09.15.2008 8:00 pm
St. Louis learns first three women’s team players
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The official announcement will come today, but the first three players on the St. Louis team in the new women’s league will be Lori Chalupny (we knew that was going to happen), goalkeeper Hope Solo and Tina Ellertson. While Chalupny is on the quiet side, Solo, as we’ve seen is can be a bit controversial. And while national team watchers may recall Ellertson as a defender (who famously got schooled by Brazil in the ‘07 Women’s World Cup), she began her career as a forward who is still the all-time leading goalscorer at the Univeristy of Washington. I expect she’ll be played up top.
I am happy that Chalupny gets to stay home. She will be supported well.
I’m super-excited that Solo will be here, too! Will be good for soccer (boys and girls) in the STL area!
–Trueman93
Although Solo has been controversial, she is an incredible goalkeeper and I am glad to have her in the back. And having Chalupny rocks, she brings a lot to the pitch. Tom, I’m sure you’ve been asked before, but what are the chances of Brazilian players joining St. Louis to play for Barcellos?
There will be a draft next week of the rights to international players. After that, the teams will get to negotiate with them. One would presume that Barcellos would choose several Brazilian players and be able to convince them to come. The order of the draft will be determined by how strong each team’s allocation players are. I would think St. Louis allocations would be considered pretty strong — Chalupny and Solo were two of the top, what, four or five, players on the national team? So St. Louis would likely draft toward the bottom. So the best Brazilians might be gone by then, but Barcellos would no doubt know the depth of the Brazilian team and could get some quality further down. But I can’t imagine that Barcellos won’t bring in Brazilians.
What? No comments on the team name or logo?
http://www.womensprosoccer.com/multimedia_ektid4818.aspx?team=stlouis
Personally, I think the logo is fine. It avoids St. Louis’ most overused image, the Arch, in favor of St. Louis himself. The color is a little, well, green. As for the name, it may be tough to rally around “St. Loius” in the short term. Obviously, the assumption is that some day there will be an MLS team and the two will co-branded. Cooper told me that going with just a city name is very traditional, like they do in Europe. I’m not sure that’s the first thing that will come to mind, but his net worth is way higher than mine.
There are some pictures from the allocation on the league’s website http://www.womensprosoccer.com/soccer_ektid4936.aspx?team=stlouis
Some things to note in the pictures: Hope Solo is wearing a Cardinals cap.
A lot of teams in the league will be wearing light blue.
Steve Nash is in every photo. This might mean the league is looking for PR anywhere it can.