Freedom Insider

I will talk more about the roster tomorrow but for right now, here is how the roster stands after the cut to 24:

2010 24-Player Preseason Roster

1. Marisa Abegg

2. Brittany Bock

3. Sonia Bompastor

4. Kristi Eveland

5. Jill Gilbeau

6. Beverly Goebel

7. Sarah Huffman

8. Jaimel Johnson

9. Madison Keller

10. Allie Long

11. Nikki Marshall

12. Meagan McCray

13. Erin McLeod

14. Caitlin Miskel

15. Rebecca Moros

16. Mara Osher

17. Becky Sauerbrunn

18. Homare Sawa

19. Briana Scurry

20. Alex Singer

21. Lisa DeVanna

22. Abby Wambach

23. Christie Welsh

24. Cat Whitehill

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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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Yesterday’s news that WPS is discontinuing the operation of the Los Angeles Sol is a huge blow to the league. It’s bad enough the league has taken on the inherit challenges that come with trying to establish a successful soccer league and successful women’s league in the U.S., but to lose the team that dominated the regular season and had the most talented female player on the planet on its roster looks really bad.

If this was the NFL, NBA or MLB, the franchise could have been saved for a while a new owner was found (that’s how we here in Washington got our baseball team after all) but because WPS is only one year old, the option of the league running the franchise is simply not an option.lo

Jeff Kassouf of The Equalizer has attacked this story from all sorts of angles and it is worth checking out his various posts on the topic to get a more complete picture of how this news impacts everyone involved.

My personal, shortened take on this situation is that WPS and its franchises have been in survival mode since the league formed and there will continue to be casualties as the league tries to take hold. I personally have been one of these casualties. You can’t take these things too personally though because everyone making the decisions is just doing what they think will help this thing survive.

As the fallout of this situation continues to ripple throughout the league, the excitement many players and fans felt after the recent draft has been altered. As has been mentioned elsewhere, mid and late round draft picks will now have a tougher fight for a roster spot and players who were on the fringe last year will probably be headed back to the W-League or WPSL to wait until the next round of expansion opens more slots.

The impact on International players will be even more severe, given that teams are still limited to five active International players and most squads have already filled those slots. If you look at the Freedom’s roster, do you cut loose Lisa De Vanna, Homare Sawa, Erin McLeod, Sonia Bompastor or the newly signed Lene Mykjaland if you can bring on Karina LeBlanc or Aya Miyama? Glad I am not the one that has to make that call.

This situation may actually benefit the Freedom in a way also. With the Freedom Futures of the W-League under its umbrella, Jim Gabarra and company will be able to bring in more players, place them on the W-League squad and see how they perform in Gabarra’s system without having to use a pro roster spot. Obviously this is a blow to the players since the Freedom Futures is a completely amateur squad, but I bet there are plenty of players out there willing to play one more year as an amateur if it increased the odds of being raised to pro status in 2011.

As I have also seen mentioned, the problems with the Sol are in no way a reflection of what’s going on with WPS. The spin WPS is using is that it did add two expansion teams this year before this situation went down and if you look at the players brought in this offseason from overseas, there are plenty of people who believe this league will still succeed.

The thing that we need to do as fans though, is actually make sure it does.

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I saw this on Big Soccer yesterday and felt it was worth reposting here.

Looks like Lene Mykjaland has had a change of heart about coming to WPS.

She has some things to look forward to in the autumn, like a possible professional career in Washington, USA. “It’s exciting and I hope something will come of it. It would be great to try myself out in the USA next year. It looks better now than when Washington were in touch last year”, said Mykjåland, without developing the point.

As well as decisive matches in the Toppserien, the Cup and the Champions League, Mykjåland is waiting for the next discussions with Washington Freedom. Three weeks ago she was ‘drafted’ by the club, which means she can not go to another American club in preference to Washington. Mykjåland’s contract with Røa finishes next season, but has a clause that she can go to a foreign club before that.

http://fotball.adressa.no/eliteserien/article152795.ece

The comment was Mykjaland would have come over last season if the league hadn’t taken so long to allow players to sign, but it looks like Mykjaland is making good on her previous comments. Adding Mykjaland would give the Freedom depth at forward and I would be inclined to believe that she would split time with Lisa De Vanna in Jim Gabarra’s 4-4-2 system.

This move probably limits the amount of time Rebecca Moros will play at forward but that might be a good thing given how shallow the midfield is at this point. Now all we need is for the move to actually be official…

WPS FREE AGENCY

I thought it might be a good idea to recap the free agency action so far. I won’t include either trade in this section, but I will include more info than what is on the league’s transaction page.

FC Gold Pride
Signed M/D Candace Chapman (Boston)

Boston Breakers
Signed F Tiffany Weimer (FC Gold Pride)

Philadelphia Independence
Signed D Heather Mitts (Boston)*

*This move has not officially been announced by the team but if the coach says it’s a done deal then I won’t argue.

Not a whole lot of movement on the free agent front yet but with big names like Leslie Osborne and Carli Lloyd still out there, we can be assured that there still are some moves to be made.

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Just wanted to post a quick note saying letting everyone know that I am around, and that I am not neglecting the blog again. However, until the Washington Freedom actually decide to do something there won’t be a ton of stuff going on around here.

With that in mind, I want to make this post an open forum for anyone and everyone to talk about anything related to the Freedom. Are there any particular free agents still available that the team should target? How do the Freedom stack up right now to Philly, who has extremely active since the offseason got underway?

And for those of you just looking for something read, here are a couple of links that might be worth checking out:

• Formula switch mooted as Jets women make scoring key goal – an update on Lisa De Vanna and Alex Singer, both of who are playing for the Perth Glory of Australia’s W-League. Perth won it’s most recent game 1-0.
• UNC senior divides her time in goal – if you are one of those wanting to get to know some of the top prospects in the 2010 draft, here is a feature on North Carolina senior goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris that should help get you started.

Ok, I realize that is not a lot but hopefully it will hold you over until something really happens. Until then, enjoy.

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