I’ve Got a Prediction

By: Melissa | August 27th, 2008

First things first. Everyone head on over to the brand spanking new Washington Freedom Offside blog. Bookmark it, add it to your feed reader, and say hello to Billy. He’ll be taking us through all things DC related as the former WUSA team and W-League champions gear up to take on WPS. And this totally means that the floor is open for anyone else hankering to write about their favorite WPS team to SPEAK UP. But, uh, some of the teams don’t really have names yet so if you are crazy excited about the Boston Breakers, the Chicago Red Stars, the Dallas Sting (might want to wait until they have a logo), or Jersey Sky Blue, get in touch. I also take “dibs” on teams that don’t have names yet and will contact you when we’re ready to make their blog (but warning, I already gave myself dibs on the Bay Area team).

And if this writing thing sounds right up your alley, get in touch quickly! Because we’ve got combines right around the corner. Next week, the WPSL hold one in Sacramento while the W-League has one in Tampa. WPS staffers are expected at both. But the timing of these events isn’t completely ideal because the USWNT allocation draft is yet to come. Coaches at the combines still don’t have their “core” group of players to build from. Kent McDill explains:

The allocation of U.S. Women’s National Team players will be held in mid-September, followed by the draft of international players. A general draft of domestic and other international players will be held in October.

So the upcoming combines will offer coaches the chance to identify players they want to draft…after they get the best players for their team via allocation and the international draft.

Interesting? You bet. Difficult? Not necessarily.

“If we knew who was going to be the core of our team, it would help; we could look for specific positions to fill,” said Tony DiCicco, coach of the Boston Breakers. “But in this case we have to look for just the best player out there. It is a little bit more of a challenge.”

So here’s the part where I make a somewhat bold prediction. It’s very very apparent that despite the fact that WPS teams will probably field a majority of the best players in the world, they will still be composed of players and coaches generally brand new to each other. Even the teams with established infrastructures (Washington, New Jersey) are not keeping any players from their W-League teams. This is going to be pretty much one giant expansion team league. I expect a lot of growing pains from that scenario. On the other hand, FC Indiana (I believe the only W-League team who chose to go professional) is quietly building from their core by resigning Laura Del Rio and Monica Ocampo and are now pursuing Ingvild Stensland. Head coach Shek Borkowski already has an established and successful group so he only needs to concentrate on adding to that (No word on what Charlie Naimo is up to in LA with the Blues? Anyone know?). This is a HUGE advantage that leads me to believe FC Indiana will be as good as or maybe even better than most WPS teams. Borkowski may lose some players to the WPS drafts, but it does appear this won’t be an issue since the club is using the off-season to offer contracts and keep much of the team intact.

It will be interesting to see what happens to FC Indiana in the next few years and whether the W-League will go through some changes as well. Will it continue to offer the amateur or professional choice for clubs who join? Will FC Indiana remain in the W-League or will they become a WPS team? I heart speculating. Here are some more women’s soccer tidbits…

* Jorge Barcellos is the new head coach and general manager of the St. Louis team. This is a big coup for St Louis and WPS to get Brazil’s National Team head coach. But I’m not entirely sure what this will mean for Brazil’s struggling women’s football program.

* Soccer Science has a much more compelling and better argued counter, than what I wrote, to the recent Guardian article warning the WPS will destroy women’s football in the UK. Definitely worth a read.

* Graham Hays has his list of players form Bejing he hopes to see in the WPS. USA Today asks USWNT players which WPS team they want to play for. Christie Rampone, New Jersey. Kate Markgraf, Chicago. Angela Hucles, Boston. Hope Solo and Shannon Boxx, Los Angeles.