NWSL Archive

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Quon’s stunning switch highlights Canada roster for June 2 BMO friendly

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/22/2013

Rachel Quon

Rachel Quon

For months, Canadian national team coach John Herdman has been lamenting the women’s national team’s lack of wing players, and how he needs to find young players who can bring width to the side.

Enter Rachel Quon. In what has to be described as a surprising, maybe even a shocking switch, the former U.S. national team prospect is changing shirts. Quon, ironically, could be set to make her Canada debut in June 2‘s friendly against the U.S. at BMO Field — pending FIFA approval. On Wednesday, she was named to the roster for that June 2 game.

Quon, a fullback, was a standout with Stanford University, a regular for the Chicago Red Stars, played for the Americans at the U-20 World Cup in 2010, and started every game for the U.S. that same year at the CONCACAF U-20 Championships. She has been part of the U.S. national-team program since she was 14. She was born in Illinois. On the surface, you’d find nothing that links her to Canada.

“I am hoping that she can give us that little something different in the fullback position,” said Herdman in a conference call.

The Canadian Soccer Association is now working with FIFA to ensure that Quon is eligible to play. Herdman said that a national coach needs to invite a player to camp before the FIFA process can begin.
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Sinclair is NWSL’s first-ever player of the month

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/08/2013

Christine Sinclair

Christine Sinclair

The NWSL announced its first-ever player of the month on Tuesday — and the honour went to all-time Canadian goal-scoring leader Christine Sinclair.

Sinclair scored twice and added an assist as her Portland Thorns began the season on a strong note, going 2-0-1 in April.

Sinclair scored on a penalty in a 1-1 draw with Kansas City, assisted on an Alex Morgan goal in a 2-1 win over Seattle, and scored in a 2-0 win over Chicago.
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3

NWSL’s opening weekend broadcasts were frustratingly poor

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/15/2013

NWSL-Logo-516x340I wanted this NWSL season-opening column to be about the Canadian players in the league.

But, instead of focusing on the fact Christine Sinclair opened her NWSL account with a penalty-kick goal that gave her Portland Thorns a draw with FC Kansas City on Saturday, I need to discuss something very troubling about the league’s opening weekend. And this doesn’t reflect not only my opinion, but what I’ve heard and read from the readers of this site. These are people, like me, who desperately want to see women’s soccer have a viable professional home in North America.

And that opinion? That “minor league” would be overstating just how poor the league’s efforts were in communicating its product to its fans and, more importantly, to its potential fans.

As most of the sporting world had their eyes on the Angel Cabrera/Adam Scott playoff in the Masters, I was one of the women’s soccer loyalists who tried to take in as much of the Sunday action as I could from the league’s opening weekend.

And what I am about to write doesn’t come easily. As someone who works in the broadcast world, to actually criticize the work of others is a dangerous thing to do. I work in a profession in which bridge-burning is a career-killer. And, heck, from calling FC Edmonton games, I know what it’s like to try and cover soccer on turf covered in football lines, just like we saw in the NWSL stadiums.

But, here goes.
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1

Canadians shut out of NWSL Supplemental Draft

By
Steven Sandor
– 02/07/2013

Meghan Lenczyk

Canadians were shut out through six rounds of Thursday’s NWSL draft.

A total of 45 players were selected — and every one of them carried American citizenship. And three teams passed on making sixth-round picks.

Through a deal with the Canadian Soccer Association, each of the eight NWSL teams will carry two Canadian players. Those players, selected by national-team coach John Herdman, were already allocated to their respective teams, and will have their salaries covered by the CSA. The Mexican federation is also placing 16 players in the league.

With so much foreign content in the league — and each team only allowed to fill two more roster spots with international players, it really isn’t a surprise that the Supplemental Draft was an all-American affair.
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Canadian national teamers look forward to the day NWSL expands north of the border

By
Steven Sandor
– 02/05/2013

Members of the Canadian women’s team pose with local players and officials at Edmonton City Hall, Monday.

While the four members of the Canadian women’s national team who were in Edmonton Monday will all soon head Stateside to report to their NWSL teams, they still dream of playing pro soccer in their home and native land.

“We are all very proud Canadians,” said 10-year national-team veteran Rhian Wilkinson, sitting alongside Olympic bronze-medal winning teammates Christine Sinclair, Karina LeBlanc and Diane Matheson at a special media event held at Edmonton’s City Hall Monday. “We’ll all be heading to the U.S. in March, but we all want to play in our own country as soon as possible.”

The message here: The Canadian women want to see the NWSL, which kicks off in eight U.S. cities this year, expand to Canada as soon as possible.

All four were part of the 16 Canadians allocated (two per team) to the new league, with the Canadian Soccer Association picking up the tab for their salaries. LeBlanc and Sinclair will play together in Portland; Wilkinson is off to the Boston Breakers, while Matheson is headed to the Washington Spirit.
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LeBlanc: Canadian women drawing their NWSL battle lines

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/23/2013

Karina LeBlanc

It’s fair to use the term “frenemies” to describe the members of Canada’s women’s national team.

A little less than two weeks ago, 16 members of the women’s national program found out where they would be playing in the new NWSL, including keeper Karina LeBlanc. Each of the eight teams got two members of the Canadian national program, whose salaries will be paid by the Canadian Soccer Association.

And, as soon as the women found out where they’d be spending the summer, the jawing began.

“We were in China (for the Yongchuan Cup), so we didn’t find out live,” said LeBlanc, who was on a media conference call Tuesday promoting her upcoming visit to Edmonton with national teammates Christine Sinclair, Rhian Wilkinson and Diana Matheson. “But we all looked at our e-mail to find out where we were going, and then the trash talking started right away.”
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NWSL reveals the names of the 16 Canadian women who made the cut

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/09/2013

Bryanna McCarthy: Biggest surprise on the list?

The new NWSL has announced the names of the 16 Canadian national-team women who will be allocated to the league for the 2013 season.

As per the league’s agreement with the Canadian Soccer Association, the CSA will provide the salaries for the 16 players selected. They were chosen by women’s national-team coach John Herdman, with an eye to prepping the best female players in the country for the 2015 Women’s World Cup.

If you are surprised by the omission of striker Melissa Tancredi, who had a breakout performance at the Olympics, Herdman earlier confirmed that she is taking the next year to focus on her school studies and is taking a bit of a step back from soccer. She’s expected to be back in the mix later on.

Defenders Candace Chapman and Marie-Eve Nault, who were both part of the Olympic team, didn’t see their names on the list.
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