Tag: Ali Krieger

Backline Chat: Searching for Reasons to be Optimistic

Posted on by RJ Allen

Charles Olney (@olneyce): Welcome everyone to our Backline chat for the first week of April. We’ve got some international games coming up, and the start of the NWSL season just past that on the horizon. We’ll cover both of those topics this week. But to kick things off, let’s start with the national team. With the two upcoming matches against Australia and Belgium likely the sternest tests they’ll face before the World Cup begins, what are you looking for here?

RJ Allen (@TheSoccerCritic): Was Ali Krieger brought in to play or just to give the forwards a tougher test in training? That honestly is my biggest question.

Luis Hernandez (@radioactivclown): Ali has to be a headline. I don’t see how you don’t start her if you’re Jill.

RJ Allen: It would be cruel to sit her at 99. And I am not a huge fan of major hyperbole when it comes to all of this.

Charles Olney: Yeah, I actually do expect her to play, though I certainly wouldn’t put any money on it. But I would be surprised if she only plays once.

One thing I actually appreciate about Ellis is that she just doesn’t seem to care much about the hoopla around stuff like this. But I don’t think she’s completely unaware of how it would look.

RJ Allen: Honestly having Krieger makes me less nervous about Dunn. They can play a 3.5 back with Krieger in and I would be much more comfortable.

Allison Cary (@findingallison): I agree.

RJ Allen: The best and worst (if you’re Ellis) thing about Krieger is she will stay back if she feels she needs to.

Charles Olney: I think I’m one of the lone voices that has generally been pretty happy with Sonnett out there, but there’s no denying that fullback is a massive weak spot for a team that’s pretty stacked everywhere else.

RJ Allen: I think Sonnett is more or less fine but she is not *really* an outside back.

Charles Olney: That said, I also think Krieger just isn’t really up to this level anymore.

Or an outside back anymore either, really.

I would be happy to be proven wrong about that, though. I’ve always been a fan of Krieger.

RJ Allen: I think Krieger at 80% is still better than 100% of Dunn at outside back though.

Charles Olney: Well, I won’t belabor the point, but all of this is yet another reason why it’s frustrating that Ellis proved so hopeless at organizing a back three. It would be a pretty clean solution to this particular weakness, if they could just do it.

Luis Hernandez: It’s also fair to say that Ali hasn’t had match minutes in a while and if she did start against the Matildas, well that may be interesting…

Charles Olney: Any other issues on your mind about these games? What do you expect in the midfield? More Sam Mewis maybe? More Pugh for some reason?

RJ Allen: Please let Sam Mewis play.

Allison Cary: I’d like more Mewis, please.

Anthony Merced (@nycsportsworld): At some point they have to show what kind of energy level they’ll have in France. I feel like these games are that. SheBelieves felt like an intentional mess which is “okay” but things needs to be smoother in these games.

Charles Olney: It is weird that they scheduled all these games, but it’s hard to identify what they’ve actually gotten out of them…other than wiping away a lot of the momentum from 2018.

Anthony Merced: Truth is USWNT is the only commodity US Soccer is running that anyone cares about.

So they are trotting them out for games that are very unnecessary and the team has to balance it.

RJ Allen: I would honestly like to see Morgan/Press/Heath and Pinoe “set free”. Sometimes it feels like the system is somehow just hoping they will have a great moment and win it vs setting them up and letting those moments come naturally.

Luis Hernandez: Pugh hasn’t done herself any favors with her recent run with the squad.

RJ Allen: Pugh also has the “kid savior” mantle that was given to her.

Luis Hernandez: I’m noticing a tread if you ask me. It starts and stops with Ellis as coach

RJ Allen: I don’t think anyone can live up to who she was when she bust on to the team. It’s like a pitch that blows people away year one and then people figure out.

Anthony Merced: Hopefully she survives that. It’s hard when that title weighs on you in big tournaments.

Charles Olney: It’s crazy to think how long she’s been around, and how young she still is. There’s all the potential in the world there still, but it’s been almost a full year since she’s really been any good.

Allison Cary: Yeah, she carries a lot on her shoulders for a player that still has a lot of her career ahead of her (and thus, a lot of improvement. Hopefully)

Charles Olney: Alright, any predictions for these matches?

Luis Hernandez: I’m on record. I think the US wins both matches.

RJ Allen: US does not win against the Aussies and then takes Belgium out back behind the woodshed.

Allison Cary: I think the US could lose or draw to Australia. Beats Belgium.

Anthony Merced: Feel the same way. Australia is really good.

Charles Olney: I’ll go with two wins, I suppose. But it’s been a long time since the US has really controlled a game against Australia.

Luis Hernandez: Is playing at altitude a factor at all?

RJ Allen: Maybe but not enough I think it will change much of anything. Australia has been there for a few days.

Charles Olney: So, staying on the national team, but moving off the pitch, the continuing cold war over equal pay continues apace. The most recent move was recently announced, with Luna Bar providing the cash to cover the gap in prize money for the men’s and women’s teams.

Big deal? Weird PR campaign? Signal of more to come?

Anthony Merced: Very weird PR. US Soccer can easily address this and come out looking better but instead things like this happen.

Allison Cary: Because it’s coming from a private corporation and not the federation, that limits how “big of a deal” it can be. It’s not a long-term solution, just a PR stunt. That being said, glad they are getting something out of it.

Luis Hernandez: It’s a weird PR campaign for sure. A nice touch, but still weird.

Allison Cary: I do think it looks bad for US Soccer. Which hopefully pushes them.

RJ Allen: It’s so weird but I am glad they are getting the money? I feel torn to be honest.

Luis Hernandez: I partly saw it as smart marketing with the USWNT PA.

Charles Olney: On the whole, it seems to me that the players are winning their social media campaign – but it’s more that US Soccer has been terrible and less that they’ve done a fantastic job.

Allison Cary: I’d largely agree with that assessment.

RJ Allen: I’m honestly not sure that USSF cares that much about any of this though.

Anthony Merced: USSF lives in a strange bubble where they think they can strike oil by paying foreign teams to come play in the United States.

Charles Olney: And I feel obliged to point out every time this stuff comes up that ‘equal pay’ is great, and I’m all for the USWNT getting fair compensation for their talents and labor. But it still does ring a little hollow when the equality is so strictly limited to the national team.

RJ Allen: A lot of it makes me just sigh.

Charles Olney: Same.

Allison Cary: I see where the national team can seem limited, but I think it’s a first step. We’re not gonna get equality between the leagues overnight. Hopefully this pushes things in the right direction.

Charles Olney: I think that’s right, Allison. Still, I would really like to see the solidarity be expressed a little more aggressively.

RJ Allen: The leagues are frankly not going to be equal in our lifetimes. That’s not to say we shouldn’t push forward and try though.

Allison Cary: Yeah, Charles, I definitely get what you’re saying. It’s hard not to feel like so many players are being left behind.

Charles Olney: It’s one of those terrible things where we put expectations on those who are treated unequally to care about those who are below them, while also still needing to fight for what they deserve. But just because it’s unfair doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be a priority.

Luis Hernandez: seems like a reflection of our society

Anthony Merced: Absolutely a reflection of society. We like to pretend that there is equality (gender and race) but then there are glaring examples where the issues are very blatant. Just look at Latin American players in MLS and their treatment vs. European players.

Charles Olney: Alright, unless people have any other thoughts about the USWNT, let’s briefly look outside the US. There are a whole bunch of friendlies coming up. Any that you are particularly interested in? Any teams that still have something to prove as they work their way toward France?

Luis Hernandez: it frustrates me that soccer-crazed countries in central and south America are also not backing the women’s game there like they should be. I get it baby steps…

RJ Allen: I think England has a lot to prove.

They are going to want to show 2015 wasn’t a fluke.

Charles Olney: I’ve got my eye on Spain v. Brazil. This is a pretty weak version of Brazil but they were actually a little better in SheBelieves than I expected. And Spain is fascinating to watch develop.

Anthony Merced: It’s amazing how far Brazil has fallen.

Charles Olney: Yeah, England v. Canada should be good. That’s a team England really should beat, but who will be tough to play. We could learn a lot about both of them there.

Luis Hernandez: France should be bouncing back from the lost to Germany. Hope Japan does well.

Allison Cary: I’m not convinced on England yet. It will be interesting to see them face Canada. I agree that they have a lot to prove.

Charles Olney: I’m a little confused why the Dutch are ‘only’ playing Mexico and Chile? It seems like they could have used a tougher tune-up here? Mexico feels like the team you schedule for a couple weeks before the tournament to just get a game.

Allison Cary: Yeah, that isn’t exactly a challenging lineup.

Charles Olney: I wonder if it’s a matter of preference or if the FA just dropped the ball or something.

Luis Hernandez: I’m also going to keep an eye out on Sweden

Charles Olney: Okay, moving back to the US, let’s talk a little NWSL. The season is closing in. We can do a full leaguewide roundup next week. But for now, do you feel like you’ve learned anything from the preseason so far?

Luis Hernandez: Not me.

Anthony Merced: Sky Blue will be better, but I have no real evidence to prove that.

RJ Allen: I am team #PreseasonDoesNotMatter but I think the Portland event did show that playing other pro teams can be useful.

Luis Hernandez: Preseason can be taken with a grain of salt. It won’t tell you if your team is good, but if it’s bad then the early warning signs are there.

Charles Olney: Agreed there, RJ. Chicago won’t have liked to lose those games, but I think they’ll be in much better shape for having played them.

Anthony Merced: North Carolina is good but I feel like we already knew that.

Luis Hernandez: The Spirit played to a draw with the Tarheels, right? There could be a sign of trouble.

Charles Olney: They’ve definitely struggled with results across several of these games. Though they looked WORLDS better for the half that I did watch them against Bordeaux.

Luis Hernandez: Oh, and of course preseason isn’t great when you have season ending injuries for your team either.

Allison Cary: Luis is right. That sucks.

Charles Olney: Yeah, Sky Blue cannot catch a break, it seems. Though you do have to start wondering about training techniques when so many players are getting injured. Similar with Washington under Gabarra.

Luis Hernandez: Teah, that’s certainly a valid point. why are some teams more prone to injury?

RJ Allen: Trainers do not have consistent training from what I’ve heard.

Anthony Merced: NWSL teams don’t have deep conditioning coaching staffs.

Charles Olney: This was a major revolution in the men’s game in the 90s and early 2000s, with physical fitness coaches and nutritional people coming in to help players. And most of that has been shared on the women’s side. But it’s clearly not happening at the same level of detail, and especially not in the NWSL where the resources are so limited.

Anthony Merced: That leads to injuries.

Charles Olney: It does make me wonder if trying to mimic good methods, but failing to quite manage it, might end up being worse than doing nothing.

RJ Allen: A lot of it comes down to just not having the ability to do the same things, including the same testing, that would happen on the men’s side.

Anthony Merced: Also, from what I have seen, many of the preseason games have been on awful artificial pitches.

Charles Olney: Taking a step back slightly to look at the bigger picture, there’s been a conversation going on this week about the state of the NWSL in 2019. A lot of us are not thrilled. There’s still no commissioner (probably a permanent state at this point), no communications department at all, no official announcement about streaming, no new sponsorships. They canceled the Lifetime deal, supposedly to give them more flexibility to do things on their own. And since then…crickets. This feels bad.

Am I overreacting?

Anthony Merced: No, you’re not. It is very concerning.

RJ Allen: I think president has taken the title as commissioner.

Luis Hernandez: No, I check Yahoo Sports daily to see if anyone will update the soccer page

RJ Allen: I don’t think they are separate.

Allison Cary: The message seems to be that this is not a league looking to grow. And I don’t really mean adding new teams, but just getting more people involved. Raising the bar. Changing the status quo.

RJ Allen: The league feels like it’s trapped in quicksand. The harder it moves the deeper it sinks.

Luis Hernandez: the league is suppose to be holding teams accountable to these new standards. Is the league not clued in that it should go both ways. Then I listen to RJ and end up blaming USSF.

Charles Olney: The small counterpoints I’ll provide: the transition from Seattle to Reign FC was handled well, and is potentially a good sign that independent ownership can work. Chicago’s marketing approach is great, and a model for other teams. And Utah seems to actively be trying to grow, and might just be able to change the narrative about lackluster (non-Portland) MLS partnerships.

That’s me trying to be optimistic. Is it persuasive?

Allison Cary: It’s not all bad or all good. There are positives and negatives.

Luis Hernandez: don’t forget that Orlando made the commitment and hired a full time GM for the Pride. Or Houston increasing the size of the coaching staff. Seems like the teams if they have the will can get on the right path

Charles Olney: Good points. Even Sky Blue has made (some) progress.

It does feel like team-by-team you could tell a positive story about the offseason. It’s the leaguewide level that is troubling.

Allison Cary: True.

Luis Hernandez: In spite of the league, teams generally want to succeed

RJ Allen: And yet, they persisted.

Charles Olney: Well, we won’t reach any firm conclusions today. But as always it’s something to keep an eye on. Any final topics that people want to throw out there?

Luis Hernandez: I have a question for the group

Luis Hernandez: With the report that Ella Masar is leaving Wolfsburg at the end of the season, will she end up in the NWSL and if so where?

Allison Cary: I’d love to see her in the league, but not sure if she’ll find her way back here.

Anthony Merced: I think she’ll go to England.

RJ Allen: I was thinking England too.

Anthony Merced: Manchester United is heading for the D1 and they are going to spend some cash so that may be a landing spot.

Charles Olney: I wouldn’t be shocked if she ended up as a Laura Harvey surprise midseason move. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

And with that, we will close things out for today. Thanks for reading everyone. And as always, let us know if you have any topics you’d like to hear us discuss in future weeks!

The Ali Krieger Conundrum

Posted on by RJ Allen

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Jill Ellis does not do pomp and circumstance.

She is the type of coach that would likely never do another pregame ceremony celebrating a player reaching a cap milestone if given a choice on the matter. That might be due, in part, to her preference to rotate players out of the pool before they hit a hundred caps begin with.

We’ve consistently seen that Ellis’ focus is pointed elsewhere while the fans, media, players, and US Soccer itself revels in the celebration of certain milestones. Hope Solo getting 100 shutouts, HAO’s last game, Lori Chalupny finally getting her 100th cap after 14 years … these are all moments Ellis has seemed to shrug off as meaningless.

And yet, milestones have significance to people, to communities. Knowing that at predetermined points we will take a pause from the usual coming and going of players to call attention to the achievements of one celebrated member gives meaning to the game, to the fans, to the player. So few individuals reach, say, a hundred caps with their national team that when it happens, it’s appropriate to take a moment and acknowledge that he or she has done something extraordinary. The very reason the US and the fans make such a big deal out of joining the Century Club, as it’s called, is because only the best can manage it.  They’ve earned the celebration before the game, the captain’s armband, the special kit and the plaque, the photos with their friends and family before the gathered crowd.

This achievement, and this ceremony, it has significance. A significance far beyond the simple three-digit number on the stat sheet. 

As you might imagine when you mix a coach that does not care about pageantry with a celebration that uses pageantry to mark the significance of a tradition nearly as old as the national team itself, things go wrong.

And in the case of Ali Krieger’s journey to 100 caps, things have gone dreadfully wrong.

It’s no secret that Ellis doesn’t value Krieger as a defender. She’s made it clear that she has no use for a defender who will not play the hyper-attacking style that she wants all of her outside backs to play. (And in truth, what Ellis really wants is 10 field players to adopt that style of hyper-attack.) Krieger’s focus on defense has always meant that she has a harder time abandoning her defensive responsibilities and playing in a way that forces the centerbacks to absorb missed defensive opportunities as she plays up for the attack. Because of this, Ellis has repeatedly overlooked Krieger, either leaving her on the bench or not calling her up at all in favor of players like Kelley O’Hara, Casey Short, or Taylor Smith. All three are players who have shown a willingness to play the style that Ellis demands, and with the kind of aggressiveness she prefers. She even seems to be toying with converting Sofia Hurerta to an outside back role, though this sort of maneuver isn’t unique to Ellis. Tom Sermanni tried the same with Kristie Mewis in 2013. 

Time and time again Ellis has either kept Krieger off the roster or she has kept her on the bench. Since the 2015 victory tour, the coach has made it clear that Krieger no longer fits into her long-term plans. With most other players, everyone would have taken the hint and while we all would have been disappointed, we would have moved on.

But Ali Krieger is not most other players.

The problem with ditching a player who had a year like Ali Krieger had only two years ago in 2015, who is a fan favorite, who was denied the 2012 Olympics because of a sloppy tackle from a player on a team that the US went on to beat by a margin of two touchdowns, to borrow a term from American football, is that it does not make sense on the surface to those who care about cap totals.

For those who take nothing more than Krieger’s history on the NT and her form as a player into account, the last 18 months do not make sense. Things made even less sense when Ellis went from relying on her to cover up for other players’ mistakes to rotating her out of the lineup to sitting her on the bench for multiple games in a row to not calling her up even at the same time that her club performance has mostly been very good.

The only way the Krieger situation makes sense is in the context of Ellis replacing a player who she feels is being insubordinate. Krieger will not abandon her defensive responsibilities to attack as often and as aggressively as Jill Ellis demands because she understands that defense matters and her spending 50% of her minutes on the pitch within 20 yards of the opposite goal is not a sound defensive strategy.

Unfortunately, when the coach is telling you to play a certain way and they find you not sufficiently willing to play that way, then the coach is likely going to reduce your minutes, or in the case of Krieger stop calling you up altogether. No matter how foolhardy the game plan is, at the end of the day the show is Ellis’ to run as she sees fit. You can disagree with her game plan but as long as US Soccer is keeping her on she is well within her rights to call up players she sees fitting the game plan she has and leaving off players she feels can not or will not play to that game plan. As much as any sane person may look at Krieger’s game and understand that what she’s doing will save the US from giving up goals and will make the players around her better, she is not following the game plan faithfully enough for Ellis. So Ellis’ solution going forward is to continue passing over Ali Krieger, no matter what. 

For Jill Ellis, Krieger is no longer an option.

Remember the pomp and circumstance thing we talked about at the beginning of this and how ceremony matters?

The problem in all of this is Ellis decided she was done with Krieger while Krieger is sitting on 98 caps, just two away from the ceremony that would give closure to the player and her fans. Closure on a career that was hard-fought, and well-performed. Closure to the extraordinary performance that helped the United States win the World Cup for the first time in 16 years.

By not allowing Krieger these final two caps,  a player that most people will argue should still be the regular starter on the right or at least in the conversation, Ellis is prolonging the misery felt by those who follow this team and who care about the celebration of the players who helped the team achieve the level they are at now.

We’ve seen this before, Ellis deciding a player is done. Form be damned, history be damned, the usual manner of things be damned. Whitney Engen, Heather O’Reilly, and Lori Chalupny all suffered from having Jill Ellis break with the usual manner of players leaving the team. And now, Engen has traded soccer for law school, O’Reilly has gone overseas to play, and Chalupny has gone on to pursue coaching. None of them might have been in the mind of fans the way Krieger is, but their exits do give us a preview of how the situation is likely to play out.

The question becomes what should happen? What possible outcome would make all parties happy? Is there even an outcome that could happen that would make all sides happy?

We can firmly discount the idea that Krieger will ever become a full-time national team starter with minutes per year approaching levels that she’s had in the past. As much as it would probably delight Becky Sauerbrunn to have another pure defender on the team again, it’s just not going to happen. For better or worse Ellis is simply not interested in having her on the roster in that capacity. Unless there is a coaching change, which US Soccer seems unwilling to do, Krieger’s long-term national team future is clear. In that it’s over.

Trying to pretend this is not a factor, while the lingering resentment some fans have toward the team and the coaching staff only grows, doesn’t seem like a way forward either. Krieger is playing in Orlando, and playing well, so the media will have to ask about it every time she doesn’t make a roster. And Ellis will be asked about it as forwards are converted to fill the spot. Pretending it isn’t happening doesn’t mean that it’s not happening. The longer the song and dance goes on, the more long-time fans of the player and the team will grow to resent and resist the changes the coach is making. 

The solution that might make both sides able to move on is simply to give Krieger the two caps before the end of the year so Ellis can start 2018 and the World Cup-qualifying off without it hanging over her head. If Ellis allows Krieger get to 100 caps with all the pomp and circumstance that she deserves, it might mitigate some of the outright anger a particular segment of the fanbase might feel going into another cycle without one of the best right-backs in the women’s game.

It’s a win for both sides; Krieger gets recognition for a career well done on the national team at a level that is surpassed only by Joy Fawcett while Ellis looks like she has some compassion for a player who has bailed her out on more than one occasion by going against the coach’s instincts for game planning of attacking first and defending maybe. Krieger’s fans, and her family, and even Krieger herself get the type of closure that a player who has sacrificed as much as she has for this game deserves.

At the end of the day, Jill Ellis has told us that she is done with Ali Krieger. No amount of outrage from fans or think-pieces from media will change her mind. The only question that remains is if Ellis will let Krieger walk away as part of a group that just added its 36th member (out of 222 players capped over the team’s history) or if Ellis is going to let her stand there on the one side of the line and never let her across again.

In the end, Krieger needs her final two caps. 

And she deserves to get them. 

The Excused Absence

Posted on by RJ Allen

If you’re even just a casual NWSL fan, you’ll notice that every now and again, a player isn’t on the game-day lineup.  Not for injury, at least not that you’re aware of, and not for a disciplinary reason as far as you can remember (and in my experience, red cards tend to stick out in your memory).

But if you’re a die-hard NWSL fan, the kind who can remember off the top of their head just how many yellows a favorite player is sitting on heading into the upcoming week, you’ll probably notice the “Excused Absence” designation that’s popped up on Weekly Injury Reports this season.

The new addition to the report this year came at the behest of the NWSL’s Media Association, who asked for some sort of clarification on player absences when not out for an injury or illness. But what this additional information has done is highlighted an interesting element of NWSL play and player management this season. And so I’d like to take some time to talk about Excused Absences, the NWSL, and professional sports in general.

Those who have been around the NWSL since at least the end of the third season, after the US players rejoined their teams riding their World Cup glory, might remember a bit of drama in the 2015 post-season, when fan-favorite Ali Krieger decided to attend her father’s wedding instead of playing in Washington’s semi-final against the Seattle Reign. Krieger took a lot of heat from league fans for choosing to put her family above her team, and eventually put out a heartfelt message on her website, where she shared her regret that she couldn’t be in two places at once.

My family has come second to football for many, many years and I feel that in my heart it was time I put them first. I would regret not being there for the rest of my life, and I’m extremely happy to be in my Dad’s wedding. I have full confidence in my teammates and I can’t wait to congratulate them in person when they return to DC.

I honestly hadn’t thought of Krieger’s absence since that day, until I noticed, and kept noticing, the Excused Absence qualifiers on the weekly injury reports this season. Some teams offered additional information, revealing that a player was away to attend an award ceremony in her home country (Sam Kerr, Week 3), or graduate from college (Raquel Rodriguez, Week 4). Others were to take an entrance exam for medical school (Daphne Corboz, Week 4) or to attend a family wedding (Kelley O’Hara, Week 5). Still others offered no other information, just that a player would not be in attendance for the week’s game and that it was not due to any injury, illness, or discipline.

(And then there was Carli Lloyd’s entire 2016 season, which seemed to be one gigantic excused absence, at least as far as the people who love to hate her and those who hate to love her saw it.)

To be fair, I probably wouldn’t have paid attention if not for a few players I enjoy watching week to week appearing on the list as excused. But it got me thinking and it made me wonder, what is the effect of these Excused Absences on the league? Does the Excused Absence policy (is there one?) negatively impact or affect the NWSL? Either the play and performance of teams and players, or the perception of the league by others?

Because here’s what my first and initial thought about Excused Absences was:

Excusing players to attend a wedding, to take an exam, etc, reflects and affirms the opinion of those outside the sport who feel that a women’s soccer league is not something to be taken seriously. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not judging individual players for their non-soccer priorities or family commitments. But I do wonder how the NWSL looks in comparison to other sports–women’s and men’s leagues–where this is concerned.

So, after an entirely non-scientific research process, here’s what I found for “Excused Absence” across the American professional sports landscape.

NFL

Players in the NFL have been listed with “Excused Absences,” yes, but how, and for what, and when, reveals a marked difference from the NWSL. In most cases I came across, players had received an excused absence from a training camp, practice, or exhibition game.

In 2016, Tom Brady was excused from a pre-season game in order to attend memorial services for a family member (he was allowed to play in pre-season games before having to serve a multiple game suspension beginning Opening Weekend of the regular season). Doug Martin was given an excused absence from practice the same year, but this was in anticipation of being disciplined for violating the league’s drug policy.

Kayvon Webster was excused from practice in 2014 for a personal family matter, CJ Spiller from a pre-season game in 2013 after his step-grandfather shot four people and killed two, and then himself. That same year, Riley Cooper was given an “excused absence” to seek counseling after making a racial slur, and Brandon Marshall was excused from four days of camp in the pre-season for a previously scheduled follow-up appointment regarding surgery he’d had earlier that year.

In the case of the NFL, an excused absence is sometimes given, but in cases where the stakes are not particularly high. A pre-season game that means little for the outcome of the season, a day or two of practice, or a late arrival to a weeks-long pre-season training camp.

 

NBA

In the NBA, excused absences aren’t infrequent, but there aren’t many either. In 2017 Ricky Rubio has been excused for “personal reasons” no details provided. In 2016, LaMarcus Aldridge was given an excused absence from a pre-season game to receive a Hall of Honor award from his college, while long-time player Udonis Haslem received one so he could see his son play in a state football final. Kemba Walker was given an excused absence from a December game “to tend to a personal matter,” and Lou Williams was excused from a practice late in the year.

2014 saw Tony Parker excused from the start of preseason camp to recover after a long flight home from France and a delayed flight in Chicago. Before that, excused absences included Derrick Rose, excused from an in-season practice for personal reasons (2011);  Delonte West, excused from a pre-season match-up to “handle personal business” that some suggest was related to “mental sickness and legal troubles” (2009); and Shawn Kemp, listed with an excused absence in 2001, just prior to checking into a drug rehabilitation program.

Unlike the NFL, the NBA (and several other sports leagues) has a number of international players who compete for their national teams, as well as some players (domestic or international) who join leagues overseas during the off-season. In some cases, these players are given excused absences to accommodate their time away or even just to help account for recovery time after long and tiring travel. But like the NFL, the NBA’s absences, in the majority of the cases I came across, were for non-competitive events. Players were excused from camps, practices, or pre-season games for the most part, and only rarely from in-season games.

 

NHL

As for the NHL, the excused absences include Kyle Okposo’s 2017 absence from practice the day after the All-Star game, Robin Lehner, who was excused from a Friday practice before starting in his third straight game, and Anders Nilsson, who was excused from a practice in order to travel back from Sweden where he was tending to a personal matter.

In 2016, nine members of the Detroit Red Wings were excused from training camp for national team duties at the World Cup that year, and in 2012, three players on the Capitals were excused from practice sessions in order to “avoid overtaxing them” during one of the busier parts of the season. One of those three, Alex Ovechkin, was “given the day off” in 2009, after suffering a big hit during a game the day before, though reports stressed that the two factors were unrelated.

The situation for the NHL is fairly similar to the NBA, though I saw more instances of players being given excused absences for recovery or rest during the season in this league. Or, at least, an openness to admitting that this is what the excused absences were for. And, like the NBA, the NHL has an 82-game regular season. That’s 82 games per team per season. By comparison, the NFL’s regular season is only 16 games, and missing one means missing a sixteenth (6.25%) of the season. Missing a single game of the NBA or NHL? Less than 1.5% of the total games. So it’s a little easier to see why a player might be granted an excused absence from an in-season game. He’s got 81 others to play.

 

MLB

Probably the most interesting excused absence I’ve seen reported is that of Leonys Martin in 2017, who was allowed to report late to training camp after being called to testify in a federal criminal conspiracy and alien smuggling trial.  This same year, Dellin Betances was designated as having an excused absence from training camp until a contract dispute was successfully arbitrated.

In 2016, Chase Headley was given an unexpected excused absence to attend to his family after complications in his son’s surgery necessitated further medical intervention, and Aroldis Chapman missed two days of spring training for a family matter, which was suspected to be related to an investigation into accusations of domestic violence. Then, in 2007, Barry Bonds was given three days off during spring training to return home and spend time with his family. That same year, Manny Ramirez was allowed to report late to training, possibly to attend to a sick mother. Ramirez was also given an excused absence to miss his first game with the Red Sox in the 2004 season when he returned to Miami to become a citizen of the United States.  As the team’s manager said at the time, “If he didn’t do it today, we’re not talking about (a delay of) weeks or months. It’s like, maybe, a year.”

But remember how many games the NBA and NHL play a season? MLB players have twice that. The MLB season is 162 games long. Missing a day of training camp, a practice, or even a single game for a personal reason? In total it counts for a tiny fraction of their contractual commitments.

Most notably, MLB offers its players a three-day excused paternity leave for the birth of a child. To date, it’s the only men’s professional league in the States to have that built into the players’ CBA; in the NFL, NBA, and NHL, the decision to excuse a player for the birth of a child is made on a team by team, and case by case, basis. (The league also has an official bereavement list as well, for when a player’s spouse or an immediate family member has a serious illness or passes away.) A player on paternity leave can request between one and three consecutive days away when placed on the paternity list, and many have utilized the benefit since its inception. The policy probably came to the notice of the general public when, in 2014, Daniel Murphy (NY Mets) missed the first two games of the season in order to see his first child born. He was widely criticized by sports radio hosts and others, but received the support of his teammates, his front office, and the league for his decision.

 

MLS

Finally, at least for the men’s leagues, there’s the MLS.  Kei Kamara began 2016 with an excused absence from the start of training camp, but while the team cited his family as the reason for the delayed arrival, others suspected a budding contract dispute might be the real reason. In 2015, Kenny Coopers had a similar excused absence from his team, missing the first four weeks of training “with what was described as an ‘excused absence.” He was then waived by the team, however, suggesting that in this case, “excused absence” was code for the contract dispute he was engaged in with the team at the time.

In 2014, Matt Pickens was excused from a portion of preseason to try out for another team, after an injury in 2013 saw his starting spot go to Clint Irwin. Obafemi Martins was excused from practice in 2013 in order to deal with a family matter; this came after he’d been given a longer (and excused) break mid-season in recognition of his play in Europe before the season started and his efforts in recent practices and games. Before that, in 2012, Javier Morales received an excused absence for the birth of his second son. Like most of the American athletic leagues, the MLS does not have a paternity leave policy, and decisions are left up to individual clubs.

2011 saw Real Salt Lake excuse absences for three players to join national teams before international matches. The players missed part of a pre-season trip to Phoenix where the team was scheduled to play a few matches. The February 9th games were official FIFA friendlies, and players were required to be released by their clubs for 48 hours according to the International Match Calendar policy. That same year, David Beckham was excused by his club in Week 10 of the season for Gary Neville’s testimonial match, a decision which saw no small amount of criticism from fans and sportswriters. This absence came after Beckham missed portions of preseason and left the club in order to attend the wedding of Prince William. Steve Davis suggested in a Sports Illustrated article, in fact, that Beckham’s absence, and the team’s acquiescence to Beckham’s requests, was “alerting the world that MLS is just a little plaything, not a competition to be taken seriously.”

But men’s leagues aren’t the only professional sports organizations, and so I looked into the women’s side as well.

Okay, to be honest, I looked, but the NWHL is only in its second year and I didn’t find anything for them. The NWSL is the league that prompted this article, and so I don’t need to list it again, which … thanks to the dearth of professional women’s athletic leagues in the US … leaves me with the WNBA.

 

WNBA

From what I’ve seen, in 2011, Monica Wright was given an excused absence from a game for a family emergency (no additional details were given). Nakia Sanford had an excused absence from a “Bowling with the Mystics” team event in 2007 after taking “an elbow to the mouth during practice earlier in the day.” (Yes, not exactly the kind of excused absence I mean to talk about, but it’s not like there were tons from me to choose from in the WNBA–more on that later.)

Then, in 2006, Tanisha Wright was given an excused absence from a practice in order to attend her graduation ceremony from Penn State, and Janeth Arcain was excused from most of preseason camp each season from 1998-2001. The reason? The Brazilian national team player also plays professionally in her home country, and the seasons overlap each other.

Now, unlike their male counterpart, the WNBA only plays 34 regular season games. (The NWSL, at least this season, plays 22). But you might notice two things from the WNBA list above. First, excused absences seem more limited than the male leagues–and this might be because missing even a single game is a bigger issue in leagues with shorter seasons. And second, most of the links for the WNBA information came not from team releases or sports journalists, but blogs. But don’t get me started on the absence of women’s athletics and performances in sports journalism. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

 

So, you might be wondering why I put you through that summary of excused absences across the professional sports leagues in America.

(And before I explain, I need to point out the obvious flaws in my “research,” such that it was–I didn’t bother to look up how each league or team defined “excused absence.” I literally just did google searches for “[League Abbreviation] and ‘excused absence,'” which doesn’t even pass the lowest test of academic rigor. And when the results appeared, I only looked as far as–maybe–page three. So it’s not a comprehensive survey, sure, but I think I found enough to be able to make some speculative conclusions. Still, if you object to my research process, feel free to report me to the official department of Who Gives a Fuck; I’m sure you have them on speed-dial.)

Let me be the first to assure you that it’s not because I want to shame the players in the NWSL for their absences. I’m also not here to commiserate that you bought a ticket to a game just to see Christine Nairn and she wasn’t with the team that day. I’m not here to entertain complaints about Alex Morgan being your favorite player and travelling all the way to Orlando to see Alex Morgan play and Alex Morgan being away from the team because her grandma broke her hip or something (Alex Morgan’s grandmother is fine, to my knowledge, please don’t ask me about Alex Morgan’s grandmother). And honestly, I don’t care if Daphne Corboz took the MCAT or if Kelley O’Hara went to a cousin’s wedding (okay, I care enough to hope that Corboz did well and that O’Hara danced the funky chicken, obviously) but my interest in talking about this is not about individual players and instead about perception and progress.

My first question is whether absences suggest to the outside world that the NWSL doesn’t have to be taken seriously because it doesn’t take itself seriously. (A question akin to Steve Davis’ worry over Beckham in 2011.)

In the NFL, player absences are so rare because each game counts. When you only have 16 chances to climb to the top of the standings, every game means something. Writing in the aftermath of the Daniel Murphy/Boomer Esiason MLB paternity blow-out in 2014, a columnist at XOJane wrote that

I can’t imagine a single situation in which a starting player would voluntarily miss an NFL game. With only 16 regular season games, there’s too much on the line. One loss can mean a team misses the playoffs. And with pro careers that only last an average of three years, that’s just not a risk I can imagine any of those guys taking.

Even missing practice, for most in the NFL would be verboten. Because practice is where you make your case to be out there under the lights on game day. And there are so few opportunities to make it to the top. In 2016, Ben Roethlisberger took a few days away from practice during the week for the birth of his third child, and Landry Jones got to step into the coveted role of “first-team QB” for a little while, just long enough to get a feel for the position he’s been working toward his entire life. The next week, when Landry’s own wife gave birth, he took a few hours, his wife reportedly telling him not to miss a day of practice. Rookie QB Cardale Jones almost missed the birth of his child in 2016; he was literally on his way to practice when coach Rex Ryan told him to go back, that he’d regret missing the birth for the rest of his life.

By in comparison, in a season only six games longer than the NFL’s, what does it say to miss a practice? To miss a game? If the NWSL and its players want the sport to be taken seriously–as it should be–by fans, by non-fans, by the general public? When you’ve got players in the NFL literally missing the births of children just for the chance to make an impression in a mid-week practice, what does it say about the NWSL’s intensity, it’s drive, to release players from their duties seemingly so easily?

But.

But. But.

On the other hand.

What if it’s not about the number of games at all? What if it’s not about intensity or drive or any of that.

What if it’s about the players? About a change in the culture of American sports franchises?

In 2011, the MLB Players Association negotiated a collective bargaining agreement that included paternity leave.

Paternity leave.

For baseball players.

In a nation known for being one of the worst for paid maternity leave for new mothers.

And I’m not slamming the baseball players or the MLBPA (get it, slamming them). I think it’s great.

Even more than great, maybe it’s a sign of a more progressive sports league, of a more humanitarian, person-centered approach to the management of players and teams. MLB’s policy reminds fans and foes alike that at the end of the day, the players and their well-rounded lives are a priority.

Yes, it may be easier to accomplish with a sport that seems to play more games than there are days in the season (or actually do, I’m tired of Googling at the moment and that seems like it might involve more math than I’m comfortable with) but, also, maybe it’s just worth it?

The NBA renegotiated their CBA in late-2016, and it doesn’t appear that something like paternity leave was on the players’ radar, or at least not an issue with enough support to make it to the negotiating table. The NFL and NHL’s current CBAs are scheduled to expire in 2020/2021, so between now and then, they, too, could see a more person-focused CBA.

In the meantime, as far as the NWSL is concerned, (on a team-by-team, player-by-player basis, anyway), the off-the-pitch development and priorities of its players seem to be recognized as important and essential elements of their talent management protocols.

So, in the end, I’m still left with questions. Is this a good thing for the NWSL? Or does it do more harm to teams and the league than is worth standing for?

Honestly, I don’t know.

What I do know is that I’m afraid it does more harm than good.

And maybe that’s something to think about?

A Comedy of Errors, an Open Letter to the NWSL

Posted on by RJ Allen

Congratulations on a fifth season.  I’d say “historic” fifth season but at this point, every new season is historic, so what’s the point? Still, it’s a big deal, and I’m thrilled to be watching as the ten teams in the league compete to lead the table this year.

And when I say thrilled to be watching, I mean it. I’m the kind of fan who watches every game, every week. (As I’m also the kind of fan with a busy schedule, being able to catch up on them over the span of the week via Youtube was priceless—in the same way amy League Pass to the WNBA each season is worth far more than the $17 I pay for it.) So, the news that the NWSL would be partnering with Lifetime to broadcast a game a week was a big deal. Not just to me, but to everyone. And though there were concerns about the appropriateness of the channel, the availability of those games internationally, I have to say, I have been in your corner.

But it’s the other 98 matches that have a large number of fans going “What the furt” this year.

The very first problem was the way information was released, the lack of transparency and organization. Obviously pulling together a streaming platform isn’t easy. But who expected it to be? And while I wasn’t exactly on the same warpath as some regarding the lack of updates as the months until opening day turned into weeks, and then the weeks turned into days, and then hours, the fact that the Monday before opening weekend nobody had a clue how to watch four out of the weekend’s five games was a bit of a big deal.

But this season, the announcement of an official partnership with a media provider for the non-televised games, raised expectations exponentially. Everything–from the pay to the fields to the streaming–was supposed to be better this season.

The league’s work in the off-season has been almost entirely focused on growing the game, on exceeding the last year’s successes, on bringing in new fans and audiences while also retaining the steady and loyal core groups. Except, you can’t bring in anyone new and you can’t retain anyone old if they can’t watch the games. With only ten teams spread across limited geographic zones, most fans are only able to keep abreast of their teams and players via streamed (or now, televised) broadcasts. Those who can’t watch rely heavily on updates via social media, and every game day the Twitter world is awash with NWSL hashtags and commentary.  Streaming access is the backbone of NWSL fan support.

So, opening weekend over, how do you think you did?

Let me be the first among many to tell you that the Lifetime broadcast was an absolute success. Granted, that’s not to say there’s not room for improvement, but in Week 1, the channel and broadcast team did a great job. The production was high quality, the commentary was informed and entertaining, while not overwhelming what was happening on the field.

But the other four games this weekend, and their distribution to fans, were problematic. To say the very least.

For those fans trying to watch along with the non-televised game, Week 1 involved:

  • spotty streams
  • unavailable content
  • commercials mid-game (as often as every three minutes)
  • lack of archive for on-demand viewing

And these were only some of the problems mentioned and experienced by fans.

By large, the issues can be boiled down into two branches categories: quality and accessibility.

 

Quality

As far as quality goes, up until this season, it was by and large determined by each team’s infrastructure. Certain venues could always be counted on to have quality and reliable streams, others were always more troublesome, whether that meant shoddy audio, frequent lag, or just bad camerawork due to the limitations of the field. The Thorns and the Dash, playing in MLS-affiliated stadiums, had the camera resources to provide close looks at action on the field. Some of the other teams, though, always looked like your dad recorded the game on his old video camera. Fans may have complained–fans will always complain–but aside from the limited broadcasts of postseason games, it was all we had. And so we dealt.

Before 2017, commentary could be hit-or-miss sometimes, to the point that it felt like sometimes broadcast interns were in charge of doing the play-by-play. But there were some excellent commentators for the league, people we looked forward to hearing every week because they provided insightful analysis.  And even when the commentary wasn’t the greatest before this season, at least they were there, on the sidelines, able to see all the action. Broadcast teams for the go90 streams were all located in Florida, a fact I personally didn’t know until I heard it from Equalizer Soccer’s breakdown of go90 this morning. But even not knowing that, of the only game I was actually able to watch in its entirety on the go90 app–FCKC’s 2-0 win over the Boston Breakers–the commentators mis-identified players, spoke over the action, and provided very little play-by-play. Broadcast teams are supposed to guide a viewer through a game, not distract them away from it.

But the biggest problem with go90’s quality was the constant interruption of streams for advertisements. For two forty-five minute halves, soccer is a blissful, ad-free, safe space. That’s one of the things that makes soccer soccer. There aren’t timeouts in soccer, there aren’t commercial breaks, there isn’t a 60-second race to quickly pee and refill your drink before the action starts up again.

Soccer goes non-stop. Or, at least, it did until this weekend, when every go90 stream I’ve heard about broke in to tell frustrated fans about other content available on the app. (Did you know it’s not easy to be 5’11 and a QB in the SEC? Did you? DID YOU?)

And fans are not the only ones upset by this intrusion into our sacred space. Players and coaches weren’t pleased either.

Yes, please fix this.

 

Access

A second issue for the NWSL’s streaming this year is ease of accessibility. Sure, everything the NWSL told fans to expect sounded great. In the league’s February announcement of the partnership with A+E Networks, highlighting Game of the Week broadcasts on Lifetime, it also added that

NWSL Media will oversee the live streaming of all matches and produce the games in high definition with a consistent, state-of-the-art approach that will include exclusive new and original digital content for pre-game, halftime and post-game segments. The joint venture is currently negotiating with potential partners to stream the games not broadcast on Lifetime.

And for months, that was all anyone knew. Until last week Thursday, when the partnership with go90 was made public. Fans were assured that, as:

A fully ad-supported, mobile streaming service, go90 will feature 98 NWSL games accessible via live and on-demand streaming for the 2017 season. To access, visit go90.com or simply download the go90 app via the App Store or Google Play. Users with go90 version 3.0 and later can cast live games from the go90 app to Airplay and Chromecast. No registration or authentication is required.

Then, on Friday, one day before the season began, the NWSL released their app (iOS only), which, at least for US fans, is just a mobile version of the website, offering nothing more than you can find anywhere else.

It seems like an overabundance of options, no?

Except, it’s not. Ironically, all these various options for watching the streaming NWSL matches actually left fans almost unable to watch at all. Watching on the go90 website itself was impossible, both live games and the “on-demand” matches were unavailable. Watching via the go90 app was partially successful. If you consider having to restart the match and by the grace of God alone find where you’d left off anytime something–a phone call from mom, a need to check social media, your phone just deciding to exit all applications on a whim, or, and far more likely, the stream freezing and requiring a restart of the app–interrupted your feed, a success.

So for domestic fans, the go90 partnership compromised their ability to watch the games this important opening weekend. To the point that advice was passed around about how to bypass the location blocks that provided international fans access to high-quality streams on the NWSL website.

As for watching games “on-demand,” after they’d aired, Jonathan Tannenwald at The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News landed a scoop from insiders familiar to the NWSL’s deal with A+E and go90, and provided insight into the peculiarities of each’s on-demand access. In both cases, the games will be archived for 48 hours and then made available on the NWSL website and app.

But so far, they haven’t been, despite content disappearing from go90 already. And a quick search of “NWSL go90” on Twitter will tell you how people feel about the matter:

Granted, it’s a holiday weekend, but the NWSL weren’t deprived of a calendar when planning out their season. If you schedule your opening weekend for Easter, you damn well better make sure your staff is on-hand to get it off without a hitch.

Youtube was a preferred platform for fans because it offered a single way to watch (rather than the multitude of complicated, confusing, and unreliable options this season) that domestic and international fans could access equally. Content was immediately available after the live stream for viewing, viewing could be done on a mobile device but most often occurred on a computer, freeing up a mobile device to engage in conversation via social media about the game, thereby increasing any match’s digital footprint across multiple social media platforms. Of course there were issues, of course it wasn’t perfect. But by comparison, the streaming of non-televised games this first weekend has many wishing we could have Youtube back.

So, yes, there are problems. The league needs to answer the concerns of their fans, and sooner, rather than later.

But that’s not to say all is lost for this historic fifth season of the NWSL. The Game of the Week on Lifetime went off, as far as anyone could tell, without a hitch. It was absolutely a success and hopefully, even with the time (3 pm) and holiday weekend, the ratings will demonstrate that our fans show up. We show up.

When we can.

And that’s really the reason the streaming elements need to be worked out as soon as possible. For all its progress, the NWSL is still nowhere near stable. It’s done well, it has succeeded in ways every previous iteration failed, and now the front office of the league is thinking and planning in terms of years rather than one season to the next. They’ve built a fanbase, they’ve built an audience–they built it and we came, to paraphrase one of the greatest sports movies of all-time–but we have to be able to continue to show up, in person whenever possible and virtually whenever not, to help this league continue to grow.

So, as a fan, as a member of the media, I’m asking the powers that be: please, fix this.

Because, for a league trying to make its case for being the premiere professional women’s soccer league in the world, the NWSL came out looking like amateurs this weekend. And we deserve better–all of us. From the front office to the locker-room to the fans in the stands.

We deserve–and we can do–better.

 

Predicting the Pride: Year Two Edition

Posted on by RJ Allen

The inaugural season for the Orlando Pride didn’t go according to plan. Attempting to piggyback on the club’s MLS team slogan of Defy Expectations, the Pride had a stated objective of reaching the playoffs in its first year in existence. Getting a big name talent was only one piece of the plan; Orlando City diligently strives to treat the Pride as equals to its first team.  The team started out respectable enough, with big name signings, but with the departure of national team players for the Olympics in Rio, the lack of depth on the roster was exposed. The expansion team failed to win another match after mid-July, and finished in ninth place on the table, just above Boston. It was apparent at the end of the expansion team’s inaugural season that there was much to be done going into 2017 to improve the squad. Head coach Tom Sermanni and the Orlando front office have diligently worked on deals this off-season, even though the team has very few assets to barter with in the drag left by the export of resources in order to secure the famous Alex Morgan trade. Betting heavily on these off-season transactions, the Pride traded away Sam Witteman to North Carolina Courage and currently dealt away the remaining 2018 draft picks. Subsequently, Orlando is “all in” for the historic fifth NWSL season, and their second.

The team began the off-season by trading for Ali Krieger to shore up the defense, sending the Washington Spirit what amounted to a pack of gum. Seriously, before the trade, most fans would not have known about NWSL’s distribution rank order or the fact that Orlando was second on the list and the Spirit moved up to take that spot. On the day the trade took place Washington had nothing to show for getting rid of its team captain. But the biggest movement, and perhaps the most challenging, was Alex Morgan’s decision to head to France for the first part of the NWSL season; she isn’t expected to be back until June. Orlando tried to make the most of the transactions it managed to complete, but is it going to be enough to rise up the standings, and push into the playoffs in year two? How will the team line up during the season?

Let’s break down the Pride in its sophomore season. But, keep in mind, as of this writing, the final roster hasn’t been announced.

GOALKEEPERS

Going into the 2017 season, goalkeeping looks to be stable. Ashlyn Harris will once again command the defense in front of her. She’ll be looking to improve her 1.33 goals against per game with the Pride’s revamped defensive line. Backup keeper, Aubrey Bledsoe looks like she’s made a full recovery from breaking a leg which prematurely ended her season last year. If the back line can relieve some of the pressure that allowed 112 shots on goal last year, it will be a better year for the Harris who is motivated to prove for club and country that she is the best keeper. Keeping herself fit and injury-free should be a priority as last year the rough style of coaching from Marcos Machado (who coached women for the first time last season) was rough on both keepers. The Pride decided to make a change both keepers seem to have benefited from with new Pride Goalkeeper coach, Lloyd Yaxley, who used to coach Harris when she was a member of the Washington Spirit.

 

DEFENDERS

The focus of the off-season was a major upgrade to the defensive line which had been ravaged by a combination of international duty absences, injuries, and overall lack of cohesiveness. Added to the Pride were U.S. women’s national team player, Ali Krieger, and Brazilian international Camila. Australian international Alanna Kennedy also joined the team, reuniting with fellow Matildas Steph Catley and Laura Alleway. 

These additions join returning players like Cami Levin, Toni Pressley, and Monica. Sermanni appears hopeful the back line will become a strength with so many talented players available since the lack of international tournaments outside of the Euro minimize player absences. He’s also spoken of the benefit of having players with ties together translating on the pitch. The Pride appear to have found the solution to its porous defense. 

Last season, Coach Sermanni tinkered with the three-back formation but determined he didn’t have the players to execute it properly. This preseason the Pride have spent an extensive amount of time with a three back system. The key to a successful three back formation requires tall, strong players who are great in 1v1 situations and can stay compact. With so many skilled defenders, Sermanni will need to shift some players into the midfield to have as much talent out on the pitch while supplementing the lack of depth in the midfield roster. Look for Krieger to anchor the line as Kennedy and Alleway flank her left and right sides respectively. The versatility of Catley and Camila will allow them to play out wide, while still able to track back and defend if need be. 

 

MIDFIELDERS

On paper, the midfield appears to be an area of concern, with less than a handful of players officially on the roster. Fan-favorite Kaylyn Kyle was released once the Canadian Federation chose not to maintain her allocated status. Breakout-player Kristen Edmonds returns having been able to translate last season’s strong performance into a couple of national team camp call-ups. Maddy Evans spent the off-season playing in the W-league with the Brisbane Roar, and it seems the time on the pitch there has developed her game. Her overall physical conditioning, passing, and defensive play in the preseason have illustrated what spending extra hours on the pitch can do. Dani Weatherholt’s development in the off-season, including her time with the U-23 team, has impressed the coaches during preseason. Weatherholt continues to prove that she is the fittest player on the roster, winning the beep test this year reaching level 53 which, combined with her improved focus on her hold up play, should get her more minutes than the 786 from last season. 

Orlando looked to reinforced the midfield by drafting Nickolette Driesse in the fourth round of the draft. While Evans and Weatherholt are more defensive-minded, Driesse will look to go forward more to create scoring opportunities with the team’s forwards. But the lack of depth in the midfield could quickly be cause for alarm if the team fails to stay healthy. The team may continue to look to add depth as the season goes by.

The competition for playing time in the midfield is going to be a challenge as Sermanni adds defenders into that portion of the pitch. Someone on the roster will need to step up as the play-maker who can get the ball forward to the strikers. Driesse displayed the type of passing skill Sermanni is hoping will translate to the pro game, but as an unproven rookie that’s still a question mark going into the season.

 

FORWARDS

The issues with the Pride last season were two-fold: they couldn’t keep goals out of their net, and they couldn’t get goals into the opponent’s.  Alex Morgan who isn’t going to be with the team until the summer, took 44 shots last season, 20 on goal, and converted four for goals. Proving how anemic the Orlando attack was in 2016, the team’s leading scorer last season was midfielder Kristen Edmonds with six goals. Sermanni played Edmonds in multiple positions on the pitch, finally settling for the midfield where her strength from free kicks allowed her to find the back of the net even when the Pride struggled to provide service to the forwards. The Pride are bringing back Jasmyne Spencer, Christina Burkenroad, and Jamia Fields. Spencer returns after a loan to Canberra United in the off-season. She is at full health after suffering a lower leg injury during the W-league season. Look for her to contribute this season with at least four goals like she did last season. I expect the Pride will be searching for the combination of strikers who can provide goals, with Spencer I believe her role would be better suited off the bench and run at tired defenders late in the match. Burkenroad has looked a step faster than her rookie season, and if she can maintain her fitness her role will expand from the seven appearances she made last year. The expectation for Fields is to contribute more.

Additionally, the Pride acted on their search for more goal scorers by drafting Danica Evans (Colorado Buffalos) in the third round. Evans scored 11 goals in her senior season and notched six assists. The team also acquired the rights to Rachel Hill from Portland after the draft; however, the UConn Huskies star will not join the team until after she finishes with school this summer. The most under the radar move of the Pride off-season has been the trade of Chioma Ubogagu from the Houston Dash for a 2018 third round pick. Her addition to the roster went through with very little fanfare; however, Ubogagu has put some time in the gym which added more muscle to her frame and has scored in each of the preseason matches so far. Her addition to the squad should help make up for the absence of Morgan, and she could become a mainstay on Sermanni’s starting XI come gameday. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict Ubogagu scores double digit goals.

 

THE MARTA FACTOR

On April 7th, the Orlando Pride made the biggest signing in NWSL history bringing to the City Beautiful five-time Women’s World Player of the Year, Marta. How will her signing affect the Pride in 2017? I’ve always felt the Pride would be a better team who could fight into the playoff picture this year. Marta has yet to even practice with her new teammates, so right away there are questions on team chemistry and where she’ll be slotted into the formation, coming onto the team listed as a forward. But as Coach Sermanni stated in a team video from Twitter, “It’s really a question about just making the best use of her as we possibly can, and using her skills the best way we can.”

Last year, one of the challenges for the Pride was creating service opportunities for Alex Morgan and the other forwards on top. Because of this, I feel Marta would be better suited in the midfield as the central attack behind two forwards. She would be the creative playmaker that runs the offense, and Marta is able to create her own shot. The defensive players would have to play closer to her, so there could be more room for the forwards to work, as well as the outside wingers.  But if they can manage this? Orlando has some serious post-season potential this year.

 

FORMATION

With the U.S. women’s national team prominently playing with a three-back formation, some have wondered if any coaches in the league would attempt to use it this year. In each of the four preseason matches Orlando has played so far, the team began with a three-back line either in a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 formation. A three back system has to stay compact to be successful. However, there were times when the Pride would shift to a more conventional four-back system and either utilize a lone striker or have a pair of forwards on top. Expect the Pride to play compact in the back while working the ball out wide before putting pressure around the 18. The test will be when an opponent high presses the Pride, and we can see how the revamped defense handles when there’s a turnover in the defensive third. The backline will need to stay compact and have the wingers come back to help on defense when called upon giving Orlando a five-person line at times then when the danger is taken care of shift forward to keep numbers in the midfield. So far in preseason, the team has been able to pull it off against college teams. Ball distribution from the back from Harris or Kennedy will allow the fast pace style of play Sermanni wants the team to execute.

 

PREDICTION

Look for the Pride to improve from its ninth-place finish last year. The team has chosen to once again gamble the future and focus on the now by trading all its picks for the 2018 draft. The front office doesn’t shy away from making deals, and for Coach Sermanni there is added pressure to get results. However, that being said, I still don’t feel like Coach Sermanni will be in the hot seat even with the front office approach. I expect that to change for year three based on this year’s results. The relationships he’s been able to create with players make Orlando an attractive option. Players want to play for him again, just look at the willingness of the Australians to come to Florida to be reunited with the former Matildas gaffer. The ownership ties to Brazil also opens the door to those national team players. More players from the inaugural roster will be let go to make room for upgrades and a better quality squad. Out of respect to the players, I’m not going to speculate on any possible cuts. With a bit of luck, this team can avoid the injury bug since there are still depth issues. More obviously in the midfield, but an injury in the back line could cause a formation change if the three back line can’t be maintained. The home crowd in the new stadium should create an advantage in Orlando, and with lessons learned from last season – such as an extra travel day to west coast matches and better management of vegan players dietary needs affecting performance – should improve results.  Personally, I’m going to be optimistic and predict a fourth place finish and sneaking into the playoffs in year two. Here’s my crack at the opening day starting XI.

 

That’s how I see the Pride heading into the second season. Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

2017 Orlando Pride Roster

GOALKEEPERS (2): Aubrey Bledsoe, Ashlyn Harris (FED-USA)

DEFENDERS (8): Laura Alleway (INTL-AUS), Mackenzie Berryhill (SEI), Steph Catley (INTL-AUS), Monica Hickmann Alves (INTL-BRA), Alanna Kennedy (INTL-AUS), Ali Krieger (FED-USA), Cami Levin, Toni Pressley

MIDFIELDERS (5): Nickolette Driesse, Kristen Edmonds, Maddy Evans, Camila Martins Pereira (INTL-BRA), Dani Weatherholt,

FORWARDS (7): Christina Burkenroad, Danica Evans, Jamia Fields, Alex Morgan (FED-USA, OOM), Jasmyne Spencer, Chioma Ubogagu, Marta Vieira da Silva (INTL-BRA, OOM)

Kickbacks: Five Things about the Roster for Russia

Posted on by RJ Allen

Earlier this morning, US Soccer released a 24-player roster in anticipation of the Women’s Team’s upcoming friendlies against Russia.

The two-leg set will open in Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX on April 6, and be followed-up with a match on April 9 at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, TX, a homecoming game of sorts for Houston Dash players Morgan Brian, Kealia Ohai, Carli Lloyd, and 2017 draftee Jane Campbell.

Included in the roster are:

24-player roster of call-ups for April 2017 matches against Russia

As we look at the roster, some things are immediately apparent.

Keepers: No Hope Solo

Solo’s suspension from the USWNT concluded in February, and she is eligible again to be called into camp by Ellis. However, having undergone shoulder surgery in late 2016, the long-time US #1 is only partially through the rehabilitation process. Her absence on the roster could indicate that Jill Ellis and US Soccer really have moved on from Solo or that she is not yet cleared and ready to return. Ellis, on her part, has been mum about her intentions toward the goalkeeper even with Solo’s declaration that she wants and expects to return.

Alyssa Naeher (Chicago), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando), and Jane Campbell (Houston) have all been called back into camp for the friendlies. With Solo out of the picture right now, Harris and Naeher are neck-and-neck for the top spot at the moment, with Naeher probably having just the slightest edge over Harris after being named to the Rio roster while the Orlando Pride GK was relegated to the Alternates list. Campbell, on the other hand, seems to be in for a great period of mentorship under the two during the drive towards France in 2019, and it wouldn’t surprise us to see her slowly earning caps over the next two years. Will we see her take the field against Russia? Probably not as a starter, but I think it’s probably a good bet we see her take the pitch in the 46′ if the US has–as they should–built up a good lead.

The Backline: Allie Long, Midfielder, and Megan Oyster’s First Call-Up

Despite being played in the centerback position of Ellis’ experimental three-back backline, Allie Long (Portland) continues to be listed in the midfield on the released rosters. This could be because, say it with us now, Allie Long is a midfielder. She’s not comfortable in the backline–much less as being the pivot or anchor that stabilizes and directs the shape of the backline. Continuing to list her as a midfielder seems like a concession to those of us who don’t see a future for her in the three-back system.

In a related note, Megan Oyster (Boston) has been called into camp for the first time. Oyster is a consistent centerback who played that role for Washington until the recent off-season when she was traded to Boston. Oyster’s performance for Washington was fairly solid but she was benched when the Spirit suffered a bit of a lag in the 2016 season and then continued to sit when Ali Krieger and Shelina Zadorsky returned from national team duties in Rio. Oyster was a part of the starting XI in the Spirit’s failed bid for the NWSL championship last October, where she played centerback in a three-back that featured Krieger and Alyssa Kleiner (and sub Caprice Dydasco) on the wings.

What does Oyster’s call-up mean for the team? Could be a couple of different things. First, of course, it could represent a return to the four-player backline that held the US up throughout the 2015 road to their third Women’s World Cup. With Julie Johnston (soon to be Julie Ertz) out of the roster for her wedding and honeymoon, Oyster and Sauerbrunn could find themselves the center of a classic four-back formation.

Or, it could mean that Ellis’ experiment with Allie Long is finally over, and she’s exploring other options to anchor her three-back. Oyster did very well in that formation for the Spirit in 2016’s final match, with Ali Krieger on her right running up the wings to move the ball and even make some attacking moves. A three-back with, say, Krieger on the right, O’Hara on the left, and Oyster in the center? Now that’s something I’d really love to see.

Midfield: The Return of Rapinoe

When Megan Rapinoe (Seattle) was left off the roster for the 2017 She Believes Cup, there were people (including us) wondering if her career with the national team was over. Certainly it was in jeopardy after last year’s performance, where she failed to make an impact in her two games off-the-bench in Rio, as well as the few later friendlies in which she was rostered. And, of course, there was also the stir she made by supporting Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling protest during the National Anthem, taking a knee on the sidelines at a friendly against the Netherlands in September. With the official position of US Soccer made public earlier this month in a billboard announcement during a She Believes Cup match, it seemed as if Rapinoe’s absence had a bit of a sharp edge to it.

https://twitter.com/stuholden/status/838109929802063872

But, maybe we all assumed too much? Because Rapinoe is back, and just before the NWSL season where she’ll take the field for the Seattle Reign again too.

Forwards: Rodriguez Back, Still No Leroux

Amy Rodriguez (Kansas City) has been called back to the third consecutive camp of 2017 after taking time off in 2016 to give birth to her second son. Rodriguez was left off the final roster for the She Believes Cup in March, but this latest call-up would suggest that Jill Ellis isn’t counting her out at all as the team moves forward toward the next WWC cycle. Sydney Leroux (Kansas City), also out in 2016 for the birth of her first child, has been training hard with FCKC as well but hasn’t yet received a call-up to return to camp with the national team at this point. This is in no way to suggest that her international career is over either, of course. We fully expect to see her back in the USWNT lineup when she’s ready. Both, it needs to be noted, tallied a goal in FC Kansas City’s recent preseason match against Missouri Women’s Soccer, so there’s no doubt that both players are eager to lace up their boots and drive up their numbers.

One name that has made a return to the roster is Kealia Ohai (Houston). Ohai made her senior team debut just last fall, in a friendly against Switzerland at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN. Ohai took the field in the 82′ and scored her first international goal just 48 seconds later, breaking a record set by Lynn Williams (North Carolina) set just days before (Williams’ goal was 49 seconds after she took the field for the first time in the 46′). Ohai’s breakout season with the Dash last year–scoring nine goals in seven games–earned her a look from Ellis and the senior team, and we anticipate that she will continue to find the back of the goal at both levels of play.

 

She Believes: USWNT v France

Posted on by RJ Allen

The US will make their final 2017 She Believes appearance this evening, playing in a match against France. Coming out of the second round of games, France leads the table, with a 2-1 win over England and a 0-0 draw with Germany to earn them 4 points and a +1 goal differential. The US, on the other hand, earned 3 points with their 1-0 win over Germany but lost 1-0 to England on Sunday, leaving them vying for second place in the standings. At three points each and +0 goal differential, the US women and their English opponents are neck and neck, with Germany falling securely in last place with a single point.

Honestly?

I don’t know if anyone knows what to expect tonight. One could say that France has the momentum coming in, but they were unable to break down Germany and score to secure the win on Sunday. On the other hand, it could be said that the US has the upper hand, but they lost to England that same day, unable to defend against a last-second set piece from a desperate-to-score English squad. If there is a team on an upswing right now, it has to be England, who have a definite chance at the title if they win or draw against Germany this afternoon.

One thing is certain though, the US must win this match if they want the title. Regardless of what happens in the earlier match, if they simply draw the French, it will not be enough to see the Cup stay with the home team.

But a win against France will not be easy. Foremost, perhaps, France’s experienced players must be taken into consideration. With players like Le Sommer, Thiney, Bussaglia, Abily, and Georges—all likely see time on the pitch tonight—France has over 700 caps-worth of experience to call upon when they take the field. More than experience, however, the US needs to worry about 6’1″ centerback Wendie Renard, whose height and head could prove deadly in set-pieces in the box for the shorter American team.  On defense, too, Renard is a formidable opponent for the US’s attacking game, and as much as I hate to admit it, if the outcome of the game comes down to defense, France’s backline is stronger, better organized, and simply performing at a higher level than Jill Ellis’s experimental 3-back right now.

What can the US do to win? They’re going to need to be organized. The midfield needs to be locked down, taken in hand by someone with a Lauren Holiday or Shannon Boxx style of leadership—calm and steady. They need some stability, and time to build partnerships and chemistry. But right now, with players being swapped left and right and Ellis seemingly undecided on the shape she wants in that section of the pitch, the midfield looks antsy and uncertain of their strategic value. And maybe no one more than Carli Lloyd, who continues to play back even when her coach urges her to move forward.

The forwards will need to be faster, and the passes from the line or the midfield need to be made with surgical precision tonight, letting a fewer balls roll out of play than we’ve seen over the past two games. Whoever starts in an attacking position tonight needs to make cutting runs into the box, supported by powerful and accurate crosses from the wings. The kind of crosses Ali Krieger and Kelley O’Hara can send into the box in their sleep. I know Krieger has said recently that she likes the 3-back specifically because she can focus on defending, but honestly? The US needs her support in the attack, making those long sideline runs on the right to set up scoring opportunities for Press, for Pugh, for Williams, for whomever can cut into a scoring opportunity.

The ultimate question, of course, is whether the US can win against France tonight. And they can. It can be done. But they’re going to have to come out looking a hell of a lot different than we’ve seen over the past two matches. And that includes personnel as well. Ellis is shaking things up in her Starting XIs, that is undeniable, but is she shaking the right things?  Maybe it’s time for some players to sit down. Lloyd, Morgan, even Long, if you asked me. Because with the first two, the team plays to them specifically. The US plays a different type of soccer when Lloyd is on the field, or Morgan. They play soccer built around those players’ styles. And it’s not working anymore.

The best player of Saturday’s match was Rose Lavelle, earning her first cap and Player of the Match on the same night. Lavelle was a driving force against England, honestly, I’d take her over Allie Long anywhere on the pitch, any day of the week. (Yes, even at CB. Please don’t put Lavelle at CB.) The best player of the match before that? Lynn Williams, and no, not just because she scored the winning goal, but because she brings a kind of innovation to the field that is sorely needed.

 

Predicting the Pride: Pre-NWSL Draft

Posted on by RJ Allen

Head Coach Tom Sermanni’s first season in the NWSL fell short of the team’s pre-season expectations with a ninth place finish. The less-than-stellar result can be attributed mostly to the team failing to win a match after the long Olympic break. Looking for a quick turnaround in the 2017 season, however, the NWSL’s new kid on the block has already made one big move this off-season.  In a much-critiqued trade with the Washington Spirit, the Pride picked up defender Ali Krieger, and hopes that she will be able to bolster its backline, one that gave up thirty goals in its first season.  As far as its existing roster goes,  the team hedged its bets by offering contracts or picking up the options of all the players except for backup goalkeeper, Kaitlyn Savage.

But, Sermanni’s off-season work is not done. Going into the draft on Jan. 12, fans should expect more roster moves and news. Here are three options the team might take.

Option One: Full International

Sermanni hasn’t been shy about utilizing all five international spots on his roster. However, four of the spots are already full; Australian defenders Steph Catley and Laura Alleway hold two, as well as Brazilian defender Monica, and, a late addition to the inaugural season, Lisa De Vanna, captain of the Matildas, who only notched 154 minutes for the Pride in 2016. All of the internationals but De Vanna are currently playing in the Australian W-League, while De Vanna is focused on her coaching license. Still, without a midseason loss of national team players to a major competition like the 2016 Rio Olympics, or even next summer’s women’s Euro, Orlando could feel that 2017 is the year to load up on foreign talent.

But the Pride’s worst kept secret is their desire to sign talented attacking Australian Caitlin Foord. It would not be a surprise if Foord is wearing Orlando purple next season once her rights with Sky Blue lapse. Even if the team fails to add Foord, expect Sermanni’s international connections come into play in finding another overseas player. Additionally, ownership could look to add another Brazilian player to join the squad such as, former Florida International University standout and one time teammate of Monica while at Ferroviária, Thaisa Moreno. 

This view has players like Kristen Edmonds and Jasmyne Spencer maintain a high level of production for the team, while Dani Weatherholt and Sam Witteman, coming off a loan with Apollon Limassol, continue their development by earning more minutes on the pitch and working their way into the starting XI. The Pride would also look to have Maddy Evans back in Orlando as the team is in contract negotiations for her return next season while she spends time on the W-League’s Brisbane Roar. Even by embracing the team’s full complement of international players, the Pride will still the domestic players on the roster to contribute.

Option Two: Wheeling and Dealing

While this year’s college draft is deep with talent at almost every position, Orlando’s ability to take advantage of this is somewhat limited right now, as they won’t see any picks from the highly-sought-after first two rounds. Granted, there’s no way to know know which players will declare themselves available for the NWSL, but a team like 2016’s last place Boston Breakers–who currently hold seven of the first twenty picks this year–are in a good position to boost the talent on their roster. And Orlando could use a similar boost.

Yet even though Coach Sermanni was pleased with his first draft class and his ability to identify young talent is something he’s known for, the only way they’re going to get a chance at any of the highest-ranked players is to trade for draft picks.  Sermanni has shown that he is interested in making trades, but if the Pride want to jump into the first or second round, he’s going to have to let go of more than just their spot in the Distribution Rank Order.

Since Orlando only have a third and fourth round picks, are there any players the team is likely to part ways with in exchange for a draft pick? Someone who might be valuable enough for another team to enter into negotiations?

One name which stands out is Lisa de Vanna. De Vanna is still a talented player with pace who is great with the ball at her feet. She can quickly bring leadership and a veteran presence to a team locker room. 

Another player to use as trade bait this off-season is Josée Bélanger. With the acquisition of Ali Krieger, Bélanger’s role on the roster becomes ambiguous. A versatile player, Bélanger has speed to get forward as she’s playing on wide, and could be a valuable player on the trading block. As an added bonus, she’s a federated player, so she wouldn’t impact the team financially. That being said, she is also worth keeping for those same reasons, not to mention the possibility of Sermanni moving her into the midfield to aid the Pride’s attacking capabilities.

Option Three: Roll the Dice Draft Style

The final option for Sermanni and the Pride is the most simple one.  They could release some of the least productive players and add others, and then fill other needs with smart picks in the third and fourth round of the draft. Fourth round draft pick Dani Weatherholt who played 786 minutes for the team is proof that quality players can still be found in the later rounds. Sermanni himself has come out and publicly praised Weatherholt a number of times for her development, versatility, and work ethic. He rewarded her efforts with nine starts in twelve appearances for Orlando. Essentially, it wouldn’t be out of the question to keep the players the team has and identify a few key players in the later rounds of the draft.

But who could the Pride draft that would benefit their 2017 roster? Well, we’ll talk more about that in our draft preview.

Is Bill Lynch the Second Coming of Dan Borislow?

Posted on by RJ Allen

Bill Lynch is not Dan Borislow.

He is not the next iteration of a man who paraded elite athletes for his own amusement until the legal ramifications caught up to him. While we may be inclined to conflate his decision and the greater narrative of the Washington Spirit organization into a sort of convoluted doomsday scenario, Lynch will not cause the imminent implosion of the National Women’s Soccer League. However, we really cannot consider the Orlando Pride’s acquisition of Ali Krieger in exchange for their second-overall spot in the Distribution Ranking Order to be a true “trade” facilitated by the Washington Spirit.

A trade in professional sports implies an exchange of one team’s assets for another that has been negotiated and agreed upon by both ownership groups of concern. As General Manager Chris Hummer could tell you, trades for players or assets in sports are intended to give teams the “best chance at” winning “championships” or whatever the highest honor of that respective sport and league is.

On October 9, 2016, Ali Krieger played the last thirty seconds of her career with the Washington Spirit believing herself about to become an NWSL champion—until Lynn Williams changed all of that. Over the course of a 20-game regular season and a post-season, she displayed unparalleled commitment and class to the NWSL that has not been matched by any other allocated US Women’s National Team player thus far. Over the course of the historic fourth season, the Washington Spirit organization was implicated in a series of rumors of player discontent, petty behaviors, and greater questions of character. With the transaction of Ali Krieger for a likely meaningless slot in the “Distribution Ranking Order,” the Washington Spirit effectively gave up their most valuable player for the sake of Bill Lynch’s pride.

While perhaps not as well-known as Merritt Paulson and Joe Sahlen, Bill Lynch is not an owner unknown to followers of the National Women’s Soccer League after its historic fourth season. To the contrary, he has come into the crosshairs of the larger NWSL audience for his particularly controversial set of hypocritical behaviors.

While the NWSL is hailed as one of, if not the, most LGBTQ inclusive sports leagues around the world, Bill Lynch’s Washington Spirit is the sole team to never have hosted an LGBTQ “Pride Night.” In reaction to calls for an answer to this controversy, he has claimed that he does not want to endorse the personal politics of himself or others by hosting a Pride Night. In classic fashion, he ironically bought his personal politics into the conversation when, at the Spirit-Reign game in September where Megan Rapinoe planned to kneel, he played the national anthem while the players were in the locker room. In response, Ali Krieger coordinated a players meeting to discuss their grievances and published a letter expressing their views that were in vehement opposition to their owner. She had the wherewithal to oppose her owner as an allocated player paid by United States Soccer Federation, whereas her fellow teammates have to rely on paychecks from the team that average 10-20 grand for a six-month season.

Ali Krieger was not “traded” by the Washington Spirit to the Orlando Pride organization in exchange for an equitable amalgamation of assets and terms. Rather, from comments disseminated on a variety of platforms, it is clear she was offloaded for the sake of an owner’s need to control and assuage a perverse superiority complex.

Any and all claims that she somehow asked for a trade are not only definitely false but also besmirch her leadership, sheer athletic ability, and character. When businesses are faced with dissent by an employee with leverage to act in opposition to the goals or politics of the individuals in power, it is the right and privilege of those individuals to dispel and squash opposition. When you’re competing for championships, that’s not the case. The objective is to build the strongest squad with depth in every position. The actions of the Washington Spirit organization in this “trade” do not correspond with this basic logic.

If we’re going to boil this “trade” down into a more generalized statement or larger idea, this was a business decision that is a testament to the immaturity of the National Women’s Soccer League.

Despite this off-season being uncharted fertile ground for growth in the stability and prestige of the United States’ longest-running professional women’s soccer league, this is only the start of the forth offseason. We are still toiling and troubling in pre-kindergarten, with some kids throwing Play-Doh at each other and others not able to able to afford it. The NWSL’s approval of this business transaction is, for lack of a better term, a slap in the face to the talent and stature of Ali Krieger.

However, we shouldn’t be surprised that a transaction of this magnitude, in regards to its utter triviality and lack of logic, has happened, considering the state of the NWSL.

The NWSL is not failing or close to failure; it is a stable league with leaps and bounds to grow beyond its current position. But immaturity on the part of ownership and league leadership is an issue that must be addressed, so as to not stifle its development. There is a fundamental reason for disparity in the assets of different teams within the National Women’s Soccer League, and that is money and expertise. It is not practical or fiscally responsible to ignore the fundamental fact that the business of sports encourages competition and the consequential investment of money.

While the monetary regulations of the NWSL is an entirely different convoluted conversation, it is pertinent to the Ali Krieger trade because she was “traded” as an asset far below her value. To any casual observer of the NWSL or even a bandwagon follower from the World Cup, who only watches highlights of their favorite players, this trade is obviously lopsided. The function of the front office of the National Women’s Soccer League is to facilitate the maintenance and property of the NWSL that arguably reigns as the world’s best women’s soccer league, due to the competitive nature of the league. On any given day, the league’s worst team can draw the NWSL champions or lose to them by a six goal margin (sorry Boston). Amandine Henry did not leave the fur-lined trappings of Jean-Michel Aulas’s hefty pocketbook for a salary cap that is nowhere near her monetary value in European leagues. This “trade” is in contradiction to the best essential selling point and asset of this league as juxtaposed with the Frauen-Bundesliga, Damallsvenskan, and the Women’s Super League.

Bill Lynch is an owner that may not always be a proprietor of the National Women’s Soccer League. As leagues grow and develop in the United States and abroad, clubs foreclose and owners are bought out or forced out. At this point in the development of the NWSL, the Ali Kreiger trade harkens back to the turbulent days of WPS, when Dan Borislow was able to play with salary caps and players like backyard pool toys.

Yes, we’ve moved on from the dark days of power-tripping owners demanding their employees call them “Daddy.” However, we do not forget those days so easily.

The Washington Spirit were 30 seconds away from winning the NWSL Championship. That alone should be enough heartache for the team and its fans. Yet, we’re in the penultimate month of 2016, and the club’s captain—its heart and soul—was just sent away for reasons we can only speculate about. But this trade is more a testament to the present authority of the league, while can easily be stifled or stagnate its own growth. Courtesy of Bill Lynch.

Addendum: The author acknowledges that she did make a considerable number of assumptions about the facts and conditions of the situation. Within the facts that have been provided to the general public, this piece was written as a reaction to the small quantity of information that is publicly available.