New USWNT head coach

Promising, but I'm not holding my breathe.

My hesitation first is about US Soccer's willingness to allow a coach to come in and demand that better steps be taken at the youth level, both from a player, coachingr and scouting level..

Maybe i'm assuming too much , but if i was planning to come in and coach this team for the long haul I'd want more controll over my talent pipeline, talent scouts, and what the federation values. I would care about what players i'd be having to pick 5-10 years from now, not just my next game
 
Alex Morgan was left off the squad. 9 players under the age of 23 are on it this time.

- Sophia Smith (23)
- Trinity Rodman (21)
- Alyssa Thompson (19)
- Korbin Albert (20)
- Jaedyn Shaw (19)
- Naomi Girma (23)
- Jenna Nighswonger (22)
- Olivia Moultrie (18)
- Mia Fishel (22)
 
Other then Alex Morgan, Sofia Huerta, Alyssa Naeher, Ashley Sanchez, Becky Sauerbrunn, Crystal Dunn, and Andi Sullivan were also left off the USWNT roster for friendlies in China.

Finally Old is being replaced by New.
 
Looks like the entire team is made up of professional NWSL/Professional players. Are there better college players? Maybe.

All this tells me is that Girls youth soccer is primed and ready for an "NWSL Next" type league to occur. Once this happens playing in college will be considered 2nd tier. (which it should be)

Full USWNT squad for friendlies v China

Goalkeepers: Jane Campbell, Houston Dash; Aubrey Kingsbury, Washington Spirit; Casey Murphy, North Carolina Courage

Defenders: Alana Cook, OL Reign; Abby Dahlkemper, San Diego Wave FC; Tierna Davidson, Chicago Red Stars; Emily Fox, North Carolina Courage; Naomi Girma, San Diego Wave FC; Casey Krueger, Chicago Red Stars; MA Vignola, Angel City FC

Midfielders: Korbin Albert, Paris Saint-Germain; Sam Coffey, Portland Thorns FC; Savannah DeMelo, Racing Louisville FC; Lindsey Horan, Lyon; Rose Lavelle, OL Reign; Olivia Moultrie, Portland Thorns FC; Jenna Nighswonger, NJ/NY Gotham FC; Emily Sonnett, OL Reign

Forwards: Mia Fishel, Chelsea; Ashley Hatch, Washington Spirit; Midge Purce, NJ/NY Gotham FC; Trinity Rodman, Washington Spirit; Jaedyn Shaw, San Diego Wave FC; Sophia Smith, Portland Thorns FC; Alyssa Thompson, Angel City FC; Lynn Williams, NJ/NY Gotham FC
 
Carlsbad7 said:
Other then Alex Morgan, Sofia Huerta, Alyssa Naeher, Ashley Sanchez, Becky Sauerbrunn, Crystal Dunn, and Andi Sullivan were also left off the USWNT roster for friendlies in China.

Finally Old is being replaced by New.
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Actually Ashley Sanchez is not old. Surprised she’s not on the squad… There are a few mids on the roster that are not better than her.
 
Luis Andres said:
Actually Ashley Sanchez is not old. Surprised she’s not on the squad… There are a few mids on the roster that are not better than her.
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When the girls play in the NWSL, I don't see a lot of Ganas. When they take on the top teams around the world, they will see what it's like to play with a chip on their shoulder and with ganas. My dd balled against three of the new 9. I only see one of them that seems a little premature. College is now 2nd tier, that's for sure. I really do wish all the players great success. All fo them are very talented :)
 
Luis Andres said:
Actually Ashley Sanchez is not old. Surprised she’s not on the squad… There are a few mids on the roster that are not better than her.
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I have a feeling the choices made is more of a warning shot to veterans to produce or you're out. Which is the way it should be.

The USWNT shouldn't be aligning itself on the image/persona of a few players usually that score. Highlight all the players that play at the highest levels because they're all amazing.
 
Crush would also say that he feels bad for the college players. US Soccer did warn us all in 2016 that "the world was watching", and that High School Soccer and College Soccer was more like kickball with a spice of Rugby and just too dangerous for the best of the best to risk injury and play crappy soccer. No boyfriends in the youth system. I was told that. The other thing they look at is mom. The rest of the best can go ball in ECNL and college. College is a great option and players can still go Pro anytime they want during college like SM or just get their degree and then Pro. US Soccer told us all what it will take to make the National Team. You can see the game plan. The top young players (less than 1% of all the youth soccer players in our country) will look to go Pro from now on and rightfully so. ECNL will go back to where it belongs, Tier 2 or some like to say, ECRL. When my dd was lied to and used back in 2017& 2018, she was given two choices: Choice #1- Suck it up, keep training like a Navy Seal, STFU, don't ask questions and don't talk back to coach, even though you're the leader of the team (a true Veteran she was) and oldest one on the team. We had a great coach, he just yelled too much. That is easy correction by the way, and he did improve. I love him and my kid still thinks he taught her the game the right way :) Men tend to yell, and I was one of them. My daughter taught me to talk with her with respect and so did my wife. I'm 100% changed man from 2015. Anyway, it was all in or else if you wanted another shot at 'The List." You must play full time soccer 12 months out of the year, 7 days a week and not play other sports. You better have your own field in the back yard or live close to nice fields to compete and I mean that. Choice #2- was the logical choice. She and I saw the writing on the wall (what it takes to make the list) and she decided, "I want to play with my new friends at my new high school." Not everyone got a chance to play with and learn from RT as a young Fr on Varsity. She had so much fun and that's what matters. Go USA!!! If I'm being super honest, we got some serious speed up front. We need the Mids to step up and our defense to be lights out.
 
socalkdg said:
I like it!
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More I think about it, I love it. You know some of those college girls feel slighted. We need more competition, more pissed off players with chips on their shoulder gnawing at this teams heals. Thats good ole competition and the kind I love. It's pure and not biased. Carli said it best, these girls have contracts and can;t fail. No, that needs to stop. Pro contracts are find, but not tied to the National team and their sponsors. Way too many hands in the cookie jar. Every player needs to feel the heat of being cut for not producing. That's what made Tad and the Blues so good. Let's be fair, Tad has not been the Doc since the explosion of our #1 team in the country in 2015. No contracts to represent the US, just big one time pay and big bonus for the win.
 
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US Soccer has finally been successful with dismantling the system that was in place and has cut NCAA out of it- if you don’t have a pro contract by the time you are 18 you will not get a call up to the full team - they are skipping over all the college age players and just bringing in 15-18 year olds. It used to be pressure on young players to pick a college to commit to and that was a problem- now they are asking 15 year olds to just skip college and go pro otherwise they will be passed over
 
Soccer43 said:
US Soccer has finally been successful with dismantling the system that was in place and has cut NCAA out of it- if you don’t have a pro contract by the time you are 18 you will not get a call up to the full team - they are skipping over all the college age players and just bringing in 15-18 year olds. It used to be pressure on young players to pick a college to commit to and that was a problem- now they are asking 15 year olds to just skip college and go pro otherwise they will be passed over
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Where are you seeing this? There's a few players but most are still going the college route.
 
Soccer43 said:
US Soccer has finally been successful with dismantling the system that was in place and has cut NCAA out of it- if you don’t have a pro contract by the time you are 18 you will not get a call up to the full team - they are skipping over all the college age players and just bringing in 15-18 year olds. It used to be pressure on young players to pick a college to commit to and that was a problem- now they are asking 15 year olds to just skip college and go pro otherwise they will be passed over
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There's nothing wrong with older players being given a shot.

But if this happens you'd better make your presence known and be clearly better than the younger players.
 
Eventually NWSL won't matter as more and more US players play in Europe. The tides have turned. We just don't have the coaching or the infrastructure to match what European teams can do. Prepare to see college rosters populated with European players like the men's side. It's only a matter of time. MLS barely has the money to support true academy teams. I can't imagine NWSL being able to pull that off.
 
sockma said:
Where are you seeing this? There's a few players but most are still going the college route.
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I am talking about the new players added to the USWNT - they are all players that have skipped college to go directly to pro teams - Rodman, Thompson, Moultrie, and Shaw all skipping college and are the most recent call-ups to 2023 camps
Many others dropped out of college before that- Sanchez, Albert, Smith

College is looked at as a waste of time or detrimental by US Soccer so young players have to choose one or the other. I have heard the comments and seen the pressures from US Soccer. The constant comparison to Europe isn’t a good comparison because they have no college system so players don’t have college as an option unless they come to the US.
 
sockma said:
Where are you seeing this? There's a few players but most are still going the college route.
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This was preached to me in 2016. The "world is watching" I was told. HS Soccer is bad soccer and so is College soccer. All the top players that complied are now Pro and making WNT Caps. One of my dd old teammates just bailed on college early and signed a Pro deal overseas.
 
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