Tuesday, September 9, 2008

TAMPA, FL – The new Chicago Red Stars of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) were represented by General Manager Marcia McDermott and coach Emma Hayes at the USL W-League Combine over the weekend. USLsoccer.com sat down with the pair as they evaluated their potential future players.

“This is a great opportunity to look at the talent of the W-League from the past few years,” said McDermott. “It is part of the progression of looks we will have to familiarize ourselves with the pool of players available.”

The challenge for the WPS clubs over the next few months will be the course of constructing their rosters from scratch, a process the former Carolina Courage (WUSA) coach and assistant general manager described as putting together a puzzle.

“Each decision affects the whole puzzle as pieces of the picture. As they fall into place you have to have plan A, plan B and plan C and so on. It’s fun – a chance to build something from the ground up and conceptualize what you want from the beginning.”

The first piece of that puzzle came with the hiring of former W-League Long Island Lady Riders head coach Emma Hayes as the first coach of the new team. Hays left her role as the assistant coach of Arsenal, widely considered the most dominant side in the English women’s top flight.

After facetiously asserting that the opportunity of working with McDermott, who was sitting to her left, was the primary reason for her return to the US, Hayes said that it was “The appeal to work in a new league they all hope will be the best in the world,” while echoing McDermott’s thoughts on the opportunity to build something from scratch being something she was looking forward to.

Hayes is currently slated to be one of only two foreign coaches in the league along with the recently announced appointment of Brazilian head coach Jorge Barcellos in St Louis. Her ties to England, however, may not lead to a mass exodus of the country’s top players to the United States regardless of the likes of Kelly Smith, Rachel Yankey, Rachel Unitt and Faye White having recently played in the W-League.

“I expect some of the top players to be interested,” said Hayes. “It will depend on which ones present themselves and want to come back.”

A recent report out of England over a concern that they will lose too many of their top players was perhaps a bit premature according to Hayes, who said that the Red Stars, and the league in general, wanted to work with and build relationships with leagues around the world.

“The competition creates opportunities for the English players to come here and play in a competitive environment that’s good for them, but we aren’t talking about a lot of players due to the roster limitations.”

She added that it should also be a two-way street where players should equally be given the opportunity to play in England, but due to the use of the same FIFA international caps standards that the men’s leagues use for work permits, there is very little opportunity for players in a far deeper American talent pool to play in England and raise its quality of play.

“The differences between the US and England is that there are more players at the higher level here. There is great quality in England, but the pool is smaller and it is more technical. Here, there is more talent at different levels of the game. The WPS will also be about developing players to compete with other technical nations around the world like England.”

“In England we have a senior level, then reserve teams and academies. Below that are Centres of Excellence that run in two-year intervals from U-10 upwards. It is supported at the grassroots level by the FA, who has put a lot of money into the Centres of Excellence. They have created a good talent ID pathway.”

Despite soccer being the fastest growing sport for women in England, the game is still building its foundation outside of the top few dominant clubs. The limited resources of the teams is the reason the FA itself has undertaken the role of overseeing player development, a stark contrast to the men’s side of the game.

In the US on the other hand, the clubs have become the driving force in player development on the women’s side of the game with the W-League serving as the top of the pyramid for most of its 14 years with many teams adding Super Y-League and USL Super-20 League teams over the past 5-10 years, including the Washington Freedom.

The missing piece of the puzzle for the game in the United States is the football culture that is so prevalent abroad. That is one of the primary goals for the Red Stars off the field.

“[In England] they grow up with it, live it. It’s second nature. Cultures and clubs grow with the communities and you inherit the teams. We want to build that sort of local community support with WPS,” said Hayes.