to check the score or to see where the ball is going when I catch the start of action out of the top of my visual field.

When I put on a soccer game, on the other hand, my attention leaves the screen only so long as to compose a tweet or write a note to talk about later on a podcast or for a piece I’m writing. My attention is more focused, more exclusionary to the rest of life.

If I were to be honest though, I think one of the strongest subconscious processes that drives my aversion the title of “fan” is a part of me that struggles with the idea of claiming to be a fan while I also act as media.

Soccer, women’s soccer more than soccer in general, relies on a network of largely unpaid writers who write for small to slightly less small sites for much of the coverage. It’s not SportsCenter breaking down the USWNT January camp roster, it’s the (mostly) unpaid masses of women’s soccer sites who have built reputations and followings for covering a sport that is often on the outside looking in at more mainstream coverage.

While the debate about unpaid labor taking over a job that should be paid will have to wait for another day, it is the most common model of women’s soccer coverage we have.

And that presents some interesting side effects for the people in those media roles. 

We are a (largely) self-trained group who do the jobs we do out of a devotion to supporting a game while often times paying for the pleasure of doing so. We are fans who felt a calling to help cover a game we feel is being sidestepped by those media outlets that sports fans would usually look to for coverage. While sometimes it might look from the outside like we’re fans who have found ourselves “in the loop” there is more than that at play. We are, by and large, a bit like puppies who might slobber a little as we learn how to sit, stay and roll over on our way toward covering the game in the way we believe it deserves. 

And for me, that is where a lot of the tension lives.

I am not a perfect soccer writer, nor am I a flawless as an editor in chief. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve put out pieces that were a little (or a lot) undercooked. I’ve signed off on letting pieces go out without first weighing their full impact. I sometimes open my mouth and insert my whole foot inside of it.

But I do try to be better with each piece I write and with each piece Backline Soccer puts out. Every podcast episode I record, I try to get a little better at stating my case for my varied opinions. I try to form those opinions based on facts, watching a whole lot of games and talking to other media types. 

But one of the dilemmas I face, more internally (maybe) than not, is how much of a fan do I get to be?

There are some boundaries I have no choice but to abide by.

No cheering in the press box. No asking players to sign things or take personal photos. Don’t get personal with the players. Be respectful when speaking with coaches and players. (It has been, on occasion, very hard to not ask, “what the hell were you thinking?” to either a player or coach, I won’t lie.)

But there are other boundaries that aren’t so clear.

How do you articulate your biases as you create content? How do you figure out what those biases are in the first place? Do you still get to be a fan of one team before all others if you cover that league? How public should your support be if you are? How do you turn off your fan brain when you are trying to evaluate talent or a coach or a system a team is playing in? How do you get others to take you seriously when you have doubts about how seriously you are able to take yourself? How do you report things people might not want to hear? How do you get verification that would stand up if you were questioned about a fact?

Often the answers to these questions aren’t taught. Each of us has to figure them out for ourselves. And it’s often messy. And complicated. And hard.

It is hard to go from just some random fan of a team or a sport to someone who is trying to cover it at the very best of times. And throw in no money and little support (more if you’re lucky to find a good site with a strong copy editor), and it becomes a battle of your will to do this thing against a viewership that can feel like a school of sharks waiting to hit up your social media the moment they sense a bit of blood in the water. Or worse, a viewership that just doesn’t care. 

But I have been lucky too. Luckier than a lot of people who decided one day this was what they wanted to do. 

Lucky that I have been largely welcomed by the women’s soccer media. Lucky that Sky Blue, the club I cover most often, and I have a solid working relationship. Lucky I have gotten to do player interviews where I think (I hope) I come out of them looking like I know what I’m doing. (I am still amazed I got Nicole Barnhart to agree to an interview, a personal high point for me.) Lucky I have friends in the media world who help challenge me and guide me and teach me. Lucky I have Backline Soccer and one of the most supportive groups working with me there. Lucky I have the Ride of the Valkyries crew to talk goalkeeping and Laura Harvey with (Side note: Harvey will never stop being talked about by Seattle people. It is as sure as death and taxes.).

I am coming around to the idea that admitting I enjoy the way Marta floats with the ball or that I am a fan of Fishlock or Zerboni in their “take no prisoners” style. I’m learning this isn’t a problem with me as a media member but just a part of who I am as a soccer fan. Having nerves before a big interview, not always feeling I know what I’m doing, those things are part of the deal too. 

I’m not sure I will ever feel like anything other than some nobody from upstate New York who has to try over and over to prove themselves. But I do know I am starting to slowly get more comfortable in my own skin when it comes to life and soccer. And that does have a positive effect on my work (I think. I hope). I invest a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of mental energy into women’s soccer. I hope people who are not me and who are not my friends get something out of my work, both written and podcasting. 

I haven’t made any New Years resolutions yet. But I think allowing myself to be a little more open about the things I love in soccer without worrying that my excitement is somehow antithetical to the role I have in women’s soccer media might be a good place to start. 

So to start 2018 off? A confession. 

I’m a Raquel Rodriguez fan.

There, I said it. Feels pretty good. 

No One Gets in Hope Solo’s Way Like Hope Solo

Posted on by RJ Allen

When Hope Solo announced that she would be running for USSF president, two thoughts crossed my mind:

1) If anyone can turn a conversation in the direction they want, it’s Solo.

2) This will either go a long way toward rehabilitating the public’s opinion of Solo, or it will be the final nail in the public coffin of the greatest goalkeeper to have played the game.

After a month of Candidate Solo, it’s starting to become clear that the only person able to get in Hope Solo’s way, with seemingly ruthless effect, is Hope Solo.

Over the past few years, no one else has had so much success at tarnishing the image of the longtime WNT goalkeeper as Solo herself. At every opportunity, she makes the worst possible choices, as if listening to pundits drown her long legacy in endless hot takes about her character instead of her record and stats was her goal all along. When faced with what seems to be a clear and sensible path of action, she inevitably takes a hard left and veers off toward self-annihilation. And in her case? Taking the road less traveled has made all the difference over the past few years, as the world has watched her suspended from play in 2015 and then terminated from the WNT in 2016. 

Now, in her campaign, Solo continues to wreak havoc on her own ambitions.

There’s the interview she gave on the “Why I’m Not” podcast, which did not help her candidacy. At all. This is an interview where Solo manages to move seamlessly between important points about the future of American football with personal attacks on a former teammate, overly boastful sentiments on a second former teammate who is still teammates with the first.

Instead of making a case for Hope Solo as USSF Pressident, she ends up making herself look petty in the process. Once again, Solo falls victim to her fatal flaw–saying the absolute wrong thing at the absolute wrong time.

The tone taken in this interview is more akin to someone trying to get their name back in the press after a retirement in order to sell a book or shirt or tickets to a speaking tour than it is fitting someone who is running for USSF President. And while this interview was recorded before Solo officially threw her hat in the ring, she had to know it would come out after she had. Whether she ran or not.

Even if the host of the podcast was less than optimal in his line of questions and his own tone, Solo had a chance here to speak about platform ideas and details about how she would go about fixing the mess she sees USSF to be. Even if this was taped before she declared herself for the job, she could have framed the issues for her audience and given some thoughts on how to correct them. That would have gone a long way to show she has been thinking about the issues in detail.

Every interview when you are running for elected office, even before you are officially on the ballot, is a chance to talk about your platform and to make your case for why you are the best person for the job. Why someone should vote for you to do the thankless work and shoulder the enormous responsibility.

And when this opportunity came to Solo’s door, she faltered. 

But the podcast is not Solo’s biggest problem. A bad interview where she sounds more like a ex-player with a bone to pick than a natural choice for president is one thing.

No, the biggest problem with Solo’s candidacy is that she is unprepared, maybe even simply unwilling, to reign in her lesser angels. She seems almost hellbent on not only tarnishing her own own legacy but quiet possibly hurting the causes that she has spent years trying to champion.

I had hoped when Solo declared she was running for USSF President that she would somehow figure out how to control the part of her brain that seems to really enjoy putting her foot in her mouth. I thought maybe she would use a little bit of the relentless drive to be the best on the pitch to tighten up and to run the kind of campaign that would be willing to talk about overlooked issues.

But the campaign she’s running feels half baked at the best of times and utterly underwhelming at others. The rhetoric has been more vintage Solo than someone trying to be the President of USSF.

While not the singular authority on a candidate, their website should give some clue to the issues they care about and some vague idea of how they want to attack the issues they have identified.

Solo’s is both effective in the opening story about how her parents didn’t have the money to allow her to play in the Olympic Development Program but sparse of any real information beyond that.

Her section on women’s soccer for example gives little to no details about her thought process and what she plans to do if elected:

Become The Global Leader in Equality and Women’s Issues 

  • Achieve Equal Pay for the USWNT and all women in the USSF workplace
  • Push for the inclusion of women at all levels of the USSF executive and organizational hierarchy
  • Eliminate sexism and discrimination

While the push for more women in USSF is something that everyone should be on board for the details are left to our collective imagination. She also leaves out the league she played in for four years.

If the disappointment in Solo as a candidate was limited to an interview given before she was officially running, that would be one matter. But Solo hasn’t been the force for changing the conversation toward women’s soccer among candidates. Nor she has yet to put out any real plans or details about what she would like to accomplish if elected. She did take the US Soccer Athletes Council survey and gave her thoughts on questions they submitted to all candidates. Though details still are scant there. 

The one issue she has beaten the drum for over the last half decade is the better treatment of women athletes and upgraded standards for them. And yet when she has the biggest platform she could, she gives us a platform of 33 words, no details of how to achieve any of them, and more reasons to think she doesn’t have the understanding of how others perceive her.

When Solo entered the race, I was excited. I thought she could bring attention to an area of the race for USSF president that felt like it was being overlooked and given platitudes over substantial debate. A month later and I feel all the air has gone out of the room in terms of that excitement. I’ve made no bones about my feelings of her place in soccer’s landscape I still believe she is a first ballot hall of famer, the greatest goalkeeper in women’s soccer history. I don’t know if believing that Solo would be a force for changing narratives when she entered the race was foolish or idealistic. But with about a month left before the votes are cast it looks like Solo hasn’t learned how to get out of her own way off the pitch in order to be the force of good she often looks like she is trying to be.

Hope Solo is the only person that can get in Hope Solo’s way. She looks to be showing us one more time she’s as good at that as she is at goalkeeping. 

Where do the USSF Presidential Candidates Stand on Women’s Soccer?

Posted on by RJ Allen

Note: After this piece was published the US Soccer Athlete Council posted surveys taken by each of the candidates. Some of the answers touch on women’s soccer more deeply than their campaign sites. Their answers can be found here.

The race for the next USSF president has been about men’s soccer. The fate of the USMNT has been at the front and center of the race since the team failed to qualify for the 2018 Men’s World Cup. 

But the USSF president is not president of men’s soccer in the US. They aren’t MLS’s commissioner able to change the league to a different time table nor able to bend the league to their will on the issue of pro/rel or pay. 

No, the role of the president of USSF is part public face, part chairperson of the board, and part handling of unique challenges that they face while in the role. Their duties, official or not, do not include directly overseeing any one league. And when they have tried in the past to meddle, usually the outcry is deafening. 

Of the current crop of candidates for USSF President – Paul Caligiuri, Kathy Carter, Carlos Cordeiro, Steve Gans, Kyle Martino, Hope Solo, Michael Winograd, and Eric Wynalda – there are clearly those who have thought deeply about the issues facing women’s soccer. The platforms and websites through which they are disseminated show a split in just how much stock each candidate puts in needing a strong women’s soccer platform. 

A few notes before I break down each platform. I could not find a campaign website for Paul Caligiuri. While I could find a website for Eric Wynalda there was no platform I could find listed, just some links to interviews and a large bio page. 

Paul Caligiuri – Former MNT player – No website found

I could not find a website or a full platform for Paul Caligiuri but I was able to find an open letter he wrote to USSF detailing his concern over the voting disparities between MLS and NWSL. He also brings up the lack of an NWSL commissioner at the end of the letter. 

The points brought up by Caligiuri are important ones. The lack of the NWSL commissioner has boggled the minds of most of the NWSL media for the better part of the time the league has been without one. Adding to that the voting disparity that he brings up solidifies a strong message of support for women’s soccer in the country.

Without a full platform to look at, it is hard to know what Caligiuri sees overall as a vision for USSF. But the points outlined here are some of the stronger views a candidate has come out with. 

Kathy Carter – President of Soccer United Marketing – Website Here

No one who votes for USSF President would be voting for Kathy Carter as a candidate to bring mass change to US Soccer. She is running as and is best viewed in the context of the “keep the ship steady, fix in small amounts what needs to be fixed, and let the system that is in place work as it has been” candidate.

What worries me most as I look at Carter’s platform and website is the shockingly sparse focus on women’s soccer. Going so far as to call the the 2026 FIFA World Cup “the most important event on the planet” along the way without mentioning the USWNT. She speaks to how important it would be to elect the first female president of USSF while doing shockingly little to show an understanding of any women’s soccer related issues.

The closest she gets is mentioning the USWNT at the start of her open letter.

And then again in 2011. The U.S. Women’s National Team – down 2-1 to Brazil, in the 122nd minute. Is it over? The call – “Rapinoe gets the cross in… Abby Wambach has saved the USA!!!”

Carlos Cordeiro – USSF Vice President – Website Here

After Caligiuri and Carter it is a refreshing change of pace to look at Cordeiro’s platform.

Not only does he have a platform that is comprehensive, he has a section titled “Develop World-Class National Teams” that focuses as much, maybe even a bit more, on the USWNT as it does on the USMNT.

Develop World-Class National Teams

The strength of our Women’s National Team and the new talent coming up the ranks of both the men’s and women’s programs show that U.S. Soccer can deliver excellence.  But disappointing results at several levels—including the heartbreaking failures of the Women’s National Team to win a medal in the Rio Olympics and the Men’s National Team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup—have revealed real problems that need to be addressed.

It’s time to Aim Higher. To make sure that our women can defend their World Cup championship in 2019, ensure that our men return to the World Cup in 2022 and that both our men’s and women’s teams achieve the highest level of excellence in 2026 and 2027 and beyond—Mission 26/27—we must align all levels of U.S. Soccer operations.  Specifically, we must:

  • Invest more resources in player development and world-class coaches, training facilities and infrastructure consistent with the highest competition, as well as provide additional support for all National Team athletes—male and female, Youth, Paralympians and Futsal, beach soccer, Power, deaf and amputee athletes;
  • Create a new Technical Department—run by new General Managers for our Men’s and Women’s programs and reporting to the CEO of U.S. Soccer—responsible for recruiting, selecting and managing all National Team coaches so that soccer experts run soccer operations;
  • Increase resources and investment in the women’s program—including working toward equal pay—so that our women have the best technical and training support, are no longer forced to play on artificial turf and have greater representation at all levels of Federation decision-making, because supporting our women’s teams is not charity; women deserve to be treated equally and investing in our women’s teams is one of the best ways to grow the sport; and,
  • Compete and excel on our home soil by winning our bids to co-host the Men’s World Cup with Canada and Mexico in 2026 and host the Women’s World Cup in 2027.

The section on investment reads like the answers to 100 pieces written about the inequalities the USWNT faces. Artificial turf has long been an issue that the USWNT has fought against playing on and has long been forced to keep playing on. By very clearly stating that the USWNT is “not charity,” he is going to win over some women’s soccer fans on the spot.

The only area Cordeiro doesn’t venture in to is the NWSL. While that is not so much a strike against him, he will need to have some thoughts on the young league if he is to become USSF President.

Steve Gans – Lawyer – Website Here

Gans lays out a laundry list of issues he has with the current USSF president, Sunil Gulati, including a shot about the bad PR created;

Mismanaging the Women’s National Team pay equity issue, creating much bad will, and U.S. Soccer wound-up on 60 Minutes in a bad light;

Gans goes on to, in his Reform section, call for an review of much of the USWNT structure, and a desire to “make even the working conditions” between the two national teams.

I will immediately make even the working conditions for Women’s National Team players. The WNT will thereafter play on artificial turf only as rarely as does the Men’s National Team, and will in all other ways enjoy equal working conditions. A task force made up of key personnel in the soccer community will be formed to address the disparities in the women’s game. This would include: WNT training and facility needs, compensation review and recommendations at the WNT level, Director of Coaching and other coaching opportunities at the national youth team level and competitive club level, issues specific to the girls (youth) and women’s game, and the funding of the NWSL and how U.S. Soccer can better support it. There will be specific NWSL focus on how we can increase the chance for girls to aspire to an actual career as a soccer player or coach.

Gans seems to say more or less the right things here, but he seems to leave out the NWSL and women’s soccer when talking earlier in his platform. 

A soccer nation cannot be great and fully successful if it does not have a robust professional league and professional landscape. I will throw great support behind our professional soccer leagues. I will meet individually with each of the pro leagues, including MLS, NASL, and USL, in an effort to find common ground, and areas of mutual cooperation. 

Leaving the NWSL out of this section says more, to me at least, than a section later under Reform. 

Kyle Martino – Former MNT player – Website Here

Details are sparse on this site. While I do commend Martino for setting the bar higher for the women than the men when coming to his personal bar as president,

As players, coaches, and fans, we deserve better than this, and I will stake my presidency on my ability to deliver. Our challenge is to maintain the Womens’ team’s tradition of success while turning around the Men’s team’s recent struggles.  If our Men’s National Team fails to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, I will do the right thing and step aside. (I will do the same if we miss the quarterfinals in 2026.) Likewise for the Women, but with a higher standard: the semifinal round in all international tournaments from 2023 on. 

I do not get a sense reading his platform, or the interviews he linked to, that his ideas on women’s soccer are fully baked yet. He speaks a lot, as do many candidates, without understanding the issues women’s soccer faces. To him, as many, it seems secondary at times.

To be fair he does state that his “Progress Plan” will come in the following weeks. When this plan comes out I will update with any women’s soccer detailing.

Hope Solo – Former USWNT player – Website Here

Hope Solo is an incredibly difficult candidate to talk about in terms of women’s soccer.

On one hand her disagreements with USSF have left more than just a bad taste in people’s mouths, not to mention her legal difficulties. On the other hand she is the only candidate I have any confidence could name 20 non USWNT-paid NWSL players.

Solo’s credentials in women’s soccer are written more in World Cup and Olympic medals, of being a pro women’s soccer player, than they are detailed on her website. She is the only candidate in the bunch to play as a USWNT player and a pro women’s soccer player. And yet her platform on her site is simple, if not maddeningly so.

Become The Global Leader in Equality and Women’s Issues

• Achieve Equal Pay for the USWNT and all women in the USSF workplace

• Push for the inclusion of women at all levels of the USSF executive and organizational hierarchy

• Eliminate sexism and discrimination

Before Solo was running for USSF president, back during her playing days in the NWSL, she penned a blog post about the ways the league needed to be fixed that fits in nicely with what candidate Solo has said. But we’ve yet to see details of how she might achieve any of her stated goals.

Michael Winograd – Former College Soccer Player, Lawyer – Website Here

Winograd’s statement on women’s soccer is strongly worded.

Equal Treatment for Women’s Soccer

Women’s soccer must be treated equally. Full stop. Forcing the US Women’s National Team to play on substandard fields, travel under sub-standard conditions, or accept lower pay is absolutely unacceptable. Arguments to the contrary based on revenue flow are not only factually misleading, but they ignore and contradict the mission and spirit of US Soccer. What’s more, the budgetary increase necessary to provide equality is only a fraction of the current total spend on our National Teams.

I have to give Winograd credit for slapping down a common trope used to discredit the women’s side, “Arguments to the contrary based on revenue flow are not only factually misleading, but they ignore and contradict the mission and spirit of US Soccer.” Here he does show an admirable willingness to target a commonly used argument from men’s soccer fans.

Winograd, like others, does ignore the NWSL but with only 3 points to his platform it is maybe more understandable.

Eric Wynalda – Former MNT Player – Website Here

Wynalda’s website is styled more about him personally than what he plans to do for USSF and those under its umbrella.

There is an “About Eric” tab at the top but no where on the site is even the barest platform for any soccer, let alone women’s.

He has a series of videos up, one of which he does talk about women’s soccer, that spends 1:50 on the subject.

After reading all of the candidates platforms and doing my best to get a sense of what each would do in terms of women’s soccer, I believe a few things are true.

1) The candidates for USSF President do more or less agree on the aspects of women’s soccer that need to be addressed, which I think most reasonable women’s soccer supporters would agree with as issues.

2) Nearly every candidate talks about soccer and then women’s soccer in a way that makes their rhetoric around equality a little less believable.

3) Ideas and simple statements are a lot easier to put up than details. Details mean others can hold those details over your head later on after all.

4) NWSL who? Nearly everyone has forgotten to at least mention the pro league.

5) It feels like they all got the same answer to a question asked by their sports science teacher and each changed the answer to it a little to make sure they didn’t get failed for turning in the same work.

With 8 people in the race for USSF president, some legit contenders and some fringe candidates there to try to shake up the system, it will be a very interesting few weeks until the election.

It seems that each candidate has a unique challenge when it comes to women’s soccer and the election.

Solo has the women’s soccer experience, but it’s unknown if she can get out of her own way enough to get elected, or if she would excel at the job if she were. Wynalda seems more interested in selling how good of an interview he is than running for the job.  Carter speaks about the power of electing a woman without speaking about the power of women’s soccer on top of the SUM connection.  Cordeiro’s platform is well done but he doesn’t tend to get spoken about in the same breath as some of the others.  Caligiuri, Gans, Martino, and Winograd all have gaps or rather short statements on women’s soccer in their platforms.

I hope each candidate will put out more details, or any in some cases, about their vision for the future of women’s soccer in the US. There is work to be done even with all the success that the women have had in the past.

While the USMNT not making the Men’s World Cup in Russia this summer is an issue that must be addressed, it can’t suck all the air out of the room less the whole house of cards comes down around our ears.

Ellis Names Roster For January Camp, Denmark Friendly

Posted on by RJ Allen

Jill Ellis has named 26 players to the U.S. Women’s National Team roster for the annual January camp and the upcoming friendly versus Denmark.

Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC) and Sam Mewis (NC Courage) will not be in camp due to injury.

Rose Lavelle (Boston Breakers) is also not on the roster due to injury but will be in camp for rehab and light training.

U.S. Women’s National Team Roster by Position:

GOALKEEPERS (4): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Adrianna Franch (Portland Thorns FC), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

DEFENDERS (9): Abby Dahlkemper (NC Courage), Tierna Davidson (Stanford), Sofia Huerta (Chicago Red Stars), Meghan Klingenberg (Portland Thorns FC), Kelley O’Hara (Utah Royals FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (Utah Royals FC), Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars), Taylor Smith (NC Courage), Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Morgan Brian (Olympique Lyon), Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash), Allie Long (Portland Thorns FC), Andi Sullivan (Stanford)

FORWARDS (7): Crystal Dunn (Chelsea FC), Savannah McCaskill (South Carolina), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Mallory Pugh (Washington Spirit), Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC), Lynn Williams (NC Courage)

Quick Kicks: A New Year

Posted on by RJ Allen

[podbean resource=”episode=g845h-819ef8″ type=”audio-square” height=”400″ skin=”1″ fonts=”Helvetica” auto=”0″ download=”0″ rtl=”0″]

Quick Kicks is a weekly news webcast with a Q and A afterward. The first episode will talk about the Sky Blue/Utah trade, the USSF presidential race, a look at the NWSL draft and more.

Follow our hosts on Twitter 

RJ Allen: @TheSoccerCritic

Luis G. Hernandez: @RadioactivClown 

Quick Kicks: @QuickKicksNews

Interviews with Emma: Ashley Hatch

Posted on by RJ Allen

Emma Bayer is an 11 year old who will be doing a recurring interview series for Backline Soccer. You can find more out about how Emma got in to soccer here.

Ashley Hatch has had a short, but successful NWSL career. She was Rookie of the Year with the North Carolina Courage this season, and is currently playing in Australia. 

Birthdate:

May 25, 1995

Nickname from teammates:

In college my nick name was Ash Smash or just Smash. For the Courage my nickname is Hatchey

Hometown:

Gilbert Arizona

Age you started playing soccer:

Age 8

College/major:

Family Life

Career aspirations after soccer:

My dream job besides playing soccer is to one day be a mother but I would also love to go back to school and get my masters to be a social worker of some sort and soccer coach.

Why did you pick your particular uniform number:

My favorite number is 33. That was my number growing up in college and I choose it because I wanted a number that wasn’t common and I also have 6 members in my family and 3+3 = 6. I didn’t choose #12 for my rookie season in the NWSL. 

Pregame meal:

I don’t eat anything specific. I just make sure I eat enough of whatever sounds good at the time but when we have away trips I usually find myself eating pancakes for the meal before the game.

Workout music:

I love listening to all types of music when I’m working out but one of my favorite bands is the Chainsmokers.

Favorite cartoon character:

Bugs Bunny

Fave movie:

“She’s the Man” will always be a movie at the top of my list but I love so many movies so it’s hard to pick just one.

Fave actress:

Blake Lively

Hidden talent:

I love water painting and I am really good at telling cheesy jokes.

Mentor (in soccer or life):

My Dad is my mentor in life and in soccer. He’s the one I go to for everything because he knows how to help me get through all the hard time and all the good times.

Fave charity/cause:

Helping Hands through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Life motto:

“Life is to be enjoyed… not just endured.” Gordon B. Hinckley

Superstitions:

Blue pre-wrap headband for game-days is a must!

Any pets?:

I had a pet bunny named “Fluffy” growing up. I don’t have any pets currently.

If you were going on Amazing Race, which teammate would you want as a partner, and why?:

I would want Meredith Speck as my partner because she is super smart and also hilarious so we would win and have a good time.

Route Two Soccer – A Good Trade for Sky Blue

Posted on by RJ Allen

In the first big NWSL blockbuster deal of the offseason, Sky Blue traded away one of their key players. It will be hard to imagine the New Jersey side without Kelley O’Hara, who has been a bulwark of the team’s structure, formation, and identity since the founding of the league. However, while it’s obviously never a good thing to lose a world-class player, this was a good deal for Sky Blue, which should help them compete not just in 2017, but for years to come.

The key difficulty with replacing a player like O’Hara is her versatility and adaptability. From her hybrid wingback position last year, she covered almost the entire right flank, offering pace and precision in the attack, wide possession in the midfield, and defensive coverage at the back. There is probably no single player in the league who can fill all those responsibilities. However, this deal does a very good job of covering that gap with two players, and in doing so provides critical depth.

Shea Groom is very good and should be even better at Sky Blue

Shea Groom is already among the league’s best players, a fact which has gone slightly unrecognized due to FCKC’s broader struggles, and her role as a supporting forward rather than a pure goal-scorer. But look at the work she did playing behind Sydney Leroux, and then imagine that same inventiveness, aggression, and movement being leveraged by the world’s best player. Groom was already a very good player, but the chance to play off Sam Kerr for an entire year could be what it takes to launch her up to the next level. Her game is based on inventive movement into space, insightful passing, and sheer relentless aggression. Those qualities will fit perfectly into the Sky Blue attack. With Kerr as the focal point, Groom will be free to pull strings from behind and then burst into unlocked spaces.

This is something that Sky Blue desperately missed in 2017, with O’Hara offering some support, and players like Maya Hayes often making critical contributions as well. But O’Hara’s defensive responsibilities kept her too deep to sustain useful wide possession on a regular basis, and the other forward options were too inconsistent. Groom should fill that space, and free up everyone else to focus more on their own positional responsibilities as well.

That is an important, underlooked feature of this deal. Obviously, Sky Blue’s problem in 2017 wasn’t in the attack (they were among the league leaders in goal scored), but rather the defense. However, those things are connected. Their attack was strong, but often extremely chaotic. They scored by throwing numbers forward, trying to get the ball to Kerr, and hoping for the best. Bringing in a player like Groom – who offers inventiveness, skill in possession, and the potential to form a unified strike force with Kerr – could enable a far more coherent team structure. If so, it will significantly bolster the defense, rendering them less susceptible to being ripped apart in transition.

Christina Gibbons will make a big difference

Bringing in Christina Gibbons should also help on that front. She offers the sort of smooth possession and creative passing from deep positions that Sky Blue was desperately missing last year. Her skill on the ball, and her off-the-charts passing IQ, could be critical to a smoother game.

The big question with Gibbons is her best position. She started last season at left back, before moving to the central midfield halfway through the season. The transition was generally successfully, if not a perfect fit. The problem is that she simply isn’t as fast or as physical as you’d like from a modern attacking fullback, while also not (yet) showing the positional acumen you’d like in a central midfielder. Those are not huge liabilities, and even without being a perfect fit in either role she remains an extremely good player. But if she is able to settle into one role, and learn to compensate more effectively for her modest limitations, she could be a truly excellent player.

If the team is willing to think a little outside the box, there are a lot of options here. For example, while Sky Blue is already possessed of some solid midfield depth, a 3-5-2 setup might be able to leverage their strengths and manage some of their weaknesses. Adding a third body to the backline could stabilize the defense, and give Gibbons a bit more freedom to play a more expansive role upfield, without needing to use her exclusively in the already-clogged central midfield positions. This is just one idea. Surely, there are plenty of other options.

The other piece of the deal – the swap in draft picks – is not likely to have major immediate consequences, but does give Sky Blue some additional options. Their biggest needs are: 1) a pure defensive midfielder, 2) depth in defense, and 3) wingers. Unfortunately, the pickings in those areas are somewhat slim. But with two consecutive picks, they may now be able to spend one on filling those gaps, while using the other on a better player, even if she doesn’t necessarily fit a particular need.

Losing O’Hara is tough, but this deal is a good one

In the end, Sky Blue have done a superb job managing the loss of a club talisman. O’Hara provided on all three lines, and no single player could have replaced her. But the combination of Groom and Gibbons gives them a reasonably close approximation of O’Hara’s contributions, while also adding significantly to the club’s depth. Last year, they often felt like the Sam and Kelley show, with everyone else just trying to the boat from sinking. Under those conditions, trading out one world-class player for two good-to-great players makes a lot of sense. Particularly when those two players are young, and have enormous breakout potential.

Any trade which gives up a player as good as Kelley O’Hara will be tough to swallow. And by itself, this is probably only a lateral move for 2017. It doesn’t fix the core problem of the defense, and it actually magnifies the problem of relative inexperience in the team. Still, by adding several players of great quality, it does a lot to improve the team’s chances in the long term. And if one or both of Groom and Gibbons take that next step forward, we might just look back on this as a key moment in Sky Blue’s transition from a solid mid-table team to a title contender.

That doesn’t make it a bad trade for Utah, especially given Laura Harvey’s noted skill at using the international market to bolster her team. And there is still plenty of time for other big moves (with the rumored return of Caitlin Foord very much in the mix) to complicate the picture. But this is certainly a strong start to the Reddy era at Sky Blue.