No WNT players for W-League in 2007

[Richard]

Canadian women's soccer side to stick together as a team in 2007

TORONTO (CP) - The Canadian women's team will be eating, sleeping, dreaming and playing soccer this year.

The Canadian Soccer Association has announced details of a residency program that will see the women stick together as a national team through to the World Cup in September in China. The plan means Canada's top women won't be available to their W-League clubs.

But coach Even Pellerud says the W-League teams were willing to make the sacrifice for the greater good.

The residency camp kicks off Jan. 21 in Vancouver with 21 women invited.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/Canada/2007/01/17/3394933-cp.html

[Bxl Boy]

Even with the Whitecaps ?

They have to search for a lot of new players !

[Richard]

The Whitecaps were still winning league games in 2005 without their star national team players when they we called up for WNT duty. The Caps have plenty of depth with their reserve teams, they will have little difficulty fielding a competitive team this season.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

I thought this was a joke or hoax article at first, until I saw who posted it.

The only reason this could make sense is because the ladies are paid so poorly in their clubs, if you pay something similar to stay with Canada then that option is a valid one.

Only the usually testing ground for a player is on her club, it is where the national team coach can watch real development of a player. Pellerud sacrifices this, and I wonder as part of his bickering with clubs in general, to have a list together for a year. Not a bad idea, will be interesting to see if the difference in our play can be clearly seen.

[Guest Ed]

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

I thought this was a joke or hoax article at first, until I saw who posted it.

The only reason this could make sense is because the ladies are paid so poorly in their clubs, if you pay something similar to stay with Canada then that option is a valid one.

Only the usually testing ground for a player is on her club, it is where the national team coach can watch real development of a player. Pellerud sacrifices this, and I wonder as part of his bickering with clubs in general, to have a list together for a year. Not a bad idea, will be interesting to see if the difference in our play can be clearly seen.

And it's just a coincidence that the one of the few women actually making a decent enough living from the game from her club and sideline pursuits balked at the " college girl's dorm" approach and is now the centre of the dispute to be allowed to play for Canada.

[Richard]

This is much the same approach as the Americans took with their WNT. Why is it OK for them but not for us?

[red card]

quote:Only the usually testing ground for a player is on her club

I don't believe this applies to the women's game as the competition is sub par. Canadian women's hockey did the same before Turin Olympics. This is the right move.

[jpg75]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/article.jsp?content=20070117_200544_5932

Canadian women to stick together in '07

TORONTO (CP) -- Imagine the Ottawa Senators won the Stanley Cup and then the next season handed over all their Canadian talent to allow Team Canada to prepare for the 2010 Olympics.

That's essentially what the W-League champion Vancouver Whitecaps are doing, giving up their starting lineup for the 2007 soccer season to the Canadian national team.

The Canadian women's squad is embarking on the stretch drive to this September's World Cup in China, gathering Sunday for a residency camp in Vancouver. Those in camp will focus exclusively on the national team in the months to come, foregoing their club teams until after the World Cup.

While the Canadian women's hockey team has a residency program, coach Even Pellerud calls it "a new era for Canadian soccer."

For the Whitecaps, that means playing the 2007 season without eight of their 11 starters in last year's W-League championship game. The sacrifice is even more severe when you consider that two of those starters were American. And both players who came on as substitutes for the Whitecaps that day have also been given up to the national team residency program.

Players missing for the Whitecaps' 12-game 2007 season include star striker Christine Sinclair, veteran midfielder Andrea Neil and a slew of others marquee names.

The Canadian Soccer Association lists 12 Whitecaps players on the 24-woman roster for the first stage of the residency camp, which runs from Sunday to March 8.

Two other players on the list -- Brittany Timko and Paige Adams -- have moved on but were part of Vancouver's championship side last year.

Kara Lang is also on the camp roster. The UCLA star's club allegiances lie with the Whitecaps but she was sidelined by injury last season.

The Ottawa Fury are giving up four players and the Laval Comets and New Jersey Wildcats one each.

"I've been very impressed with the W-League franchises, in particular the Whitecaps in Vancouver and the Fury in Ottawa," Pellerud said. "I mean, it really hurts them, there is no doubt about it. So it's a great commitment they have made to help Canadian soccer and the national team."

Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot is funding the women's residency program through the Whitecaps Foundation. But Bob Lenarduzzi, the Whitecaps director of soccer operations, says it wasn't a case of doing what he was told.

Everyone at the Whitecaps was on the same page, he said.

"It was just felt that for the greater good, and having Canada be successful in the World Cup, that ultimately that would provide the long-term dividends for the short-term pain," Lenarduzzi said.

Players will receive funding from Kerfoot's foundation, in addition to carding money from the Sport Canada Athlete Assistance Program.

The women will live in apartments downtown, training in different locations.

"We can control the whole training environment, so it's basically how a club team is run," said Pellerud, who was able to test out the concept with a trial camp last fall.

The sacrifice by the Whitecaps also seems to answer objections by former captain Charmaine Hooper and two other dissident players that the residency program was a way to force national team players to join the Vancouver club.

The three players are currently suspended, pending an internal Canadian Soccer Association appeals review..

The roster at the national team camp may shift as the year goes on. For example, some players weren't available for the first seven-week leg of the program because of school commitments.

The camp will essentially last until the World Cup, with the odd break. Pellerud plans to take his squad to Brazil for the Pan American Games in the summer and hopes to have seven or eight international games in advance of the World Cup.

CSA president Colin Linford paid tribute to Kerfoot for facilitating the residency camp -- both with his players and his wallet.

"This is a first for us, it's unbelievable that you have clubs giving up their marquee players," Linford said.

"You have a gentleman who must be the biggest benefactor in sports probably in Canada right now, Greg Kerfoot, and you have the dedication and determination of the coaching staff to be a success."

Canada, which finished fourth at the 2003 World Cup, had a 10-3-4 record in 2006.

Linford acknowledged medal expectations will be high for the Canadian women in China.

"We're going into a training mode that very few countries in the world will be doing," he said.

The U.S. team, which beat Canada 2-1 last November in the final of the Gold Cup, is embarking on a four-month residency camp starting in April in Carson, Calif.

The American women, who plan 15 internationals in the next eight months, are currently in Guangzhou, China, for the Four Nations Tournament.

Lenarduzzi, meanwhile, is hunting for new talent to replace those now wearing the Maple Leaf. Some will be promoted from the Whitecaps youth side, but he expects to have to look outside Canada's border to make up the numbers.

[loyola]

"The sacrifice by the Whitecaps also seems to answer objections by former captain Charmaine Hooper and two other dissident players that the residency program was a way to force national team players to join the Vancouver club."

That's one of the first thing that crossed my mind when I read that the clubs were releasing their players.

[Cheeta]

But, they're in Vancouver and not with their clubs in a residency program funded by the Whitecaps owner? Isn't this a 'Cap program by proxy?

Because unless some player from outside this program is brought into the NT before the WWC her residency program complaint stands. That is, she's disqualified from NT play and residency money if she chooses to continue her club play.

Fair enough on the residency money part. Can't be two places at once. Filthy, liar, cheat, sort of stuff if you have a blanket blackball on players who don't sign on the residency program.

P.S. Before darts start flying my way just want to clarrify that I think it's a good program and well done on the W-League for signing on (but don't read too much into that). I'm also aware that it's going to be extremely difficult for anyone outside the program to break into it just because of the nature of the program.

[Richard]

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

I thought this was a joke or hoax article at first, until I saw who posted it.

The only reason this could make sense is because the ladies are paid so poorly in their clubs, if you pay something similar to stay with Canada then that option is a valid one.

Only the usually testing ground for a player is on her club, it is where the national team coach can watch real development of a player. Pellerud sacrifices this, and I wonder as part of his bickering with clubs in general, to have a list together for a year. Not a bad idea, will be interesting to see if the difference in our play can be clearly seen.

The W-League is not professional and the players do not receive salaries. That's precisely why so many NCAA players play with W-League clubs duringt he summer.