This week we review the American's second defeat of Haiti on their Victory Tour, examine two major coaching moves in NWSL - both involving English coaches, look at the top college teams this season and highlight a set-back for the women's game in Iran.
USA DEFEATS HAITI FOR THE SECOND TIME ON VICTORY TOUR
On September 20, the U.S. National Women's Team finished a two game "Victory Tour" set of friendly matches against Haiti (replacements for Australia who were in a labor dispute with their federation), defeating essentially the Haitian U-20 national team 8-0 in Birmingham, Alabama in front of 35,753 - the largest crowd ever for a stand-alone Women's National Team match in the southeastern portion of the country. Carli Lloyd scored a hat trick (as she did 3 nights earlier in the 5-0 win in Detroit) along with single tallies from Crystal Dunn, Alex Morgan, Julie Johnston (55 seconds after kickoff), Amy Rodriguez and Heather O'Reilly. Brazil comes to the States next month for friendlies in Seattle and Orlando.
SIGNIFICANT COACHING CHANGES IN NWSL
On Wednesday September 23, two significant changes were announced in NWSL coaching positions, both involving coaches born in England.
Paul Riley's two years in Portland resulted in a semifinal loss in 2014 and no playoff berth in 2015 and the club announced earlier this week that he will not return next year, as discussed in this column a few weeks ago. It will be interesting to see if Portland hires a domestic-based coach or goes abroad, like Boston Breakers did, hiring much acclaimed U.K. manager Matt Beard.
Beard is the current manager of Liverpool Ladies in the FA WSL and has guided the Reds to the last two league championships. Though they currently sit sixth this season, he is a stellar signing by the Breakers. Their former coach, American Tom Durkin, will stay in the organization with their youth academy, but this team has struggled in NWSL - missing the playoffs all three years. Last season they only won 4 games and claimed only 4 points out of a possible 36 in their last 12 games. The club desperately needed a new direction and Beard should definitely supply that.
Boston Breakers general manager Lee Billiard said, when announcing Beard's hire to the media: "We believe the hiring of Matt as our head coach is a big statement for what we want to do here in Boston, and also a strong statement for the league."
Billiard also mentioned that Beard's hiring would help the team in terms of playing style on the pitch and in terms of player management and culture building off of it. He also said that the acquisition of Matt Beard showed how serious the Breakers organization was about succeeding: "[It is] a sign of ambition of what we want here in Boston. We need to do a better job on the field, and we want to be challenging for playoffs and the NWSL championship. I think we've got the head coach to be able to do that."
Beard's hiring is an indication of the status that NWSL is held around the world that a top European coach is leaving his comfort zone (and the carrot of European Champions League football) for a chance to succeed in the highest visibility professional league in women's football.
Beard, who in addition to his two FA WSL Championships at Liverpool, also was the head coach at Chelsea Ladies FC, Millwall Lionesses and spent time as an assistant with Charlton Ladies.
He clearly appreciates his new opportunity: "I am excited at the prospect of challenging myself abroad in a league as competitive as the NWSL with the Boston Breakers. Me and my family are looking forward to moving to a great city, and I cannot wait to get started."
Beard is looking forward to testing himself in a different country against the best that NWSL has to offer, a league that is riding the momentum of the U.S. WWC win this summer: "You've only got to look at how the nation has embraced the league, especially since the national team's World Cup (win), and I'm really excited to be a part of it."
When asked about possible personnel changes on the Breakers, he said: "It is clear there are going to be changes that have to be made. He said that he will prepare his teams and develop each individual player and make sure that he recruits "the right player and the right person."
Beard is familiar with NWSL and the American football scene; Washington midfielder Amanda DaCosta and 2015 World Cup Winner and Western New York Flash defender Whitney Engen played for him at Liverpool and currently he has American goalkeeper Libby Stout on the squad, who played at Western Kentucky University. In addition, Washington Spirit head coach Mark Parsons was on his staff at Chelsea and he has coached against the Seattle Reign's Laura Harvey when she was at Arsenal. He has also coached two summers for a high school program in the past in the States in Duluth, Minnesota. He acknowledged that the style of play is different between the two countries: "I think tactically it is more astute in England at the moment; [in] America the quality of the player is better, the tempo is quicker and a lot more transition of the football."
Beard has also coached in Australia as a head academy coach at the European Football Institute in Melbourne.
Signing Beard should finally do away with the lingering concerns that some have about NWSL surviving into Year 4, something which the two previous professional leagues in the States couldn't do. Beard should bring astute scouting skills of domestic U.K and international talent. At Liverpool this season, English international Natasha Dowie is currently third in the league with 13 goals. He has top class international players like young Nigerian international forward Asisat Oshoala, who he signed this season from Nigerian champions side River Angels, and who has scored three times for Liverpool and once for her country at the World Cup last summer. He also has Katrin Omardsottir, an Icelandic international midfielder who played collegiately at the University of California, along with Norwegian international defender Ingrid Ryland.
Beard's signing is a positive for NWSL as well as for the Boston Breakers. It will be interesting to see who the Portland Thorns sign as their next coach. With an average attendance of 15,600 and the host of next week's NWSL Final, the Oregon city has a vibrant women's soccer culture that is unique; there should be no shortage of viable candidates wishing to move to the Pacific Coast.
US COLLEGE SOCCER UPDATE
A month into the season, in which the playoffs are in November-December, Rutgers is ranked #16 in the Soccer America weekly poll of the top division 1 programs in the country, and is the only unbeaten and untied team in the country (8-0-0 W-L-T). #1 North Carolina (8-0-1), #5 Clemson (7-0-1) and #2 Virginia (7-0-1) all have one tie this year while unranked Cornell (6-0-2) has two. Last weekend saw Virginia Tech and Notre Dame tumble from the unbeaten ranks, at the hands of North Carolina and Clemson respectively. Others who lost for the first time last week were Wyoming, Oregon State, Tulsa, Washington State, Georgia State and the University of South Florida.
Reigning champions Florida State (7-1-1) are ranked third while West Virginia (9-1-0) is fourth.
For Virginia, head coach Steve Swanson has won a U-20 WWC in Japan and was an assistant with the full national team that triumphed this summer in Canada. In this, his 16th season at Virginia, he hopes to win the College Cup for the first time, as they fell last year in the final to Florida State. For North Carolina, New Zealand international Katie Bowen scored in the win over Virginia Tech and has now featured in two World Cups for the Football Ferns. At Florida State, Mark Krikorian has coached professionally in the WUSA has long been a recruiter of international talent from all over the world; he returns current Finnish international and all-Atlantic Coast Conference defender Emma Koivisto for her sophomore season.
IRAN - A STEP BACK FOR THE WOMEN'S GAME
The positive news that Iran is featuring in the Asian Football Confederation futsal tournament in Malaysia was offset by news that their captain Niloufar Ardalan was prevented from traveling by her husband, who refused to sign paperwork for her passport renewal. Ardalan's husband, a sports journalist, said that he did not want her to miss their 7-year-old son's first day of school. Under Iranian law, a husband can legally prevent his wife from traveling abroad.
Ardalan said: "These games were very important to me. As a Muslim woman, I wanted to work for my country's flag to be raised [at the games], rather than traveling for leisure and fun. I wish authorities would create [measures] that would allow female athletes to defend their rights in such situations."
Women's attempts to pursue football form only a part of a dynamic women's movement in the country; inevitable for any women's activity in a society where females legally have fewer rights than males. Women do not have full guardianship over their children after divorce, and are entitled to half as much inheritance as men unless the couple had no children, in which case his estate reverts to his parents, not his wife. The right to divorce still rests mostly with men in the Islamic Republic. If a man and a woman are injured in an accident, the man gets double the punitive damages. Women now play significant roles in politics and the workplace in Iran. They make up around sixty-five percent of students entering university. But legally, they are not treated the same as men. They are prevented from some positions, such as running for President or serving as judges.
Until sport is no longer seen as an affront to religion in the same way that business, civic and political activities are not, the growth of the game in Iran will of necessity link closely with women's rights.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham is on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
