New Year, New League

Replacing the bygone WPS this year will be NWSL – the National Women’s Soccer League (most other acronyms having been taken by now apparently), which will begin regular season in spring of 2013, with eight teams.

Good news for those in the Pacific Northwest; for the first time in professional women’s soccer history, there will be not just one local team but two: Portland Thorns and Seattle Reign.

2012 updates to the 2010 U-17 roster

2012 updates to the 2010 U-17 roster

Over on Crossconference.com, good friend Ruth and I wrote a “catch-up” piece on those 2010 U-17s, seeing where they’ve been since, and how they’ve been doing.

USA v England: A Little History

In the history of US soccer, the women’s national team has played 474 matches. Of those, there were 75 matches in which the US gave up 2 or more goals (specifically: 55 matches with 2 goals allowed, 14 with 3 GA, and 6 with 4 GA. The US has never given up more than 4 goals in a single match). Of those 75 matches, 18  followed another match in which the US also gave up 2 goals. In other words, 18 times, the US WNT has given up 2 or more goals in 2 consecutive matches.

Got that?

Now here’s the interesting part….

US National Teams: Team West Coast v Team Northeast?

A post over at Escape to Sport from a while back got me thinking about what might happen if countries other than Great Britain were allowed to field their own separate subgeographical teams. (Quick summary: while GB competes in the Olympics as a single entity, its component countries – England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – compete within FIFA’s framework as their own separate teams. While the United Nations recognizes only the United Kingdom – which is not the same as Great Britain, exactly – it’s a bit more complicated with football.) [EDIT: The New York Times published an article on just this kerfluffle the same day I posted this.]

What if the United States fielded not just a single national team (for each gender and age group, of course), but multiple teams – two, three or four teams, all competing against each other as well as the rest of the world for a World Cup.

USA v France in Three Sounds Bites

Lauren Cheney on her goal:

…HAO had it out wide and sent in a great cross, and I stuck my foot out. It hit my foot/shin area, and went into the side netting, and it was completely purposeful.

2010 U-17 CONCACAF Qualifiers: 3rd Place – USA v Costa Rica

And finally, after losing to Canada on penalty kicks in the semifinal of the 2010 Under-17 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying, the US found itself playing for third place, in a rematch with Costa Rica. The US had been the victor in the group match, 10-0.

This would be a largely meaningless match, for placement only. Only the two teams in the final – Canada and Mexico – would go to the World Cup. But, given these two teams, it probably held more meaning than it otherwise would: the superpower US playing to show that the loss to Canada was just a fluke, and Costa Rica playing for home pride, to show that they couldn’t be embarrassed three times in a row in their own stadium.

2010 U-17 CONCACAF Qualifiers: Semifinal – USA v Canada, Part 2

So, after 45 minutes, the first half of regulation time of the 2010 Under-17 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying semifinal between USA and Canada came to an end on a 0-0 draw.

A quick recap of the previous post: Both teams began the match a little shaky: the USA playing uncharacteristically direct, not connecting through the midfield and flanks the way they had so successfully before, mostly due to Canada’s disruptive defense. Both teams had several good chances to pull ahead, but neither were able to capitalize.