This week we examine the phenomena of NWSL professionals retiring mid-season to go into other careers as well as a coaching change this week at Sky Blue FC. We also present the ten finalists for the 2017 FIFA Player of the Year award
Maddy Evans retires from Orlando Pride and salary is a factor in her decision
Maddy Evans, a solid performer in the middle of the park in all five seasons of NWSL—the first three with the Boston Breakers and the last two with Orlando Pride after being selected as a late round selection in the 2015 Expansion Draft—retired last week with two months remaining in the season. Evans went on as a substitute in the Pride's statement-making 5-0 home win over Sky Blue FC on August 12, which showed that Orlando is serious about making a post-season berth charge in the final six weeks of the regular season (they host the Championship Final in November). Evans missed a penalty late in the game but what everyone focused on was the larger story of why she retired mid-season and that this phenomena is becoming more and more common in the league. Melissa Henderson of the Houston Dash, a Notre Dame graduate and former U.S. youth international, also retired this season (in June); she also had spent four plus years in the league. Henderson played 48 league games for FC Kansas City and the Dash, but only 19 minutes this season. She will pursue a career in youth ministry in her hometown of Dallas. Other American players in their mid-twenties have retired in past seasons.
Evans, a Penn State University, accepted a full-time position as a college assistant at West Chester State in Pennsylvania. Money was a significant issue as she explained in a press release issued by the Pride: "My decision to walk away happened very fast, but I've accepted a job back home in Pennsylvania. It wasn't an easy decision but, for me professionally and big picture, it's the perfect fit and best option at this time." She further explained her career move after the Sky Blue FC game: "At the end of the day my decision wasn't made on one or two things. It was made on a bunch of different things. But I am 26 turning 27 and I make $16,000 a year playing in this league, and I am in the fifth year of this league. I'm thankful for everything I get here but I think that eventually we need to grow to a point where players can make some more money. And my decision was not based just on money, I promise you that. But that is something we need to continue to build for. And I think Orlando is setting the standard for what a professional team in this league needs to look like. And I am very, very thankful for that. I think that, obviously, it has gotten better every single year so we are looking at it on the up. Unfortunately, it just didn't stay kind of caught up on where I needed to be. My junior year of college, there wasn't even a real pro league so I think when this league came out, I knew it was a dream of mine. I think that ultimately, I want to be able to look back in 10 years that players are able to come out of college and you could be 27, 28, 29 in this league, because I feel like I am still in form and I could play. But I have to look where I want to be in three years and being here unfortunately isn't getting me there. So, going home and I have two degrees in my hand, I'm going to go home and put those to work and kind of start to build myself. But this was not an easy decision, especially in the middle of the season and I hope that everyone could understand that."
Her Pride teammate and U.S. international forward Alex Morgan said: "Maddy's retirement for sure came as a surprise. Just because it wasn't at the end of season, but she had an opportunity she couldn't pass up. I completely get it. I totally understand. The only bummer for us as a team, not her because she's going on to great things. Just how great of a teammate she really was, she was just so good for the locker room. She was so positive. She's a player that's worked hard always. She just never gave up. She's a player that always and still has confidence in her teammates, so selfless. So, she's just a great teammate. I've been so grateful to be able to play with her these last two years. So happy that I've gotten to know her, and I wish her all the best, but we're definitely gonna [sic] miss her on this team. She always brought a smile into work and it was amazing."
In Boston, Evans appeared in 74 games in her career scoring two goals with three assists. This season, she appeared in 12 games but for only 484 minutes or a little over 5 full matches. Evans (26) also spent time in Australia playing for the Westfield W-LeagueBrisbane Roar in 2016.
These early retirements from experienced pros in the NWSL are driven at least in part by economic reasons, though age and injuries can certainly factor in as well. If you are not a U.S, Canadian or international player in NWSL (what are known as non-allocated players) the salaries for the March-September regular season are quite low for a professional. The minimum salary for 2017 for non-allocated players is $15,000 (compared to $7,200 in 2016) with a maximum of $41,700 ($39,700 in 2016). Last year we featured 2 former NWSL players who went to Kazakhstan, in part because the net salary was much higher than they made in NWSL, but also to play for a club that wanted them, experience a different culture and play for a club that regularly qualifies for the Women's Champions League (http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/the-week-in-women-s-football-uefa-cl-round-of-32-set-aussie-great-de-vanna-joins-orlando-pride-solo-exits-seattle-4145419). Many players work part-time jobs outside their club duties (Evans taught and worked at a grocer) or gain additional income through sponsorships or coaching at summer camps. Salaries do need to grow for the bottom half of the rosters in particularly but NWSL has been rightly cautious because it has had to fight the legacy of two previous professional women's leagues which both folded after their third season (WUSA/WPS). The NWSL, sailing along in year 5, has indeed succeeded in developing and maintaining a viable business model for the league which was started by and currently operated by the U.S. Soccer Federation and doesn't want to go crazy on salaries like WUSA did—spending the incredible sum of over $100,000,000 by the end of year 1, including quite generous (high) salaries. However, another important goal is that playing women's professional soccer should also be an economically viable 8-12 year career for all players, not just national teamers and international imports. When the league is able to accomplish that without threatening its survival is unclear, but will probably not be any time soon, though the sport and the league are on a nice growth trajectory in the United States.
Christy Holly Resigns at Sky Blue FC—Is Christine Rampone Next?
Christy Holly a native of Derry, Northern Ireland, resigned this week as head coach of Sky Blue FC in the NWSL. Holly originally joined the club in its first season in 2013 as an assistant to then head coach Jim Gabarra. Holly was appointed head coach for the 2016 season when Gabarra left the side (and is now coaching the Washington Spirit). Holly's record this season was seven wins, two ties and nine losses for 23 points after a 7-5-8 record for 26 points and a seventh place finish in 2016. Since the recent international break the club has lost twice, at home to the Spirit 2-1 and on the road on August 12 to Orlando 5-0. Sky Blue, which was in a playoff position for much of the season, finds itself in sixth place and six points behind fourth place Orlando entering their August 19 match at home against Seattle Reign.
Interestingly, Sky Blue FC defender Christie Pearce also announced this week that she will miss the remainder of this season with accumulated injuries. This reporter feels that it is highly likely that Pearce takes over the coaching reigns of the team, either for the rest of this season or permanently for 2018. Pearce—a five time U.S. World Cup team member and four time Olympian with 2 World Cup and 3 Olympic titles—took over the side as player/coach with two regular season games left in WPS's inaugural year in 2009 and led the team to the WPS title, defeating the heavily favored Marta and Camille Abily (France)-led Los Angeles Sol 1-0 in California. The Sol was the flagship team in the league, winning the regular season title and with it a direct pass to the championship game and hosting rights. Everyone connected with the club was clear that Rampone was a temporary appointment to finish the season. But Sky Blue squeaked into the playoffs in the last game of the season and won two playoff games on the road to make the final and became a definitive phenomenon, Many wrote them off in the Championship final, as they won on Wednesday and had to play on Saturday morning for the league title, assuming they would tire early against the rested Sol, who could start the explosive Marta and fielded the best defense in the league. Rampone was a master of utilizing her squad however, starting former U.S. international forward Kai—who is still a member of the side—who had subbed into the previous two games. Brazilian international Franciella also started and controlled central midfield with fellow Brazilian Rosana (now with North Carolina but who previously played with Lyon and Paris St. Germain in France and Alvadsnes in Norway). With strong wing play from Heather O'Reilly (now with Arsenal) on the right and Kacey White (now a staff coach with U.S. Soccer) on the left—Sky Blue's midfield possession game blunted the Sol's speed and power. O'Reilly scored an early goal (16th minute) and their defense blunted the powerful Sol attack the rest of the way.
I asked Rampone after the game if, since she had won four of five games as head coach and secured the first WPS championship, she had second thoughts about giving up her coaching position and returning as a player. Rampone said, "I still want to play the game. I think I can do a better job being on the field and maybe helping the head coach next year, but I definitely put my time in and I'm retiring as coach for now until I'm done playing." On top of everything else, Rampone also had an ovarian cyst removed in an emergency operation in July while away on national team duty. She revealed after the championship game that she was three months pregnant, but hadn't told her teammates or the media because she didn't want to distract them during their playoff run. I wrote at the time: "Rampone, universally respected as a calm, stable influence as the team captain during the 2008 Olympic Games, put herself onto a different level with her visionary leadership of Sky Blue. Thanks to her planning and game management, a team that was in constant turmoil all season will be forever remembered as the first WPS champions. When Rampone is done playing, there should be a long line of teams wanting her to return to coaching." It appears that, eight years later, that you will shortly see Rampone coaching the side that she has been a pillar of for years.
Note: For the game against Seattle on August 19, the assistant coaching staff of former U.S. international goalkeeper Jill Loyden, Dave Hodgson (a native of England and their Sports Strength Coach), Paul Greig (a native of Scotland who coached Northern Football in New Zealand to a league title in 2015) and Maria Dorris (goalkeeper coach and also an assistant at Drew University in New Jersey) teamed together in an interim arrangement. Sky Blue looked dead in the water at halftime, down 3-0 to Seattle. Sam Kerr scored a hat trick to tie the game up in 23 minutes during the second half before Seattle scored again in the 85th minute through Kiersten Dallstream. Maya Hayes tied the game again for the home side. In injury time, Sky Blue was awarded a penalty kick but Kerr banged it off the crossbar. With one last attack, Kerr scored on a header from a corner kick for a fantastic 5-4 Sky Blue win. Kerr now leads the league with 15 goals, is the first player in league history to score 4 goals in a game and might have salvaged the team's playoff hopes, as they are now only 3 points behind fourth place Orlando.
FIFA 2017 Player of the Year Finalists Announced
FIFA announced 10 finalists for the 2017 World Player of the Year award this past week. The fact that three current/fall 2017 rostered players from the English Super League players are on the list (Lucy Bronze of Manchester City, Vivianne Miedema and Jodie Taylor both of Arsenal) and does not include Carli Lloyd—who played on loan at Man City this Spring before rejoining the Houston Dash in NWSL—is a good sign of the international recognition of the growth and strength of the English league. Two players are based in France, two (including Lloyd) are in NWSL, one each is in Spain and Germany while Venezuelan international Deyna Castellanos was the player of the year in the U.S. based amateur league United Women's Soccer and is now a sophomore at Florida State University.
At this point, Sam Kerr has a strong argument to be 2017 Player of the Year—awarded at a FIFA ceremony typically in early January—based on 4 goals in the recent Tournament of Nations in the U.S. that her country won, defeating the Americans, Brazil and Japan. She has 15 goals in NWSL (and leads the league) and now is the all-time leader in the history of the league with 41 tallies (surpassing Scottish international's Kim Little's 36) while powering Sky Blue into the playoff reckoning. (A worthwhile 4 minutes spent is to watch her first 37 goals on a video that the NWSL posted on their website at: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APbYsWr1GOA). Kerr should have competition for the prize from England's Jodie Taylor, Lieke Martens of EURO 2017 winner the Netherlands--who transferred from Rosengard of Sweden to Barcelona this summer—and possibly Pernille Harder of European Championship runners-up Denmark last month, who has moved from 2016 title winners Linkopings to Wolfsburg.
The finalists for The Best FIFA Women's Player 2017, in alphabetical order, are:
Lucy Bronze (ENG - Manchester City Women)
Deyna Castellanos (VEN - Santa Clarita Blue Heat)
Pernille Harder (DEN - Linkopings / VfL Wolfsburg (Women))
Sam Kerr (AUS - Perth Glory / Sky Blue FC)
Carli Lloyd (USA - Houston Dash / Manchester City Women)
Dzsenifer Marozsan (GER - Olympique Lyonnais Feminin)
Lieke Martens (NED - FC Barcelona Femeni)
Vivianne Miedema (NED - Arsenal Women)
Wendie Renard (FRA - Olympique Lyonnais Feminin)
Jodie Taylor (ENG - Arsenal Women)
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
