CONCACAF announces tournament dates

CHICAGO (Aug. 12, 2010) – The groups and venues for the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament, to be held from Oct. 28-Nov. 8 in Cancún and Playa del Carmen, Mexico, were announced today after the draw was held at the CONCACAF headquarters in New York City.

for complete info, see:
http://www.canadasoccer.com/news/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=4379
http://www.ussoccer.com/News/News-Landing.aspx

Usually, these tournaments require players to show up so many days ahead of the first match. It was 2 days before the first match match for the team during the last Gold Cup. Canada's first match hasn't been put on line yet. CONCACAF doesn't have the organizing rules on line yet, but hopefully they will soon. Also, Team Canada may want her earlier.

So it looks like Sophie will be available for the College Cup Tournament (selection Monday is the 8th), though Garrett may sit her for the first game.
She might even only miss two games of the regular season (San Francisco and Saint Mary's), though realistically that seems iffy. She may have to show up more than 4 days ahead. That would mean missing the Santa Clara/San Diego weekend.

Cancún - Playa del Carmen. Tough gigs. Maybe the Missus and I will go down and give her moral support.

I guess it is imperative that freshman Ellen Parker, or whoever else earns the attacking mid back-up job, gets plenty of position experience during the season to prepare for Sophie's time away from the team.

(I believe Charney was the back-up. So she will need to be replaced. Heard Ellen looked pretty good last spring in that position. I understand there are other options, including experienced veterans, and also maybe freshman Sarah Bridges?)

Ellen Parker, Kendall Johnson?, Michelle Cruz, Sarah Bridges, ...

I think whomever is tasked to replace Sophie at center mid in the Santa Clara game must be to be prepared for a very physical style of play (lots of banging, pushing, pulling and hooking). Not to mention the trash talking.

That is the California way. (I bet the team will see this same style of play in Berkeley and Palo Alto).

But last year in Santa Clara, that style of play had no effect on Sophie (being the strong, tough and crafty player she is).

In fact, I thought she was one player (along with Kelsey Davis) that gave back more than what they received.

I wonder if this means Sophie will play some or a lot at striker to let someone else really settle in at CM or to let several audition for CM. It will be a treat to see which center mid has the attitude to take it right at Santa Clara.

We don't know exactly when Sophie will be leaving for the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament. The tournament is October 28 through November 9. If she misses only Pilots' games during the tournament, then she will miss San Francisco (10/31) and St. Mary's (11/6). (St. Mary's, by the way, is 4-0-0.) If she leaves earlier, she also could miss at least San Diego (10/22) and Santa Clara (10/24).

In an interesting related matter, the USWNT has a camp starting 9/20 in Georgia as a lead up to selection of the USWNT roster for CONCACAF. The camp will culminate in two games with China, the first on 10/2 at Kennesaw State's new stadium and the second on 10/6 in Chester, PA. There will be an 18-player roster for each game. 30 players have been called into the camp, and more may be added as teams are bumped out of the WPS playoffs. Following the two China games, Sundhage and staff will decide on the 20-player CONCACAF roster. Two college players are on the upcopming camp roster:

Alex Morgan from Cal: if she is gone from 9/20 through 10/6, she will miss the Portland game (9/23) and St. Mary's (10/2). If she makes the CONCACAF roster, she also could miss all or some of Arizona (10/22), Arizona State (10/24), Stanford (10/30), Oregon (11/5), and Oregon State 11/7).

Sydney Leroux from UCLA: if she is gone from 9/20 through 10/6, she will miss San Diego (9/24), Santa Clara (9/26), and Pepperdine (10/1). If she makes the CONCACAF roster, she also could miss all or some of USC (10/22), WAshington (10/29), Washington State (10/31), Arizona (11/5), and Arizona State (11/7).

I still think that a real possibility is moving keelin up to attacking mid and Olivier up to holding mid, where she played some last year, especially the way Kelly played over the weekend. A lot probably depends on how well Parker plays. I thought she looked great Friday, so-so Sunday. There is less disruption if she can fill Sophie's spot.