Freedom Insider

In case you missed it last week, WPS released the full schedule for 2010. And while there are a couple of times still being sorted out (the last two weeks are flex games for Fox Soccer Channel, allowing them to pick the best matchups those weeks) it is pretty safe to say the last big piece of the 2010 puzzle has finally been placed.

I don’t want to make too much of the actual games themselves because the big games will be determined as the season progresses, but I did want to share a couple of things that stand out on the Freedom’s schedule.

• This had been revealed previously but for the second season in a row, the Freedom will be in the opening match. However, this time around they will only play one day before everyone else as opposed to playing a week before everyone else and then having a bye.
• It looks like another doubleheader with D.C. United is in the works on May 1, the only dates both clubs are in town. Currently the place and time are TBD.
• The Freedom will have five FSC appearances and this year they are a little more spread out. Last year FSC showed most of the team’s early matches (which was bad because the team got off to a pretty bad start)  and after a July 5 match against Los Angeles, didn’t see show the Freedom again until the playoffs.
• The All-Star game has been moved to June 30, an odd time considering most teams will have played 3-4 days before and get back to work 3-4 days after.
• The July 4 game against Sky Blue FC will be a tough sell, even with the defending champs. Hopefully the team gets some fireworks lined up for the families it hopes to attract to that game.
• Once again the team gets a rough schedule towards the end of the season with the Freedom playing three road games in 11 days. Add in that the second game of the trip is out to California and the team could be pretty wiped by the time the third game finishes in St. Louis.
• The Freedom will get plenty of looks at the expansion franchises as they play the Beat and Independence four times each and every other WPS team three times. In most sports that would be a good thing but looking at the way Atlanta and Philly are built, they may not be your typical expansion clubs.

This schedule should make for an entertaining 2010 and hopefully it will end in a longer playoff run than 2009.

Finally, one day after announcing the signing of Christie Welsh, the club announced 2010 first round pick Nikki Marshall has signed. Only a couple of spots remain on the 2010 roster.

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I have been trying my hardest to avoid the generic link posts as they don’t seem to be all that popular around here but with all of the snow and issues I have had personally related to the snow, I felt like this was the easiest way to get something new on the blog until I could put together something more substantial.

Also, I am still updating Roster Tracker – the Sol disbanding really throws the whole thing off – so it probably won’t be updated until after the start of camp. My apologies, but if you any suggestions on any changes or additions that should be made to the file let me know via the comments or the contact page.

Ok, enough stalling. Here are the links:

In Their Free Time, with “Bookworm” Christen Karniski – Christen may be a free agent but she is also a dear friend of the Insider. It’s great to see her get some time on the web.

Frankfurt verlängert vorzeitig mit Krieger – According to Google Translate, Krieger means Warrior in German. And according to this article, defender Ali Krieger has renewed with FC Frankfurt until 2012. Who knows what that means in terms of her coming back on loan but we won’t have Krieger as a full time Freedom player until after that.

WPS Committed to Supporting Nationwide Campaign to Address Childhood Obesity – Briana Scurry recently visited the White House to help First Lady Michelle Obama kick off her campaign to fight childhood obesity. Great exposure for the league.

Freedom Futures Point The Way Forward – The W-League squad is churning out future WPS players. It appears Jim Gabarra’s model is having a good effect on the league.

Again, I will try to keep these types of posts to a minimum. And as always, if you have anything you’d like to see discussed, drop me a line.

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Now that the drama has subsided, I guess it’s finally time to take a look at how the Freedom roster is shaping up for the 2010 season.

But before we get to far let’s look at those who are already under contract for 2010:

F: Lisa De Vanna, Lene Mykjaland, Abby Wambach

M: Brittany Bock, Sonia Bompastor, Jill Gilbeau, Sarah Huffman, Allie Long, Rebecca Moros, Homare Sawa

D: Becky Sauerbrunn, Alex Singer, Cat Whitehill

GK: Erin McLeod, Briana Scurry

*From what we have been told by the league, those selected in the dispersal draft were under contract for 2010, although Nigerian International Faith Ikidi (the Freedom’s second round dispersal draft pick) is under contract in Sweden. This move means the Freedom relinquish the International rights to Nilla Fischer, also under contract in Sweden. Previously the Freedom had held the International rights to Louisa Necib.

**Note: While she is not under contract right now, expect D Ali Krieger to rejoin the Freedom at the conclusion of the German Bundesliga season. Last year she joined the team in June.

The Freedom entered the offseason with most of last year’s roster under contract again for 2010 but with the unexpected disbanding of the Los Angeles Sol, the number of open roster spots the team has to fill has decreased while the caliber of the competition trying to win spots has increased.

The lone signing before the draft was that of Norwegian forward Lene Mykjaland, a player the Freedom have been trying to get to the U.S. since before the 2009 season. Mykjaland adds even more firepower to the dangerous duo of Wambach and De Vanna, and if Jim Gabarra decides to play a 4-3-3 at any point this season he will be able to put a huge amount of pressure on any opposing defense.

After losing Lori Lindsey and Sarah Senty in the expansion draft, it was clear the biggest needs the Freedom had entering last month’s draft were a defensive midfielder and a defender. Gabarra addressed defender with his first pick, selecting Nikki Marshall from Colorado. Gabarra followed that up with midfielders Carly Dobratz (Washington State) and Beverly Goebel (Miami) with his next two picks and went defender in the fourth round with Kristi Eveland out of North Carolina.

Before Thursday’s dispersal draft I would have guessed the team’s top four draft picks would have been locks to make the roster with the final three picks – GK Lauren Robertson, M Mara Osher and F Caitlin Miskel – all having a good shot to earn a spot on the developmental roster.

With the addition of Bock, Gabarra has stayed true to his philosophy and added another player that can be plugged in anywhere on the field. Obviously Marshall has the inside track on one of the remaining roster spots and two of either Dobratz, Goebel and Eveland should finalize the 18 woman roster. There is still a chance someone like KJ Spisak or Freedom W-League standouts Brittany Tegeler, Katie Watson or Kimmy Germain earn a developmental roster spot but it looks like preseason camp will open with a fairly completed roster.

And hopefully that roster is good enough to get back to the playoffs and make a run at the 2010 WPS Championship.

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