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2021-22-23-24 News Thread

Oh, OK ... I get that. US fans ARE fairly delusional about how good this group of players actually is ... so that makes sense. Personally, I'd set making the Quarters as the bar. The hosts generally get a soft group draw and you'd hope you can win a knockout round. Barring too many injuries, if this group plays even decent then that should be do-able. But for the loonies thinking they can "win it all" just because they're playing "at home" ... yeah, nothing is going to slow down that train of stupid.
 
Landon Donovan was named interim coach of NWSL San Diego Wave until the end of the season. Head coach Casey Stoney was fired in June and replaced by Paul Buckle (Rebecca Lowe’s husband) on an interim basis but only through the end of the summer window.
 
andyt said:
Landon Donovan was named interim coach of NWSL San Diego Wave until the end of the season. Head coach Casey Stoney was fired in June and replaced by Paul Buckle (Rebecca Lowe’s husband) on an interim basis but only through the end of the summer window.
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I mean ... this is either brilliant or really, really stupid. My money is on the latter
 
Thierry Henry stepped down from his role as France’s U-21 coach. He also coached their entry in the 2023 Olympics, losing in the final to Spain. He had been an assistant for the Belgian National Team under Roberto Martinez but left after the 2022 Workd Cup when Martinez left. He's also been head coach at Monaco and MLS Montreal.
 
And over his entire managerial career, Henry has been head coach for a total of 66 matches ... and yet keeps getting linked to jobs all over the globe. His PR team must be pretty, pretty good.
 
USL Super League kicked off play last weekend. This is that other Tier 1 one pro league that was approved a couple of years ago. They debut with 8 teams, all but two (Spokane and Dallas) east of the Mississippi. At least two of their debut weekend games were sellouts and they have have plans to be at 18 teams by the 2026 season, likely blocking NWSL out of several possible expansion market along the way. Honestly, I'm not sure the demand is there, and the rosters feature way too many player on loan from NWSL rosters to see this as anything other than a secondary league at the moment. Bottom line, the better run league will probably win out or else there will be a massive merger at some point. The market just isn't there to support two top tier leagues in pretty much any sport in the US.
 
NWSL and NWSLPA put their CBA to bed. It runs through 2030, most significantly, it eliminates the player draft, requires player approval for any trades and includes guaranteed free agency for all players.
 
Yeah, I'm not sure the league has enough financial parity to support eliminating the draft without replacing it with some sort of directed feeder program to spread the talent around a bit. I get that the players want full professional agency as soon as possible, but given the disparity in revenues I think this will really hurt the smaller and emerging market clubs at a time when they should be concentrating on growing the league. I'll have to dig in a bit to get a better feel, but my initial reaction is that this is VERY good for the players ... maybe too good.
 
jeffbear said:
Yeah, I'm not sure the league has enough financial parity to support eliminating the draft without replacing it with some sort of directed feeder program to spread the talent around a bit. I get that the players want full professional agency as soon as possible, but given the disparity in revenues I think this will really hurt the smaller and emerging market clubs at a time when they should be concentrating on growing the league. I'll have to dig in a bit to get a better feel, but my initial reaction is that this is VERY good for the players ... maybe too good.
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That was my concern too, that the well funded teams could create super teams. They do have a hard cap, so that made me feel better. The USL doesn’t have a draft, so that was probably a reaction to their rule. But for the life of me, I can’t wrap my head around US Soccer granting Tier 1 status to the USL Super League. Did they learn nothing with fiasco created by both NASL and USL having Tier 2 status?
 
I mean, I figured that NWSL would get past the college draft and the entry draft as entry points eventually, but it would make more sense for franchise stability and development to wait until you're done expanding to do that. This WILL force the smaller market teams to get more serious about developing academy feeder systems. Most of them are on that track already if not already there. I'm also a bit concerned about this move having a negative impact on college soccer, which was NWSL's primary default entry path. The college teams are already reeling to deal with NIL and scholarship changes and NWSL academies are nowhere close to ready to step up to that gap ... which leaves you combing through regional travel team systems for youth talent since you're going to be under pressure to identify, scout and tie up younger and younger players. And those things are snake pits. And yeah, now you get to compete with USL AND colleges for that next generation of players. What could go wrong?
 
John Textor submitted his final bid for the 55% of Crystal Palace that he doesn’t already own. He’s still in exclusive negotiations to buy Everton, but that can’t move forward until he sells his stake in Palace. I guess the theory is that it will be easier to sell 100% of Palace than his current 45% stake. Even though he’s the largest shareholder, Steve Parrish runs the club. But Textor said in May that he wants Palace to be publicly listed, and he can’t do that without being the majority shareholder and decision maker.
 
andyt said:
Two words; Don Garber
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There is a less than zero percent chance that this is how it ends up ...

NWSL and their PA lean too hard into trying to emulate the European model, which it must be remembered has not really been tried at scale in the women's game, and ends up salary capping their way right into not being competitive for non-American talent as other countries begin to catch up with more professional opportunities. Keep in mind that they are mostly built on US, Canadian and Brazilian players now ... with increasing numbers from Japan and Australia. It would take relatively little effort from any South American league (or even the Mexican league should they catch the fancy of a cartel looking to wash funds) to shut down the pipeline from Brazil, and the infrastructure is there for the Aussie league to take off if properly financed. A resurgent A League would be a more natural draw for Japanese players as well. And if they screw up their international component, then NWSL is stuck slugging it out with USL for North American players.

So, potentially you could be looking at dueling development models which would almost certainly be decided by two things ... the depth and endurance of investment and the professionalism of the organizations. USL has the advantage of starting from scratch without NWSL's lengthy baggage train. It's well positioned in good markets with fairly solid ownership and free (for now) from interference from Garber and USSF. More than likely this all results in a merger similar to the AFC/NFC merger in the NFL, but maybe not and maybe one league will simply prove to be better financed and better run ... and if you're betting on stability and professionalism from NWSL then, God bless.
 
Don’t forget, Garber said MLS was interested in starting a women’s league after the 2027 World Cup. That’s what I was referring to. Can you imagine the chaos of 3 Tier I leagues? Although by that point, I’d hope that NWSL and USL come to their senses and realize they're better off with some sort of merger.
 
Ashley Cole and Joleon Lescott are joining Lee Carsley’s staff in England. Carsley was moved up from the U-21 team to take charge of the senior team for a couple of friendlies in September but may stay on through the autumn. The Athletic reported that Eddie Howe and Graham Potter are the frontrunners for the permanent job. I’m not sure why Howe would want to leave Newcastle, Potter has been unemployed since getting sacked by Chelsea in April 2023.
 
Alex Morgan announced her retirement from soccer effective immediately and also announced she’s pregnant with her 2nd child. Her Last game will be a home game on Sunday against the Courage.
 
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