US Olympic Women’s Soccer Preview

Both the Men’s and Women’s Olympic soccer tournaments begin today, two days before the opening ceremonies. Unfortunately the US only qualified one team for this tournament, but the Women’s team will start their run at a medal today so here’s a bit of a preview of that tournament. The US Women’s team includes a few local names, including Heather O’Reilly of  East Brunswick, NJ, former Independence GK Nicole Barnhart, Christie Rampone, from Monmouth University and Point Pleasant, NJ, and Villanova’s Jill Loyden, from Vineland, NJ who will be the alternate GK.

12 teams are entered in to this summers tournament, 11 made it through qualifying including 2 from every confederation and one from Oceania along with Great Britain. Unlike the men’s games is a full senior competition so there is no age limit.

The twelve teams which will be competing are Great Britain, Japan, North Korea, South Africa, Cameroon, United States, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, New Zealand, France, and Sweden.

The favorites in the tournament have to be the US and Japan. Both are currently ranked in the top 3 (second ranked Germany missed qualifying), and were the finalists in the most recent World Cup.  Sweden, Brazil, France,Canada, and North Korea (along with England who is a large part of the Great Britain team) are ranked in the top 10, leaving Cameroon, South Africa, New Zealand and  Colombia as the most prominent underdogs.

While many expect a rematch of the World Cup Final, between Homare Sawa led Japan and the American squad, this is a deep tournament which will surely see strong competition.

 

Players to watch:

Alex Morgan, USA Age 23, Breakthrough Athlete of the Year 2012 ESPY Awards

Hope Solo, USA Age 30, US Soccer Athlete of the Year 2009, Golden Glove 2011 World Cup

Abby Wambach, USA Age 32, AP Female Athlete of the Year 2011, US Soccer Athlete of the Year 2010, 2011

Homare Sawa, Japan Age 33 2012 World Player Of The Year

Marta, Brazil Age 26 2005-2010 World Player Of The Year

Cristiane, Brazil Age 27 Leading Scorer Olympics, 2004, 2008

Christine Sinclair, Canada Age 29, Canadian Player of the Year 2005-2010

Marie-Laure Delie, France Age 24, 41 Appearances 36 Goals since 2009 with France

Ellen White, Great Britain Age 23, 19 Apparences 21 Goals from 2008-2010 with Leeds Carnegie Ladies

Lotta Schelin, Sweden Age 28, Diamond Ball Winner (Swedish Female Footballer of the Year) 2011

 

Union Going To Olympics?

After lsoing Faryd Mondragon and Sebastien Le Toux, two of the teams most recognizable and beloved members, a lot of people are wondering what the team has planned for the future, both short term and long. Of course Seba and Faryd were two of the oldest players on the roster and both took up valuable starting spots. It seems to me that the Union might be considering entering a team into the Olympics. Roster rules require that a team enter 23 players, which we might not quite make, and allow only 3 players over the age of 23. Taking a look at the Union’s roster, it becomes a serious consideration.

A quick look at our players under 23.They already have 17 available

M/F Adu 22

M Michael Farfan 23

M/D Gabe Farfan 23

D Gaddis 22

F Hoffmann 21

M Jordan 21

M Khalfan 23

GK MacMath 20

F Martinez 21

F McInerney 19

M McLaughlin 18

F Mwanga 20

M Nakazawa 23

M Okugo 20

M Pfeffer 17

M Torres 20

D Williams 21

 

So ten mids, two and a half (Garfan) defenders, and five and a half forwards(Adu) and a single goalie. If we bring down Callif, Valdes and Poriforo Lopez to fill in the backline we’ll have an entire starting lineup. Fill two spots for the keepers behind MacMath with underage players and we’re only one spot from being Olympic eligible. Maybe sign Christian Hernandez? And then sucede from the Union! Sucede and Suceed. The new Union slogan!