Tag: Christie Rampone

Around the World of WoSo: USSF Adds Policy, Plush Steps Down

Posted on by RJ Allen

Plush Steps Down:

Jeff Plush has announced he is formally steppeing down as the National Women’s Soccer League Commissioner. Plush has been in the role since January of 2015. In his tenure, he saw the league grown to 10 teams when the Orlando Pride entered in 2016. Plush also oversaw the sale of Western New York Flash and their re-brand to become the North Carolina Courage at the start of 2017.

Plush wasn’t as recognizable to many fans because he wasn’t in attendance as often as someone like myself might like. A few other commissioners around sports such as Adam Silver (NBA), and Lisa Borders (WNBA) are well-known for making a serious effort to not only attend playoffs and championship games, but regular season games as well.

Plush was in attendance at the 2016 NWSL Championship and helped complete the recent TV deal with Lifetime and A+E. This latest deal could be what many will remember him for, a historic TV partnership that will bring the NWSL into American homes every Saturday.

The search for a new commissioner has begun and I hope we find out soon who will lead the way for the NWSL’s fifth season – which begins April 15th.

 

USSF New Anthem Policy:

The United States Soccer Federation has introduced a new policy to that will apply to the National teams. This new policy states that:

“All persons representing a Federation national team shall stand respectfully during the playing of national anthems at any event in which the Federation is represented.”

In my personal opinion, this policy is completely unnecessary and undermines the player’s constitutional right to protest. This new policy seems to be a very dramatic and ridiculous reaction to USWNT midfielder Megan Rapinoe kneeling during the National anthem in a friendly September 15th of 2016. Rapinoe has said she did it to support Black Lives Matter, the movement that rose over the past few years to fight against racial inequality in America.

While U.S. Soccer made it clear that they didn’t agree with Rapinoe’s action when it happened, this addition to the bylaws seems to be sending a very strong statement to players thinking about wanting to protest in any slight way during the anthem. I do feel confused by this, because without protests how will the players, as citizens, express their desire for positive change and for the government to do the right thing by ALL citizens of this beautiful country?

ESPN The Magazine Senior writer Mina Kimes perhaps summed up my feelings perfectly when she tweeted out her opinions of the new policy:

Kimes, along with myself and many others, don’t agree with this new policy. Also, could this decision signal the end of Rapinoe’s national team career? Rapinoe has not been selected for National team duty since September 18th of last year. Time and future actions will certainly tell if the fate of Rapinoe with the USWNT is over for simply standing by what she believes in.

 

Rampone Honored:

One of the best players to ever grace the game of soccer in the history of the sport has officially retired from international play. 41-year-old USWNT legend Christie Rampone was honored Saturday before the game versus England in front of the crowd of 26,500 in Harrison, New Jersey at Red Bull Arena. In attendance to honor the trailblazer were familiar and former stars of the USWNT, Abby Wambach, Heather O’Reilly, and Nicole Barnhart.

To many women’s soccer fans–or soccer fans in general–Rampone is simply known as Captain America. The defender made her USWNT debut in 1997 and played her last minutes in 2015. And Rampone expressed the desire to make a bid for the 2016 Olympics had injury not hampered her fitness. The two-time World Cup Champion (1999, 2015) and three-time Olympic gold-medalist (2004, 2008, 2012) has certainly left her mark on the game. Rampone played in five FIFA World Cups, four Olympics, appeared 311 times for her country to become the second-most-capped player in US history, and managed to score four goals during her time.

I don’t think enough can be said about the last 99er. Rampone was composed, positive, regarded as a complete team leader and someone who embodied the national team spirit. She was one of the most incredible athletes I’ve ever seen compete at the highest level for that length of time. I’m absolutely honored to say I had the privilege of watching her play in person years ago and I will forever be proud to call her our Captain.

 

Lavelle Earns 1st Cap:

21-year-old Rose Lavelle has finally earned her first cap for the USWNT this past weekend in the #SheBelieves Cup. Starting against England, a team ranked fifth, Lavelle held her own. Even though the United States lost to England, she played well enough to also earn her first Player of the Match award.

The Cincinnati, Ohio native played all four years of college ball at the University of Wisconsin. She was selected number one overall in the 2017 NWSL College Draft by the Boston Breakers. Lavelle has shown plenty of promise and to see a small sample of what she is capable of on the National team is rewarding as a supporter.

 

Chastain and MacMillan HOF Confirmed:

Two more USWNT legends are being inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame on March 24th. The two women earning this honor are Brandi Chastain and Shannon MacMillan, who each spent 12 years on the National team.

Chastain made her debut in 1988 and concluded her career in 2004. She won two World Cups (1991, 1999) and two Olympic medals (1996, 2004), appearing in 192 games for the U.S. She is known for her left foot penalty shot that secured the USWNT’s second Women’s World Cup in 1999 and then taking off her shirt to celebrate. I witnessed that moment when I was eight and for me, it’s easily one of the most iconic moments in sports. Chastain now coaches at the University of Santa Clara.

MacMillan got her start in 1993 and ended her career in 2005 after appearing in 176 games and scoring 60 goals, good enough for ninth place in program history. MacMillan won the ’99 World Cup and Gold at the 1996 Olympic games. She was named U.S. Soccer’s Female Player of the Year in 2002. MacMillan is now in San Diego, where she is the director of club operations for the Del Mar Carmel Valley Sharks soccer club.

 

Sweden Women Aim To Inspire:

The Sweden Women’s National team is sporting a different look these days. The Swedish Football Association have initiated for the team to replace the names of players to instead have messages of empowerment. These messages are meant to be positive and to inspire all generation of women.

The Swedish players picked quotes from Swedish women, to show the power they hold, and to bring to light the National team at the same time. Some of the messages include: “To try is to be successful” (journalist Frida Soderlund); “Women want different things”(comedian Karin Adelskold); “I’m not bossy, I’m the boss” (author Nina Akestam); and “Never look down on someone unless it is to help her up” (politician Gudrun Schyman).

The latter message was chosen by Sweden’s captain Lotta Schelin, who expressed this in a statement recently: “It is great we can join forces with other strong women and together we can show that everything is possible.” She went on to say that “There is always a need to show young women it is possible to succeed, and that no one should feel limited in what they can achieve and particularly not because of their sex.”

I absolutely love this from the Swedish Federation and the team itself. I fully support this idea. I think everything Schelin mentioned is very important in a world where the glass ceiling does still exist. These kits have been worn during the Algarve Cup that takes place March 1st through March 8th.

Closing the Book on History: Captain America Says Goodbye to the National Team

Posted on by RJ Allen

Watching players retire can be heartbreaking.

As the story of women’s soccer moves forward, we begin to lose the names that have become familiar to us, the players we grew up watching. Even as new stars break out on the pitch, our long-time favorites must eventually leave it as time and the sport march on. 

Aly Wagner had her last USWNT cap in 2008. Cat Whitehill in 2010. Lori Chalupny, Shannon Boxx, Abby Wambach, and Lauren Holiday in 2015.

And each and every one of them got their first cap after Christie Rampone started playing, and retired before Rampone will have finished playing. 

What no one tells you when you start following a national team is this: following a national team is hard. It’s not like following a baseball team, or a football team. It’s a much different mental state. Players come and go, often more quickly than at the club level. In the NWSL, for example, there are enough spots between the ten rosters, the active player pool has to be very large. But at the national team-level, especially as limited by the (now-expired) CBA conditions, there just isn’t the space. The potential player pool is huge, and while historically the USWNT has often kept players past their prime, fan favorites or players whose past performance has earned them the benefit of the doubt–and, yeah, I’m talking about Wambach at the 2015 World Cup here, among others–it’s a trend we already see being left behind. We’ve reached a new era in the history of the USWNT’s structure, one that moves at a higher pace. 

With 311 caps, Rampone might very well be the last 300+ player the USWNT ever produces, possibly the last in women’s soccer history. Ellis, and maybe all of USSF, want to keep the flow of talent moving from roster to roster. Experience matters less than it has in the whole of the history of the USWNT. On one hand this makes sense as the game gets more and more technical and a style of play based on pure athleticism falls out of favor as other teams improve their athletic talent. On the other hand it’s going to mean more player turnover, a less-stable player pool and fewer and fewer decade long careers to celebrate, not to mention two decade long ones.

Having a more fluid player pool is, at best, a way to motivate players to keep upping their game and at worst a force that keeps the team as a whole off-kilter and unable to form proper cohesion. We saw some of this in 2016 after a handful of long time players stepped away and an influx of new players were brought in. Personnel changed, formations changed, at times it looked like no one knew what they were doing. And while the slow trickle of new talent and new players over the years needs to become a more steady stream, the torrent of changes in 2016 shows that it can’t be coupled with total strategic change as well.

Having players like Rampone or O’Reilly or Engen on the pitch brings a level of experience and often a calm in their play that aids the less experience players. How many times have we seen co-captain Becky Sauerbrunn control the backline, and make saves that ought to be just impossible? It’s not just her skill that makes and breaks the backline–it’s her experience. Her ability to read opposing offenses and break them down time after time after time. 

There needs to be a mix between keeping experienced vets and bringing in new players. There needs to be a balance of stability as well as innovation, or the whole pitch tends to look a mess.

Lately we’ve seen an all or nothing system where the rules are made up as we go. And this is why its so important to acknowledge the departure of Rampone from the national team level. Without her, the team has lost some of the history, the knowledge, the experience, that brought them to the podium time and time again, including 2015’s historic third Women’s World Cup. 

But, outside of all of this, it’s important to acknowledge what Rampone has done for and meant not just to the team, but to the fans, to our personal stories of why we follow, why we love the sport.

For me, Rampone serves a prominent role in my own soccer story.

Unlike a good deal of fans in their late-20s or early-30s, my first taste of soccer didn’t come in 1999. I didn’t fall in love with soccer watching the ’99ers march their way around the US in search of glory at the first Women’s World Cup held in the United States. I became a fan during the Summer Olympics in Athens. I became a fan when, on August 23, 2004, I watched the USWNT play against Germany. I became a fan as Heather O’Reilly hit the net in extra time to send the US to the final.

As I sat waiting for beach volleyball to come on I had to wait for this soccer game to finish. And somehow, watching these woman play a sport I’d never really cared about before, I got hooked. Because it was exciting and powerful and something I had never known before. This game was not one I grew up playing or watching. Girls’ soccer wasn’t a sport my high school even offered. A few played on the boys’ team but saw little field time.

2004 was my 1999. And as I came to figure out later Rampone was my Mia Hamm.

While O’Reilly was who caught my attention first it was Rampone who kept it. It was Rampone who made me tilt my head in wonder as I tried to figure out how she could know what a forward would do before they did it.

In the context of how people talk about the game, Christie Rampone was my Mia Hamm. She was the one that first made me understand the give and take of soccer. It wasn’t all goal scoring and celebration. There was beauty in defending, in working a forward until they turned how you wanted and picking the ball off before they knew what hit them.

Because I didn’t know the history of the women’s march for athletic success and recognition, I went back and watched matches featuring Hamm and Akers and Foudy after I had already watched the games of 2004, 2005, and 2006. I grew to understand the dynamics of the challenges they faced in just trying to make a name for their sport after some of my ideas were already long set in stone. Ideas of how the game should be played and what a “proper” forward, midfielder, defender and goalkeeper should be.

In sports, the first players you see, the first names you recognize, the first magic-makers you watch create miracles on the field, those are the ones that stay with you. The ones who linger and inform your thoughts on every other player you watch take the field. The first players who grabbed my attention were Heather O’Reilly and Christie Rampone. They are the soccer bar against which I judge every new player on the pitch, and let me tell you, it’s a pretty high bar.

But now, as Rampone goes off the national team bench for good, the book on the famous ’99ers finally can be closed and set down. Players might finally be able to step fully out of their shadow now that the last of the previous generation has left the USWNT locker room. But Rampone served as the near-perfect bridge between generations. From the last and the likes of Carla Overbeck to the current and the likes of Julie Johnston. And if you don’t know who Carla Overbeck is it’s time to go watch some old games if you can find them and watch a true master in central defense.

She was able to hold on when others just couldn’t. A little luck maybe, good DNA surely, but most of it, I’m sure, was just force of will and pure love of the game.

I am going to be “that person” and quote my own work. Last year when the USWNT had a camp before the Olympics, Rampone withdrew. I closed my piece about her stepping away with this:

There will never be another player quite like Christie Rampone. Her number 3 will never quite look the same on someone else’s back as it did on hers. She might never have reached the level of name recognition that Mia Hamm or Alex Morgan have. She was never as publicly outspoken as Abby Wambach. But Rampone was the heartbeat of the United States women’s national team for over half of its life. She was a leader—a force to be reckoned with on defense and a guiding force to players young and old. Stepping away on her own terms must be commended even if the taste left in many people’s mouths is bittersweet.

Captain America will officially end her tenure as captain and player on the national team on March 4. All I can say is I’ve never been happier we have the NWSL to give us at least two-dozen games to say goodbye to one of the greatest players, and for my money the greatest defender, the game has ever seen.

Who knows, maybe in her final year she might need to pack for LA again.

The Door Quietly Shuts for the Last 99er

Posted on by RJ Allen

For the first time since 2000 it looks as if there will be no member of the 1999 World Cup winning team representing the United States at the Olympics.

Christie Rampone ruled herself out of the latest USWNT camp, and with her the door moves ever closer to being shut on the famed team that found World Cup glory on American soil.

Rampone’s statement via US Soccer:

“I really appreciate Jill inviting me in, but at this time, I don’t feel one hundred percent healthy enough to train and compete at that level. I’ve been able to manage myself and contribute to Sky Blue this season, which I will continue to do, but I also have an understanding of the level of fitness and health needed to push for an Olympic roster spot and I know I’m not there right now. It’s not the right choice for myself or the team to put myself in that environment.”

The 99er’s were, for a very long time, the team that every other USWNT was compared to. Rampone served as the bridge between the 99ers and the 15ers, and she will surely be remembered as one of the very best defenders and captains the team has ever known. But with Rio all but out of the question, it looks as if Rampone is stepping through the door with the 99ers and shutting it softly behind her.

Rampone, then Christie Pearce, first trained with the United States women’s national team during her final year at Monmouth college. It was then she made the switch from goal-scoring forward to goal-stopping center back. On February 28, 1997 against Australia, Rampone entered her first international game. Unless she is called up post Rio, her last game for the USWNT will have been played on September 20, 2015.

Rampone is one of, if not, the most successful women’s soccer players in both US and international history. She is one of only eight Americans with two World Cup titles (all seven others won in 1991 and 1999). She has more Olympic medals than any other women’s soccer player in history, with a sliver in 2000 and golds in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Rampone was named USWNT captain in 2008 and remained captain until 2016 when Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn jointly took over the post.

Famously, she led Sky Blue FC to a WPS championship as player/coach in 2009. Finishing the season with a coaching record of 4-1-0 in 5 games. Sky Blue will benefit from her leadership and play for the remainder of the season without call ups preventing her from staying with the team. And we will be treated to at least a dozen or so more games with her leading her team into battle.

There will never be another player quite like Christie Rampone. Her number 3 will never quite look the same on someone else’s back as it did on hers. She might never have reached the level of name recognition that Mia Hamm or Alex Morgan have. She was never as publicly outspoken as Abby Wambach. But Rampone was the heartbeat of the United States women’s national team for over half of its life. She was a leader—a force to be reckoned with on defense and a guiding force to players young and old. Stepping away on her own terms must be commended even if the taste left in many people’s mouths is bittersweet.