This week TribalFootball.com talked exclusively to Spanish international forward Vero Boquete, who has returned from China to sign with the Utah Royals of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). We also look at Canadian midfielder Sophie Schmidt's return to the NWSL after years playing in Germany. We then wrap-up the SAFF national team sub-regional event earlier this month in Asia.

Vero Boquete—From China to Salt Lake City

Vero Boquete, the Spanish international forward, has returned to the U.S. after a recent stint in China with Beijing Phoenix. She last played in the States in 2014 with the Portland Thorns and then played in Germany with 1 FFC Frankfurt and Bayern Munich before joining Paris St. Germain in France from 2016 to 2018. She was the WPS' Most Valuable Player with the Philadelphia Independence in 2011 and played with the Buffalo Flash in the W-League in 2010; she was a rarity that season in that the Chicago Red Stars of WPS brought her in from the amateur league at the end of the season. The well-traveled Boquete has played in China, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the U.S. She played for Spain in their debut appearance at the Women's World Cup in 2015.

TribalFootball.com talked to Vero Boquete exclusively during her preseason training with the Royals, focusing on her time in China, how she joined Utah and her future plans. The Chinese League has been attracting a number of European and African players and is still largely an unknown and difficult to follow entity to many of us in the game. Vero said that playing in China was: "A life experience, everything is so different, the culture, playing and training. I like to see the world. The sports side is not a high level like I was used to at PSG or Bayern in Europe, which is a better level. Organizationally, the teams [in China] are totally professional with good conditions. You feel professional as a player." She added that playing for a foreign staff [Swedish head coach Kim Bjorkegren from Linkopings and Elena Saidku as fitness coach] was a smooth transition as far as their approach to football, but that: "It can be hard with Chinese coaches; the methodologies and the way they train is very different."

She found that the Chinese League, comprised of 8 teams (who also contested two cup competitions annually): "has good domestic players but the national team players tend to clump with Dalian Quanjian [the champions the last 3 seasons] and Jiangsu Suning," which—not surprisingly—are typically the top two teams in the table. Her Beijing side finished fourth in the 2018 campaign, which ran from February through November. She was supposed to stay for two seasons: "The first year, to help the team grow in year one and the second year to fight for the title." To her surprise, at the end of the season last November, she found that the team did not want her back for the second season. She explained that: "Things change so fast in China, it is really difficult to work with them; you get frustrated so my option was to leave." The club went a different direction in terms of a lead foreign forward.

Boquete had some interest from clubs in England, Italy and Spain late in 2018, but they wanted her to come right away and join mid-season, without going through a preseason, but then she met Utah Royals and former Arsenal coach Laura Harvey while she was working for FIFA at the U-17 WWC in Uruguay in November/December, and a few months later she is in Salt Lake City. Boquete said: "I really appreciate good coaches and Laura is maybe the only one that I got good references for from everyone. I wanted to try to win a Finals title in the U.S.[Her Philadelphia Independence side, coached by Liverpool native and current North Carolina Courage head coach Paul Riley, fell to the Western New York Flash on penalties in Rochester in 2011 in the final game played by the WPS]. The team is still building. Everyone loves Laura Harvey and I am excited to play and work with her and also because it is for the first time that I have a women's coach, which is new. There are big expectations with her and the club; we have everything here, the best training facilities and staff; when you are a professional, you really appreciate to be focused on football." Vero is expected to connect with the other forwards and score goals for a team that only scored 22 goals in 24 games, missing a playoff spot by only two points. American Katie Stengel (herself an ex-Bayern Munich forward) had 6 goals last season to lead the club while U.S. international Amy Rodriguez had 5. Boquete should help galvanize the offensive attack of the Royals.

Boquete is no longer in consideration for a national team squad position due to politics and her outspokenness [along with many of her national teammates] in the past against the previous head coach—Ignacio Quereda—who directed the team for almost three decades: "My time with the national team is over [and] I don't get a call. After 14 years [in the national team program] and being the captain [of Spain], I wish I had a better end and I think I still have the level [of play] to be there and play a World Cup; there are too many things behind the scenes that don't allow me to be there….I'm paying the consequences and I have to accept the situation… I'm happy with my role in my sport."

In terms of the Spanish League she said that: "The Spanish League is more competitive, more professional and is at a higher level in the past 3 years than in the past; we are at a social moment which is really good for women and we are using that moment to make our sport grow. Right now the Spanish league is almost at the same level as the bigger leagues in Europe." She played in Sweden at now defunct Tyreso and feels that the Damallsvenskan— so long seen as the top league in Europe along with Germany in both style of play and attendance—has slipped recently, in part because of the structure of the league. Boquete explained: "Sweden has fallen behind France, Germany, England, Spain and Italy—[the big 5 in Europe if you will]—since their clubs largely are not aligned with men's clubs. They are surviving with small clubs in small towns and leaving things to the sponsors and top players are leaving." Boquete thinks that they need: "to be part of a big men's club, like PSG or Bayern" or her new club—the Utah Royals, who are owned by the Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake.

In terms of the future, she said that: "I would like to play in England and Italy because of their strong soccer cultures and I want to come back to Spain and play professionally in my country; that would be the best end of my career, to find the conditions that I didn't find when I left 10 years ago [having last played for Espanyol in the Spanish league in 2010-11]." After her playing career ends, she said emphatically: "I will be a coach. That's why it is interesting for me to play in different countries around the world, to see different ways of playing, training, and styles, and to know everything that will help me in the future to be a coach. Everything I won as a player, I want to do as a coach and have an opportunity in a few years."

Vero Boquete is a world class striker who also has a vision for the growth of the women's game in her native country and globally. She should be an exciting addition to the Royals and the NWSL, and help drive increases in fan attendance, after drawing an outstanding 9,466 average attendance during their first season in Salt Lake City in 2018.

Sophie Schmidt returns to the NWSL

Another high profile returnee to the NWSL is Canadian international midfielder Sophie Schmidt, who was signed by the Houston Dash for the 2019 season. Schmidt played the past three seasons with FFC Frankfurt in Germany (2015-2018), where she scored 6 times in 52 matches. She appeared in the semifinals of the UEFA Women's Champions League in 2015-16. She has 180 international caps with 18 goals and 20 assists—first being capped as a 16-year-old—and is expected to play in her fourth consecutive WWC this summer, while also being a member of the last two Olympic Games Bronze medalists for Canada. She played with Sky Blue FC in the NWSL in 2013 and 2014, scoring 8 times in 41 appearances. She played collegiately at the University of Portland and also played in WPS in 2011 with the magicJack squad in Boca Raton, Florida before joining Kristianstads DDF of Sweden in 2012, in the gap year between WPS and the launch of the NWSL. Schmidt is a tremendous signing for the Dash as, under new coach James Clarkson, they attempt to make the NWSL Semifinals for the first time in their six seasons in the league.

SAFF Women's Championship

In March, the South Asian Football Federation Women's Cup was held for the fifth time in Nepal. India defeated host Nepal 3-1 on March 22 to capture the title for the fifth consecutive tournament. India had some legitimate trepidation against Nepal as they had lost 2-1 to them in February (with a brace from Sabitra Bhandari during the first six minutes) during the four team Hero Gold Cup held in Bhubaneswar,India. The tournament also included Myanmar and Iran, and Myanmar won the title with a 3-1 defeat of Nepal.

Dalima Chhiber, Grace Dangmei and substitute Anju Tamang scored for India in the SAFF Final. This win also extended India's run of victories in the tournament to 23 games. Chhiber, who scored from 40 yards from goal off a free-kick, said that game was the Feburary game against Nepal was in the back of the players' minds: "We knew they had beaten us at home, so we always wanted to win. There can be no sweeter revenge, than coming to Nepal, beating them at their home and winning the trophy for India." She saw the win as a key moment for them ahead of more key games coming in the next few months: "We've progressed as a team, and you can see that we are much more comfortable playing with each other now. Playing quality teams like Romania [in friendlies] has definitely helped us in our progress." India's busy first half of 2019 continues with the second round of the AFC Qualifiers for 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where they have been grouped along with Myanmar, Nepal and Indonesia,

Both finalists had 4-0 wins in their SAFF semifinals, India besting Bangladesh, while Nepal defeated Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka played three games in Bahrain in December in preparation for the regional championship. Nepal and India both won their first round groups without being scored upon—Nepal defeated Bhutan and Bangladesh by identical 3-0 score lines, while India triumphed over the Maldives 6-0 and Sri Lanka 5-0. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka finished runners-up in their group, each advancing with a 2-0 win over Bhutan and the Maldives respectively.

Group A

GP W DL GF GA GDPTS

Group B

GPW DL GF GA GDPTS

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