A place to play
National Women’s Soccer League will change the game
As the master builder, John Herdman knows he has some exceptional blocks on which to craft a Canadian women’s team capable of winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015.
Players like Christine Sinclair, who is among the best women strikers the game has ever seen. Like Diana Matheson, so small in stature, so large in heart and ability. Like Desiree Scott and Melissa Tancredi. And many more.
That’s just as well, since he and his crew are bent on winning the title on their own soil.
Ottawa is among cities hosting the finals running through June, and this week it was revealed it had landed nine matches. Canada will not be playing any of its four firstround games at the glittering new Lansdowne Park facility. But who knows if it will be here for a round of 16 match or a quarter-final. That all depends on the draw and results.
Of course, that’s important to you and I. But where Canada plays is far less important than how we play, and the optimists among us can already see the stars aligning better than ever before.
It’s the arrival of the National Women’s Soccer League, which kicks off its first season on April 13, that has the potential to make the difference.
This is third time women’s pro soccer has tried to establish a lasting foothold in North America. The last two flickered, fizzled and flopped. They were leagues that gave professional opportunities to very few Canadians who were forced to find playing time in other countries at least a continent away. Even then, maybe 40 per cent of the Canadian squad could find a pro position. Not any longer. Smart work — in particular by Canadian Soccer Association forward-thinker Peter Montopoli — resulted in the formation of the new league. In the past, clubs needed to foot the entire bill for administration and player salaries, which ultimately resulted in the leagues’ undoing.
As the London Olympics unfolded last summer, it became increasingly obvious that competition at the highest level was getting tougher and tougher. Countries such as Japan had introduced passing and moving skills that were outweighing athleticism and the long ball.
CSA general secretary Montopoli began some outside-the-box musings that would allow Canada to keep pace. After all, the next World Cup finals were coming to our country and embarrassment could not be on the menu.
The need for change was also heavily on the minds of the U.S. and Mexican associations. So, maybe, it should not be too surprising that the three top countries in CONCACAF should collaborate. It was in everyone’s interest.
So here’s the NWSL, filled with at least 24 of the best U.S. players, 16 Canadian internationals and 12 Mexican stars. How has that been managed? Each association has undertaken to pay the wages of these players and U.S. Soccer is taking care of administration. If clubs cannot succeed financially with help like that, no league can.
For Herdman, it’s a godsend. In the past, his top players have been forced to play in far-flung countries where the soccer seasons run by different calendars. For some it is summer, for others it is winter. That has meant key players being unavailable for international duty. In addition, those left behind without a top-level pro team spent their Canada time in a Vancouver residency camp without enough serious playing time, and often without their colleagues.
Given that, what Canada has achieved has been remarkable.
Now, top players will all be playing to the same calendar in a league that is mindful of international commitments and tailors its fixtures to fit.
As Herdman says, “Players need daily training, they need a pro environment, they need best against best on a regular basis and they need to live their lives as professional footballers.”
It is Herdman who picked the 16 Canadians the CSA will sponsor this year. But there is no guarantee he will select the same 16 in 12 months time. So the pressure is on.
Every player will be playing not only for a starting position on her club team, but also for selection next season. Heavy pressure maybe, but an environment in which the dedicated will thrive. And that’s exactly as Herdman wants it.
Training camps have already opened and, judging by a lengthy chat I had with Christine Sinclair, Karina LeBlanc, Diana Matheson and Rhian Wilkinson shortly after the league had been announced before Christmas, it couldn’t come a day too soon.
At that moment, none of the players even knew if Herdman would pick them, although it is clear he is relying mightily on this quartet and other veterans to lead the charge, even if they do not end up on the roster at World Cup 2015.
That does not bother them. As Wilkinson said: “That’s not important. What we need to do is keep the momentum of the Olympics going. Whatever we need to do, we will do.”
Sinclair, touted by many of us as the best women’s goal scorer of all time, had been on the verge of signing for Paris Saint-Germain in the French Feminine Division when rumours of a new league began to circulate.
But this wonderful player proved that Canadian red is dearer to her than finances in France. She wanted to stay closer to home and, consequently, closer to the Canadian national action in the ride towards the World Cup.
She’s happy, her teammates are happy and Herdman is happy. The Canadian gold medal project remains on track.