Spain Women and thoughts on ECNL

This could also explain why she did not get much playing time in the WC
 
Desert Hound said:
THIS ^^^^

The mens clubs are now starting to back their women's side of the coin at the same club. They are and will get better.

I think the path will be like we are seeing in the USL/MSL. Now there are local opportunities to train and play. These leagues have gotten better. As they have gotten better it give a chance for our best to then move up to the EURO leagues and play against the best.

I think this is likely what we will on the US womens side with the NWSL. Until NWSL really figures it out...you will start seeing the top talent moving overseas to play against and learn with the best.

Most NWSL womens are drafted from college. In Europe those ladies are joining the clubs and doing full time training far earlier.
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I agree, but with a caveat. By the time US players come out of college, the Euro path is probably long gone, with the exception of phenoms. The academy model used in Europe has players committing at 16/17 having been in their programs for years before that.

The NWSL doesn't have the same goals as US soccer. That direct link is broken. The owners are looking to monetize their investment as a cartel, just like the MLS. There's no real impact to failing at a club level, if you are a co-owner, and the league should balance out over time without you (owner) having to work hard to excel. You can "outsource" player development etc. and just concentrate on mediocracy while benefiting from the commercials of the league as a whole.

[edit add], just look at the Messi add for the MLS. He's being paid for by all the clubs. In what league in Europe would all the clubs come together to buy a single player, to add to a single club, so that the lucky club gets to benefit to the detriment of everyone else. The league benefits, i.e. the MLS owners, by increasing the value of their investment. Its the reason there will never be pro/rel - no $ gain in that as an owner.

Its not a serious league.
 
That's a bit spooky!!

"But when Spain beat England in the Women’s World Cup final on Sunday, no NWSL players were on either team’s roster. Only three NWSL players – Sweden’s Sofia Jakobsson and Australia’s Emily van Egmond and Alex Chidiac – were in the semi-finals. Only five NWSL players – the three who advanced to the semis, plus Japan’s Jun Endo and Hina Sugita – were in the quarter-finals."

Europe’s leagues are overtaking the NWSL. That’s a win for women’s soccer | Women's football | The Guardian
 
Zeke said:
My bet is the USWNT keeps betting on bigger, faster, stronger.

Not my favorite style of play, but it can work. It helps if you actually are faster and stronger. Give caps now to the players we need developed for 2027.
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Then explain Alyssa Thompson……
 
Personally for women I think you need to mix some WWE (the wrestlers) style entertainment into the league to generate drama + interest. NWSL will soon be considered a subpar league to the ones in Europe, maybe even the women's leagues in Central + South America.

Things that can up the drama...
- Partner with MLS + do doubleheader games
- Publicize + televise cattle call Talent ID camps
- Friendlies in Europe
- Partner with the NFL + do doubleheader games
- More Famous Owners
- Do crazy things like NWSL Futsal friendlies + televise it.
- Maybe get crazy + Partner with the Bookmakers (advertising only)

Point is that there's lots that could be done + none of it is happening now.
 
Winning masks the underlying problems, most of which stem from the youth development system (paytoplay club soccer). In my years, the Alex Morgan jersey was ubiquitous, the success of the USWNT driving demand for girls club soccer. Now, it will be interesting to watch the customers of this youth system deal with the new reality. I am betting there are no changes to the system coming, the clubs and docs are too powerful. They’ve become a cartel, interested in driving up the costs. The club cartel can only adapt to invent new leagues, new scams. Even as the product will remain the same, declining in the face of global competition, the club cartel will not adapt to save itself.
 
equalizersoccer.com

World Cup Champion Esther González signs with NJ/NY Gotham FC – Equalizer Soccer

It’s finally official — a 2023 FIFA World Cup Champion is joining the National Women’s Soccer League. NJ/NY Gotham FC announced on Wednesday that the team has signed 30-year-old striker Esther González through 2025 with a mutual option for 2026. “I am excited and honored to join Gotham FC, one...
equalizersoccer.com equalizersoccer.com

Coming to the NWSL. As I've mentioned, if the NWSL gets the TV contract I believe they can get, we will see an influx of Euro's joining the NWSL.
 
Luis Andres said:
Alyssa Thompson is freakish fast with explosive acceleration. .She has to be hitting the 30m sprint time <4 seconds. She has good dribbling ability and is not afraid to take on any player 1v1 with a very high success rate. What I think the US will continue to do is pick players that are big, fast and strong in key areas of the field but that also have decent technical ability. Why not have the best of both worlds. Forwards don’t have to be big maybe strong enough. In fact being too big as a forward may work against you and diminish your mobility and agility. Average height is best for forwards. With the pool of selection of players US soccer has I wouldn’t be choosing non athletic players that have great technical skills. While they may shine in lower leve games, they won’t make it at the higher levels. If I were US soccer I’d be looking fast, strong athletic technical players that are coachable
and that have the ability to understand and apply tactics. There is a minimum threshold needed for speed, stamina and strength required to play at the highest level. You just gotta make sure that these athletes have good technique and a brain to play the game.let’s be honest athleticism matters but it better come with technique and a brain. We don’t need track stars. Just fast enough and strong enough. US soccer seems to be only looking at track stars.
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Make sure to throw in ganas brother and you got yourself a very good futbol player. Best? WTF cares. In futbol, you got the best of the best (very few) and then you just got the rest. I'm not going to speculate on AT and why coach didn't give her a start or first off, the bench to drum up a goal. AT has that ability to find a loose ball or fast break finish and take it in for the score. I would have had her start the 2nd half against Vietnam to build confidence and see what she could do. My personal opinion does not matter though. I'm old school however, and If I were coach and I called up a teen prodigy or like you say Luis, "Freakish fast" athlete like AT, then she is either starting or first off and I tell her that before camp starts. I did not watch any of the games, just highlights.
 
socalkdg said:
equalizersoccer.com

World Cup Champion Esther González signs with NJ/NY Gotham FC – Equalizer Soccer

It’s finally official — a 2023 FIFA World Cup Champion is joining the National Women’s Soccer League. NJ/NY Gotham FC announced on Wednesday that the team has signed 30-year-old striker Esther González through 2025 with a mutual option for 2026. “I am excited and honored to join Gotham FC, one...
equalizersoccer.com equalizersoccer.com

Coming to the NWSL. As I've mentioned, if the NWSL gets the TV contract I believe they can get, we will see an influx of Euro's joining the NWSL.
Click to expand...
Esther Gonzalez is a surplus Real Madrid player, Real Madrid did not want to renew her contract. Now, if the NWSL brings Paralluelo or Carmona, that would be different. In any case, Gonzalez will improve Gotham.
 
Luis Andres said:
I definitely think she should have gotten more minutes and some time for Sanchez too. If there was a forward I would have pulled out it would have been Morgan. And I would have definitely keep MR on the bench and had given her 0 minutes As far as AT being effective it’s tough to say since this is the biggest stage and it was her first round about. You have to remember that lots of these European teams know how to handle speedy forwards, so speed alone may not have helped her if she just took off with the ball like she normally does. Speed worked well with Japan because they used it out of transitional phases where they created a tactical advantage. If the US would have created good counter attacks then any of our forwards are fast enough to be exploit the situation. But given that the opponents defense is set and that this US team did not have the right tactics in their arsenal to use a positional play tactic to create an opportunistic superiority speed is equalized and will not work. For me AT is an amazing talent but at this stage of her career I don’t think she could have do anymore than TR would have done. Recall the game when AT started over TR and when TR came in she proved to everyone why she should start scoring the 2 goals to win the game. AT is the future and we will see a lot more of her for sure. She does have a few things that I think she needs improvement on like she does not know how to protect the ball when the contact comes and I still think she relies too much on speed and not enough on feints and getting defenses off balance like One Keya Gamero did. If she learns to play more like that then she will be even more effective..
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Maybe sit MR and AM and go with TR, SM and AT? I would have liked to see that.
 
Luis Andres said:
No wonder Barca signed her. We need more players like that playing simple, smart and fast. That one little feint she did setup that whole sequence of passes as the defense was scrambling

View attachment 17877
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She stayed local, played under good coaches, never chased a trophy!

Didn’t rely on a League to make her better, her family took that upon themselves and she trained her ass off to get where she wanted to be.
 
I imagine there will be a lot of pressure on the new U17 USWYNT coach to produce better results in the U17 WWC next year. Luckily she knows that age group well, having coached them during their U15 cycle during 2021-22 (including international games and U15 concacaf).
 
Luis Andres said:
who would have been more effective AT or TR? Both fast, AT with a little more acceleration, TR with more strength and power. I would not have moved SM since she is our best forward. Do you think AT could have made a difference given her inexperience?
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Why AT v TR? Not sure who SM is but assuming it’s AM, I disagree. AT, SS, TR of LW would have been an interesting front line!
 
Luis Andres said:
Alyssa Thompson is freakish fast with explosive acceleration. .She has to be hitting the 30m sprint time <4 seconds. She has good dribbling ability and is not afraid to take on any player 1v1 with a very high success rate. What I think the US will continue to do is pick players that are big, fast and strong in key areas of the field but that also have decent technical ability. Why not have the best of both worlds. Forwards don’t have to be big maybe strong enough. In fact being too big as a forward may work against you and diminish your mobility and agility. Average height is best for forwards. With the pool of selection of players US soccer has I wouldn’t be choosing non athletic players that have great technical skills. While they may shine in lower leve games, they won’t make it at the higher levels. If I were US soccer I’d be looking fast, strong athletic technical players that are coachable
and that have the ability to understand and apply tactics. There is a minimum threshold needed for speed, stamina and strength required to play at the highest level. You just gotta make sure that these athletes have good technique and a brain to play the game.let’s be honest athleticism matters but it better come with technique and a brain. We don’t need track stars. Just fast enough and strong enough. US soccer seems to be only looking at track stars.
Click to expand...
AT has all of those and yes, I believe she could and would have made an impact or at least done more than Rapinoe or AM did. LW and AT should have seen more time!!!
 
Luis Andres said:
who would have been more effective AT or TR? Both fast, AT with a little more acceleration, TR with more strength and power. I would not have moved SM since she is our best forward. Do you think AT could have made a difference given her inexperience?
Click to expand...
Rodman, but you get three.

Maybe Smith, Rodman, Hatch. Thompson in at 65' to see whether the defense has enough legs left to run with her.
 
Kicker4Life said:
Why AT v TR? Not sure who SM is but assuming it’s AM, I disagree. AT, SS, TR of LW would have been an interesting front line!
Click to expand...
My mistake. SM=typo. The real letters were suppossed to be SS. I wanted to see TR, SS, and AT up top to wreak havoc and score lot's of goals. We looked tired with what we had up top. The speed of TR, AT and SS would have been fun to watch and ability to score is huge. We had issues finishing our PKs and missed some shots. Besides that, we could have won the Cup with some luck and not so many injuries. Mid field was rough and like Luis said, they didn't get the looks like they would have. AS would have been nice to see get some looks
 
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