National Womens team future...

[Trillium]

If we look at the womens team pool of players, especially at the age of players and their possible long term commitment to the program...do you see the existing players remaining in any significant numbers ?

From my experience ... watching player development at the base it seems each new generation of players coming through the pipeline is better then the last pool... I would define a generation of players in a five year ..grouping so 75s to 79, 80 to 84, and 85 to 89 and so on ..based on a 4 year cycle for World cups and Olympic competition.

At the international level ..we can see how a great player like Marta ..can not be fully dominant at age 20.... but close perhaps heading into her best five years as player ..she may well play on until the mid thirtys given her huge earning potential in Europe and South America...

But what about Canadian players... what is the economic incentive to have players after the end of NCAA careers to continue as pro players given the economic return ....? When do the player as individuals say ...hey i have started a career..?

Since the average entry level clerk in the federal government can make 40K plus a year..what incentive will keep a Kara Lang growing and developing as a professional player, when she can only earn 25k ...if she is lucky on a NA pro team ?

Do we need to see the cycle for Canadian female players as being u16 international pool with significant travel and residential programs to produce a cadre of players from age 18 to 22 for each World Cup Olympic cycle ?

Does the CSA have a accelerated program to develop the next wave of players for the next cycle of World Cup - Olympics after the Bejing ?

Has Even a large enough pool at the U16 to U19 to be able to replace players ?

Are the W league teams outside the Whitecaps developing younger players to be able to step in ?

[Vic]

One of the big things that really hurt us on the field was a lack of maturity. And it's not just girls. You don't send boys into battle either. There never has been a team of boys that has won the World Cup either. In North American professional team sports, most championship teams have a base of experienced veterans with a sprinkling of youth. And unsurprisingly, the large majority of Germany's main lineup in this tournament was nearly or over 30.

Once the WSII turns the W into a dodgy second-rate hangout, our women have little options other than going overseas. Post-WSII there is no way W teams can provide the foundation of Arsenal, Potsdam Turbine, Umea, etc. I read yesterday Brazil is now targeting a domestic women's league also.

It will be interesting to see where the best youth development ends up, if it follows the money to WSII feeder systems, or is in Europe or South America. That will always be the best place for any quality girl who really wants to be world class. Because regardless how well we overhaul the CSA and increase the funding to provincial associations, they will always be constricted by politics and process. If Owen Hargreaves never left for Bayern at 16, he would be a landscaper in Calgary.

[Soccer9]

I believe the talent pool is out there for the future, with much more skilled payers coming up than in the past. This, with a combination of experienced WNT players still has Canada looking good for future WC/Olympic tournaments.

I believe the key is in proper preparation which goes down to good coaching and more activity (& Funding!!) at the development team level. If you go on the German Federation website you see that they have proper U15 junior teams where girls already have 5 caps, U17 players have already 11 caps in some cases. This ensures proper readiness for U20 and senior team assignments.

..... and this is where Canada lacks....

[CoachRich]

A couple of items to consider -

CSA has is not giving money to the WNT Seniors & all the other programs are shelved.

There are no real pro Women's League in NA. W League players get per diem only & maybe a bit more for pockets change.

Development of our Womens starts w/ each club doing there best to develop them. Maybe the Wellness to World Cup will be the start of the true national development pathway.

True develop of a player will have to take place w/ a Pro club. IMO the better our Women develop the harder we will be able to keep them in the CSA system. Basically they will have the opportunties to play outside of Canada as the men as Women Leauges continue to grow, get properly financed & generate revenue. The Euro clubs are the best model to support the growth of Women Leagues. In NA we have nothing that compares.

Like our WNT & the US proved we can play in NA all we want but the real action, competition & grow in the Women's game is outside of NA.

[Guest Ed]

I think the women's game outside of NA is not quite as elevated as you would make it appear. The advantage for them (say in Europe) is that they can ride on the coattails of the massive sports organizations built supporting the professional men's clubs (almost every team in Germnay, for example, is not a 'football' club per se, but rather a 'sport' club - they may have many sports under the umbrella organization but the money for the whole kaboodle is derived from the pro soccer team).

In terms of attendance and interest, I would thing we are still far ahead here in the USA and Canada (USA in particular). England is off the map (as in 0 interest) compared to North America.

[Canuck Oranje]

Agree with Ed, there may be some pro leagues in Europe but that only will support the top of the top players with modest support.

IMHO, the NCAA system is still the best system for women's soccer development. While there is not much beyond college for women for now, I suspect national teams would have a good idea (not perfect) of who was talented enough to play by the time they graduate.

In Brazil, the women's game is not likely to move forward much because of what the CBF does. It will really depend on what the the wealthy athletic/futebol clubs do to support the women's sport. Again, that is not necessarily the just the big professional clubs because clubs like Flamengo, Corinthians, and Palmeiras are heavily indebted. It will depend on motivated clubs with healthy bank accounts and attached social clubs (Sao Paulo FC, GR Barueri, Pao de Acucar EC, etc.) to move the sport forward and don't be surprised to find some of those girls move into the NCAA system too.

[terpfan68]

So we ride on the coat-tails of the U.S. College system eh? How good is Canadian university soccer. I know men from the U.S. system get drafted by the NSL but are the women at Canadian Universites any good? Could they make the National Program? I heard that the CSA has told promising female players that if they want to stay with the program the need to go to a top 20 U.S. university? Any truth to that?

[The Ref]

quote:Originally posted by Canuck Oranje

...In Brazil, the women's game is not likely to move forward much because of what the CBF does. It will really depend on what the the wealthy athletic/futebol clubs do to support the women's sport. Again, that is not necessarily the just the big professional clubs because clubs like Flamengo, Corinthians, and Palmeiras are heavily indebted. It will depend on motivated clubs with healthy bank accounts and attached social clubs (Sao Paulo FC, GR Barueri, Pao de Acucar EC, etc.) to move the sport forward and don't be surprised to find some of those girls move into the NCAA system too.

This is probably correct. The CBF has decided to reward the returning women on their national team to reward them as if they had actually won the gold and not just the silver.

[Trillium]

quote:Originally posted by terpfan68

So we ride on the coat-tails of the U.S. College system eh? How good is Canadian university soccer. I know men from the U.S. system get drafted by the NSL but are the women at Canadian Universites any good? Could they make the National Program? I heard that the CSA has told promising female players that if they want to stay with the program the need to go to a top 20 U.S. university? Any truth to that?

The top teams in Canada can play div 1 In the US..there is plenty of interplay to show we do well enough..the top ten would be out our top five ...but not by much..given the monetary difference in program support its not a bad result.

The CSA i.e. Even would be smart to develop a true pre season super Cup with the top four US teams against Canadas to four... in late August ...the NCAA teams would be up for ..no doubt.

Match it up with the u17 Canadian player pool playing a four team round robin at the same venue in Eastern Canada.

[Vic]

Our #1 Canadian university team would not rank in the US Top 50.

[terpfan68]

I have to agree with Vic. U of Manitoba women currently ranked 8th in Canada only beat U of North Dakota 2 - 1 and UND are a middle ranked Division 2 team. I was sort of hoping that the plan for UBC to join the NCAA would go through and then we could keep our best players here and have them compete at the Division 1 level of the NCAA.

[The Ref]

With a new coach the future of the team will be bright.

[Trillium]

quote:Originally posted by Vic

Our #1 Canadian university team would not rank in the US Top 50.

A mens result..food for thought..

Oct. 3, 2007

Box Score

AMHERST, Mass. - Doug Rappaport (Tucson, Ariz.) scored on a penalty kick in the first half and Michael Jejna (Scottsdale, Ariz.) blasted home a goal in the second as the UMass men's soccer team defeated the University of Montreal 2-1 on Wednesday afternoon in a midseason exhibition match. The Minutemen will return to action on Saturday at 6 p.m. when they travel to Hartford for the final non-conference game of the season.

Rappaport got the Minutemen on the scoreboard first in the 29th minute after a called handball in the goalbox. The redshirt junior placed a penalty kick to the left center of the net past Montreal keeper Gerardo Argento who dove to the right before the kick.

Jejna made the score 2-0 in the 49th minute after taking a feed from sophomore Prince Ofosu (Worcester, Mass.) and sending a shot to the top right corner of the net from 15 yards out.

Arsene Ehounoud tallied an unassisted goal in the 64th minute to put the Cardians on the board to give the final 2-1 margin.

Argento and UMass keeper Zack Simmons each played the first half making two saves each. Argento was replaced in the second half by Lorenzo Borella, while Simmons gave way to sophomore Michael Russo (Rockaway, N.J.). Borella made two saves, while Russo made one save.

And..yes it mens soccer..but interestI hing ..none the less... I am not sure about UMASS ranking ..but i believe they are division one...

[loyola]

UMASS are 4-4 this year and are middle of the pack in the A-10 Conference, which isn't exactly a strong conference in soccer.

U of Alberta women's lost to NAIA #4 Carroll College 3-1 and to Rocky Mountain College (NAIA team from Montana with a terrible 2 wins and 8 losses record) 2-1. U of A are currently fourth in the Canada West Conference.

#7 Laval University won 2-1 against #23 in the NCAA D2 Merrimack College.

Something you have to remember about those CIS/NCAA matchup is that NCAA teams are using them to give some PT to their bench players while CIS teams will play their top players (I'm not saying it's always like that but from my experience it's the norm).

I don't think our top 10 women's teams (or men's for that matter) would be able to compete with top 50 NCAA opposition. The quality of players is just not the same.