You know what this soccer ball means. Get ready to read a ton of news and updates!Hello fellow Women's soccer fans! I figured I'd do one big post today on everything going on. Today, we're going to be talking about the 2010 Peace Queen Cup, the WPS Expansion Draft protection lists, some upcoming events, and I'll also mention a cause that I think you guys would want to get involved in! Let's start, because we've got a lot to cover!
2010 Peace Queen Cup- The competition's group stage is finished, as the last 2 matches were played today. Here are the scores and group information:
Group A- Mexico won their match against Chinese Taipei 1-0, ending their Peace Queen Cup campaign with a win and a defeat. They will now head back to their home country where they will host the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup. Chinese Taipei is going home completely empty-handed. They are not going to Germany in 2011, and they certainly aren't going to the final of the Peace Queen Cup, as their group stage campaign ended with them notching 2 losses. They were simply an invite. Out of Group A, its Australia, with 2 victories in group play, who are going to the Final.
Group B- In Group B, things were decided a little differently. Today's match, the final one of the group, saw New Zealand tie England 0-0. An excellent result for New Zealand, who typically loses to the higher ranked teams. I gotta say, hats of to the Football Ferns! They are looking like serious contenders for the World Cup...do I sense a dark horse team emerging? They've held their own against everyone so far in this competition. Anyways, all the games in Group B have ended in scoreless ties, so the only way to decide who moved onto the final was through a draw. Korea Republic's name was drawn, and so by way of chance, Korea Republic will face off against Australia in the 2010 Peace Queen Cup Final, on the 23rd.
The Final- Australia vs. Korea Republic. Should be an interesting one for sure. Although, I would have liked to have seen New Zealand in the final, and if not them, then England. I personally think they would have been better contenders, but what do I know, Korea Republic might make for a great opponent. Either way, I still say Australia takes the Cup. We'll see on the 23rd!
WPS Expansion Draft- Alrighty everyone, promised that I'd talk about the Expansion Draft. The lists I'm gonna post here are the ones I borrowed from womensprosoccer.com. Here are the lists. I don't know some of the names on them, especially the unprotected list. By they way, I'll put my little two-sense, if I have any, next to the player's name on each list:
Unprotected Players
Kaley Fountain (Atlanta Beat)
Angie Kerr (Atlanta Beat)- surprised Atlanta isn't keeping her actually. She was co-captain with McNeill. Guess she wasn't working out. Although not many people did that stellar on the Beat.
Johanna Rasmussen (Atlanta Beat)- she seemed alright for the Beat. Well, Atlanta did pretty terrible last year, guess they need to do a lot of remodeling.
Liz Bogus (Boston Breakers)
Cynthia Morote-Ariza (Boston Breakers)
Ashley Phillips (Boston Breakers)- She started for Boston, then Naeher took over the spot. Guess Boston just simply doesn't need her, neither will they use her now that Naeher is their number one. She might be better off starting on a new team.
Ji So-Yun (Boston Breakers – hold WPS rights)
Kelsey Davis (Chicago Red Stars)
Jessica McDonald (Chicago Red Stars)- saw her once in the opening FSC game for the 2010 year, and never saw her again. Guess they're letting her go.
Julianne Sitch (Chicago Red Stars)- she's a player that I liked back when she played with Sky Blue FC. She's actually one of those players that, if you give her a chance to shine, she might turn out to be a good player. Perfect example, Joanna Lohmann. Philly gave her a starting spot and she did great. A year before while she was on the Freedom, no one knew she existed. Going to the Buffalo Flash, or whatever they'll be called, might give Sitch that chance to shine.
Brittany Cameron (FC Gold Pride)
Rosie Tantillo (FC Gold Pride)
Kim Yokers (FC Gold Pride)- played on FC Gold Pride for 2 seasons. I don't know much about her, but I guess FC Gold Pride, being the champions, had higher priority people they wanted to protect.
Heather Mitts (Philadelphia Independence)- this is the second time Mitts will be up for grabs. She's a good defender, so the new team might wanna pick her up to anchor the back line.
Lyndsey Patterson (Philadelphia Independence)
Sarah Senty (Philadelphia Independence)
Shannon Myers (Sky Blue FC)
Angela Salem (Sky Blue FC)
India Trotter (Sky Blue FC)
Jill Gilbeau (Washington Freedom)- she didn't seem like that bad of a player. Guess the Freedom are letting her go.
Beverly Goebel (Washington Freedom)- she didn't seem bad either. But, I don't know what plans the Freedom have.
Christie Welsh (Washington Freedom)- I personally like Welsh. She is not a bad player at all, and if she got a chance, she might do well. Maybe she should go to the Flash, and get a starting position.
These, my friends, are the unprotected players. Every single one of them is subject to being drafted by the new franchise, situated in Western New York. However, if one team loses 2 players, the rest of their unprotected players will be automatically protected. So, that means that no one team can lose more than 2 players. Most of these players are one's who haven't played much. I don't even recognize the names of some of them. Hopefully though, these players will showcase their potential on a new team, where they can probably start.
Protected Players
Eniola Aluko (Atlanta Beat)
Lori Chalupny (Atlanta Beat)
Tina Ellertson (Atlanta Beat)
Tobin Heath (Atlanta Beat)
Lauren Sesselmann (Atlanta Beat)
Jordan Angeli (Boston Breakers)
Lauren Cheney (Boston Breakers)
Ifeoma Dieke (Boston Breakers)
Taryn Hemmings (Boston Breakers)
Amy LePeilbet (Boston Breakers)
Kristine Lilly (Boston Breakers)
Alyssa Naeher (Boston Breakers)
Leslie Osborne (Boston Breakers)
Alex Scott (Boston Breakers)
Kelly Smith (Boston Breakers)
Veronica Boquete (Chicago Red Stars)
Karen Carney (Chicago Red Stars)
Marian Dalmy (Chicago Red Stars)
Whitney Engen (Chicago Red Stars)
Karina LeBlanc (Chicago Red Stars)
Jillian Loyden (Chicago Red Stars)
Ella Masar (Chicago Red Stars)
Casey Nogueira (Chicago Red Stars)
Megan Rapinoe (Chicago Red Stars)
Natalie Spilger (Chicago Red Stars)
Kiki Bosio (FC Gold Pride)
Carrie Dew (FC Gold Pride)
Becky Edwards (FC Gold Pride)
Kristen Graczyk (FC Gold Pride)
Marta (FC Gold Pride)
Tiffeny Milbrett (FC Gold Pride)
Ali Riley (FC Gold Pride)
Kandace Wilson (FC Gold Pride)
Danesha Adams (Philadelphia Independence)
Jennifer Buczkowski (Philadelphia Independence)
Allison Falk (Philadelphia Independence)
Val Henderson (Philadelphia Independence)
Nikki Krzysik (Philadelphia Independence)
Lori Lindsey (Philadelphia Independence)
Joanna Lohman (Philadelphia Independence)
Holmfridur Magnusdottir (Philadelphia Independence)
Amy Rodriguez (Philadelphia Independence)
Caroline Seger (Philadelphia Independence)
Karen Bardsley (Sky Blue FC)
Jenni Branam (Sky Blue FC)
Kiersten Dallstream (Sky Blue FC)
Kendall Fletcher (Sky Blue FC)
Danielle Johnson (Sky Blue FC)
Laura Kalmari (Sky Blue FC)
Heather O'Reilly (Sky Blue FC)
Brittany Taylor (Sky Blue FC)
Kristi Eveland (Washington Freedom)
Nikki Marshall (Washington Freedom)
Erin McLeod (Washington Freedom)
Becky Sauerbrunn (Washington Freedom)
Abby Wambach (Washington Freedom)
This is the protected list. I am gonna save my 2 sense however for this one and just say that I agree with pretty much everyone who was protected. I'm happy to see all of these players returning with their teams.
WPS Free Agents
Marisa Abegg
Camille Abily
Anita Asante
Yael Averbuch
Ramona Bachmann
Nicole Barnhart
Stacy Bishop
Carolyn Blank
Brittany Bock
Sonia Bompastor
Shannon Boxx
Rachel Buehler
Meghann Burke
Candace Chapman
Katie Chapman
Stephanie Cox
Cristiane
Niki Cross
Laura Del Rio
Lisa DeVanna
Gina DiMartino
Tina DiMartino
Keeley Dowling
Fabiana
Formiga
Jen Grubb
Solveig Gulbrandsen
Erin Guthrie
Ashlyn Harris
Kelly Henderson
Sarah Huffman
Chioma Igwe
Estelle Johnson
Robyn Jones
Natasha Kai
Brittany Klein
Daphne Koster
Sara Larsson
Allison Lipsher
Carli Lloyd
Mallori Lofton-Malachi
Allie Long
Manya Makoski
Brett Maron
Analisa Marquez
Meagan McCray
Kia McNeill
Caitlin Miskel
Kasey Moore
Rebecca Moros
Lene Mykjåland
Rebecca Nolin
Monica Ocampo
Kelley O'Hara
Patrizia Panico
Kelly Parker
Christie Rampone
Sophie Reiser
Katherine Reynolds
Leigh Ann Robinson
Rosana
Lianne Sanderson
Homare Sawa
Meghan Schnur
Christine Sinclair
Hope Solo
Lindsay Tarpley
Lydia Vandenbergh
Sarah Walsh
Nikki Washington
Elise Weber
Kacey White
Cat Whitehill
Allison Whitworth
Mami Yamaguchi
McCall Zerboni
These are the Free Agents. What this pretty much means is that these players' contracts have expired. These players cannot be picked during the Expansion Draft. There will be a Free Agency period following the Expansion Draft, in which teams can negotiate with the Free Agents. Most of these players will likely renew their contracts with their original teams, but there's a chance that we might see some moves. Imagine seeing Sinclair or Kai on a new team! It might happen, you never know, the off-season is a time of many surprises, and there might be some surprises coming up! I personally want to see an exciting surprise move.
The Expansion Draft is November 4th, and it will be followed by a Free Agency period, and then probably an International Draft shortly after.
Upcoming Events- Along with all of this other stuff happening, there will be other events. Here they are:
Sweden vs. Norway (October 26th)- Should be a good game, 2 great Scandinavian teams right there. A good test to see where they stand, especially in regards to each other, and a great way to get in some practice less than a year away from World Cup.
Germany vs. Australia (October 28th)- This match is sure to be a good one. Germany is a strong team, number 2 in the world, but I'm telling you, the Aussies have been impressing me. They're on a roll right now. Quite the team to reckon with. I think these 2 are some of the top contenders going into the World Cup. Curious to see how this one will pan out.
UEFA Loser Play-offs- Almost forgot about these guys! 5th place in Europe is up for grabs. Italy will face off against Switzerland on October 23rd and 27th to decide who will be named the 5th place team in the UEFA region. The winner will play against the 3rd place CONCACAF team in late November for the rights to the final spot in Germany 2011.
CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup (October 28th-November 8th)
CAF Africa Women's Championship (October 29th-November 14th)
CONMEBOL Futbol Femenino (November 4th-November 21st)
Petition- Listen up my fellow women's soccer fans! You guys want to see WPS get the attention it deserves right? One of the first steps is getting ESPN to list WPS info and stats on its bottomline, where they list stats and such for all the major sports, along with collegiate and even high school. WPS definitely deserves to be there! Women's sports deserve more attention, and our beloved WPS is no exception! I'm posting a link below for you guys to sign a petition to get ESPN to post WPS league stats, etc. on its bottom line. Maybe we can make a difference. Really, it takes no more than 1 minute of your time, if even. All us Women's soccer fans gotta pull together to help promote the sport and help get our players and the league the attention it deserves! So please, sign it! Here's the link:
http://womensrights.change.org/petitions/view/espn_please_help_promote_womens_professional_soccer
Let's help the WPS get the attention it should be getting! The league and the players definitely deserve it.
OK everyone, that's it for today's combo post. Hope you enjoyed reading! I'll be back later, or sometime during the weekend with the post on the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup. See you again real soon!
Until then,
Denise
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