Freedom Insider

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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With less than 24 hours before the 2010 WPS Draft gets underway, I thought it would be interesting to look at the various mock drafts on the Internet to see who the experts think will be heading to DC.

Bleacher Report kicked things off on Saturday with a 3-round mock draft conducted through Twitter. Bleacher Report’s Freedom beat writer Kat Galsim took the reigns of the Freedom, along with a couple other teams, and had the Freedom choose FSU and Freedom W-League midfielder Becky Edwards with the No. 7 pick. Here’s Kat’s take on the mock draft.

Kat followed up her debut as a mock GM with a great piece on Jim Gabarra and the draft process. As is the norm, Jim is not tipping his hand at all, except to make the obvious point that drafting Edwards would be good because of what it says to the players in the Freedom’s youth system. The other tidbit in there is that the Freedom will be looking to improve the defensive side of the ball, especially with the recent addition of Norwegian forward Lene Mykjaland.

WPS reached out to their stable of experts and got their views on how the first round would shake out. These drafts have the Freedom selecting one of Ali Riley (Stanford D), Casey Nogueira (UNC F) or Brittany Taylor (Connecticut D).

The Equalizer’s Jeff Kassouf has put together a great “On The Clock” series, recapping each team’s needs and he took on the Freedom on Tuesday. This series is worth checking out. Jeff followed the series up with his own mock draft and he too has the Freedom taking Edwards.

Soccer America has its take on the 2nd WPS draft up on its site and they have Freedom taking UNC midfielder Nikki Washington.

I personally am not even going to try and pretend I have any idea how the first round will play out but I will say this – knowing Gabarra’s style, I believe he will take Edwards with the No. 7 pick.

Regardless of what happens tomorrow, it should be a pretty exciting day. And to make sure you don’t miss a minute of the action, the Freedom has set up its own page so you can track all the action as it happens on Twitter.

Make sure you check back here for reaction on the Freedom’s draft.

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I realize that the only thing that has been going on around here lately has been posts full of links but until the Freedom decide to let us know who will fill the open roster spots, the links are really all we have. So here we go:

• Q&A with Washington Freedom Head Coach Jim Gabarra – updates us on what the coach has been doing in the offseason.
• Nairn flourishes for PSU – not only is this a feature updating us on Freedom W-League player Christine Nairn’s first college season, it has quotes from former Freedom and PSU player Christie Welsh. I am still waiting for the announcement that Welsh has signed with the Freedom.
• Casey brings the intensity – a feature on Maryland Terrapins senior goalkeeper Mary Casey. I included this link because apparently Casey was recruited by Maryland on the recommendation on Freedom free agent (and Maryland alum) Emily Janss. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Janss wind up with her alma mater as a coach if she fails to catch on somewhere else.
• Abby Wambach and Cat Whitehill called up to WNT December training camp – no big shocker here but it’s nice to see that our WNT stalwarts continue to perform at a top level.

As always, if something happens I will post my reaction to it … but something needs to happen first.

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If you haven’t checked out the audio from last night’s conference call with Abby Wambach and Cat Whitehill, do so now. The team has made the audio available for those who couldn’t listen last night.

For those who just want a quick recap, here you go:

• Both players got on and gave a brief update of what they’ve been doing. Besides training for the game in Germany, Abby talked about her new puppy and Cat talked about doing color commentary for SEC soccer games for ESPN.
• Fan question about Germany game in relation to bragging rights and what it would mean to win the match. Abby said it would be a good test as to where the USWNT stands right now but not necessarily how things will shake out at the World Cup because US players haven’t been playing since WPS season ended while the Germans are in midseason form. Cat added that it was a great opportunity to play in this type of environment, something some of the players don’t have a lot of experience with.
• Fan question about how league has helped USWNT. Cat talked about Lori Lindsey and how she deserved to be with team, then about how USWNT coach Pia Sundhage could scout so many more players. She said it is also important for the team to play more regularly. Abby added that being a product of pro league and getting her national team chance because of it is important to her. She said WPS allows players to develop and that is important to the national team.
• Fan question about having the USMNT qualify for 2010 World Cup and how the women’s team benefits. Abby said that as a national team member she is proud to see the men qualify and thinks the current team will put a good product on the field. In terms of the men helping the women, Abby added that anything that can grow soccer in the U.S. is a benefit. Cat is also proud of the team and how it  rallied. Cat said anytime the word soccer is mentioned on ESPN it gets her excited.
• Mark Washo wished Abby and Cat well on their trip to Germany and plugged the Select-A-Seat event. Food provided by Fuddruckers and Jim Gabarra will be there but no players because they are on loan all over the place.
• Fan question about players on loan. Players had an e-mail chain going for a while to keep in touch. Cat has been following Alex Singer on Twitter and is excited that so many teammates are out there learning new styles and playing soccer. Abby adds that it’s crucial for players to keep playing because of how short the WPS season is.
• Fan question about injuries. Abby let Cat handle the question as it was specific to an ACL injury. Cat said don’t get discouraged, especially since it is a long process.
• Fan question about being role models. Abby said the responsibility of being a role model helps her push through the tough times and it’s one of the most important aspects of why she plays.
• Fan question about impact of WPS on younger soccer players. Cat said WPS has done a good job trying to appeal to all age groups and she thinks it will inspire a new generation of soccer players.
• Fan question about Abby’s dog – he will be coming back to Maryland with Abby next season and is currently being taken care of by Abby’s roommate while she is away.
• Fan question for Cat about working as a reporter and how many UNC players will be playing. The next games Cat will do will be the SEC championship. Cat thinks 3-4 UNC players will be taken in the draft.
• Fan question about who Cat would want as a teammate. Cat said Tim Tebow would be her “non-soccer player teammate” but if it had to be a soccer player, Cat said she has always wanted to play with Michelle Akers.
• Fan question for Abby about a non-soccer playing woman teammate. Abby thought Ellen DeGeneres would be fun and feels the team would spend all day laughing with her around.
• Fan question about why Freedom kept most of the team while every other team seemed to be cutting a lot of players. Cat felt the previous foundation really helped the team and made sense in keeping as many players as the team did. Cat said the team felt more like a family. Abby said the resignings speak to the kind of program Gabarra is running and that many of the other teams are still going through growing pains. Mark added that the team is actively talking to free agents and one in particular.
• Fan question for Abby about a village called Wambach in Germany. Abby didn’t know about the place but did know her last name was German. Abby said if it’s close enough she will try to make her way there.
• Final question about what question people should stop asking about and what question should people be asking. Abby said that even if you answer the same question many times, you just have to answer it to get people to become fans. Abby said women’s soccer players make themselves more available than any other sport and that is key to helping promote themselves. Cat agreed with Abby and said that it is part of the territory. Cat’s most annoying is how she can cheer for both the University of Florida and University of Georgia in football.

One thing worth discussing further is the free agent Mark has been in talks with. Any guess as to who it might be? Wish I had more info for you but I am just as in the dark as everyone else at this point.

And finally, I have made a couple of updates to the blog – mainly there will be links to videos, photos and such. Let me know if you like or hate the updates, or if there is anything else you would like to see.

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