New Women's Pro League!

Just noticed cut and paste did not include Seattle. Here are their allocations.

Seattle Reign FC -- Megan Rapinoe (USA), Amy Rodriguez (USA), Hope Solo (USA), Kaylyn Kyle (CAN), Emily Zurrer (CAN), Jenny Ruiz (MEX), Teresa Noyola (MEX)

Looks like a decent I-5 rivalry.

I wonder if there will be some trades. My understanding is that among the national team players, the trades can be US for US, Canada for Canada, Mexico for Mexico. Maybe Rapinoe for Heath, both midfielders? I like them both but would love to have Megan here.

On the other hand, Christine and Alex on the same team? Wow!

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:I wonder if there will be some trades. My understanding is that among the national team players, the trades can be US for US, Canada for Canada, Mexico for Mexico. Maybe Rapinoe for Heath, both midfielders? I like them both but would love to have Megan here.

On the other hand, Christine and Alex on the same team? Wow!

I'm a little stunned. I understand they didn't want Christine and Megan on the same team, but they give us Morgan? We did fine.

Heath is still a work in progress. Great potential, but I would trade Seattle for Megan. It won't happen with Cone as coach.

We got a great keeper, and the two Mexico players are good enough defenders to have given the USA fits, and even deny them a CONCACAF slot in the World Cup.

This is the most disturbing part for me:

@chris_awk: Oh man, just read the comment with Cindy Parlow Cone saying Portland's going to play with the same "hard-nosed, flowing style" UNC does.

Cindy, this is Sinclair's team. How about you ask the third leading scorer in the history of World Soccer how she wants to play when she gets back from China? Clive did. So did Garrett. Pelerud didn't. He is gone.

Cindy also said that she wants to play a high pressure defense, possession-oriented game. This actually sounds like what the Pilots played this past year.

I didn't have any objection to how UNC played at the end of the season this year, except that they forced the ball forward too quickly rather than batting it around in the midfield for a while sometimes. It will be interesting to see exactly what Cindy means.

Karina LeBlanc's Wikipedia page has already been updated and says she plays for the Portland Thorns.

Hopefully Cindy is savvy enough to know how to utilize the best one- two punch in the league.

Of the seven allocated players, I know all but the Mexican duo, and I’m excited as hell with the group.

I LOVE MEGAN, but Alex and Christine together could be about as exciting as it gets. I won’t go so far as to say, “Who needs defense, the Thorns will be forward all the time with those two scorers and Cindy as coach,” but I think we’ll see them push the ball.

And LeBlanc in goal brings a ton of experience to the squad…I think she has over 100 caps with Canada and was on their Olympic team. As I recall, we saw her shutout South Africa in the opening game of the 2012 Olympics…..and she’s played on professional teams in the States too.

Heath has got to be one of the most technically skilled midfielders in US soccer. I think she played in all six games during the recent Olympics, and she was on the Beijing gold medal winning roster too, oh, and she’s a UNC grad.

I believe Buehler has close to 100 caps as a US defender, but I remember her most because she once dated a guy I know while at Stanford......and she’s too dang smart for that having graduated pre-med with a degree in human biology.

Seriously, just having Alex and Christine on the roster has made me an instant Portland Thorns fan!

Ha ha, I just read this on a blog discussing the Thorns allocations:

mising out on Portland native Aby Wambach, will surely come as a disappointment to some.

DoubleDipper wrote:Ha ha, I just read this on a blog discussing the Thorns allocations:

mising out on Portland native Aby Wambach, will surely come as a disappointment to some.

Stoney will no doubt be sending spelling corrections.

Meanwhile, it's Canada 0, China 0 at halftime of their four Nations Cup match.

Christine is um... Resting this match.

74'

Adriana Leon scores for Canada 1:0 China.

Sophie comes out in the 88th minute and....


Full time. Final score, Canada 1:0 China.

I would have loved to have had Megan, Sophie, and Keelin in Portland. Having said that, WOW!

Christine Sinclair and Alex Morgan on the same team. Plus a quality international midfielder, three defenders and a goalie. The Thorns came up huge in this allocation. Huge. Good balance and the backbone of the team is already in place.

The college draft is next week, I think? Seems like midfield will need to be a priority. But there's free agents too. I'd think any midfielder in the world would be delighted to play behind this front two.

Taylor would be a good pick!

Or Kendall if she doesn't go back for her redshirt season!

Or both!

SI's Grant Wahl does a piece on Megan, where she talks about playing for Lyon and her allocation to Seattle.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20130114/megan-rapinoe-nwsl-seattle/

It looks like the USA's allocated players still don't have league contracts.

Interesting article, thanks for sharing.

Here's Graham Hayes' take on Alex Morgan and Christine in Porland and the USWNT And NWSL contracts not being signed yet.

http://espn.go.com/espnw/commentary/8842534/espnw-alex-morgan-takes-leadership-role-national-women-soccer-league

This week's Timbers podcast has a bit with Cindy Cone 12:00 minutes into the podcast.


http://m.portlandtimbers.com/news/timbers-podcast-network


She talks allocation and the pieces she needs to fill out in the team.

Here is the Draft order for the college Draft. It will be the same order each round. There were rumors that the order would be reversed each round.

1. Chicago Red Stars
2. Washington Spirit
3. FC Kansas City
4. Sky Blue FC (New York/New Jersey)
5. Boston Breakers
6. Western New York Flash
7. Seattle Reign FC
8. Portland Thorns FC

Disappointing...I thought for sure they would reverse the order for subsequent rounds when there is no direct basis for the draft order.

That's alright; the kids who are drafted 8th or 16th will work a lot harder than earlier draftees just to prove they should have been selected sooner.

Wow... They aren't following the "snake" draft every fantasy football draft has followed since the beginning of time?

Yeah, it seems only the fantasy leagues do that.

Even before the Draft has started, we have the first free agent announcement.

Leslie Osborne announced on he twitter feed that she will play for the Chicago team.

I mean once the teams have established, and there is a sure ranking of teams it makes sense.... but starting from scratch? It makes zero sense at all. Oh well.