The Week in women’s soccer: Ex-Arsenal instruct joins Reign; Matheson retires; Iceland update
This week we have an in-intensity look at Iceland’s pinnacle women’s division league
because it has entered the second half of the season,
which includes a number of their complete internationals from around the sector. We also take a look at the information that former Arsenal head coach Laura Harvey is leaving her U.S. Girls’ countrywide group educate position to rejoin the NWSL and the Reign—her unique facet inside the league. We also have news that long-time Canadian worldwide midfielder Diana Matheson is retiring from the game, but desires to help her u . S . Set up NWSL teams or even a Canadian expert league.
Former Arsenal head instructs Laura Harvey returns to the Reign from the U.S. WNT U-20 aspect
Laura Harvey, who coached Arsenal in England earlier than joining
the Seattle Reign for his or her inaugural season in 2013—guiding
the Reign to 2 league titles (2014 and 2015) earlier than joining
the Utah Royals for 2 seasons—has resigned her role as U.S. Ladies’ countrywide crew U-20 head coach to go back to the NWSL and the Reign franchise as of July 15. She will be able to finish as an assistant at the Olympic games for the U.S. This summer.
She began her country-wide group role in January of 2020
and the team qualified for the 2020 WWC U-20 international Cup after winning CONCACAF qualifying in early March 2020, after defeating Mexico, 4-1. COVID-19 put pad to the FIFA U-20 WWC later in the 12 months. Harvey went 53-26-35 (W-T-L) in a hundred and ten everyday-season video games from 2013-2017 for the Reign and, along with her time with the Utah Royals is 72-38-52, which includes playoff video games.
In three seasons at Arsenal, Harvey led the crew to 3 consecutive league titles, Continental Cups
(League Cup) and one FA girls’ Cup, being named FAWSL coach of the year in 2011.
Harvey takes over from former PSG and Olympique Lyon educate Farid Benstiti, who succeeded now U.S. Ladies’ countrywide team head teach Vlako Andonovski whilst he joined the national crew setup in past due 2019; Andonovski had coached the FC Kansas city aspects which defeated Seattle in each championship video games while Harvey coached in Seattle after which succeeded Harvey as Reign head teach. Benstiti lasted eight games into his first complete season in rate and the crew always regarded him disjointed at the same time as his press meetings have been close to vain because of his English abilities and simply non-directional procedure.
Harvey is a sturdy preference to proper the Reign ship—the crew sits ninth within the ten-group league with 10 factors out of 30 possible—as she has coached influential leaders in Wales global Jess Fishlock and American defender Lauren Barnes in Seattle; both of whom are nevertheless at the club. She needs to do an exquisite task in integrating the three new Olympique Lyon of French loanees into the facet: French internationals Sarah Bouhaddi and Eugenie Le Sommer and German international Dzenifer Marozsan of Germany.
Harvey defined her pass to Jeff Kassouf of The Equalizer inside the U.S., “after I took this function with U.S. Soccer
I used to be in a role in which I surely wanted to peer what international soccer was about once more, having been worried in it a long time ago with England.
I used to be definitely lucky to get this opportunity with U.S. Football, and it turned into sincerely precise timing for me. I felt like I needed it. I would be a head coach within the professional recreation for like 14 years and I assume one of the matters that you don’t admire whilst you are ahead teaching for that long is how the type of stuck in your ways you’re a little bit.
And it’s nice to be that way, but I felt that for me individually just taking a touch step again and going, okay, you already know, comparing wherein I felt I was as a educate, evaluating the things that I have executed and the pathway I’ve been on, after which being in U.S. Football, the greatest part approximately that is the gamers that you get to work with from the U-20 angle, seeing the bright future that this USA has become eye-commencing for me.”
Harvey is simply one of six women who’ve held permanent positions as head coaches inside the NWSL over its first nine seasons.
Casey Stoney is the 7th, having been appointed remaining week to guide San Diego when it joins the league next season (see closing week’s column: The Week in ladies soccer: large offseason actions; San Diego rent Stoney; Spokane joins W-League – Tribal football). Of the eleven NWSL head coaches now in function for next season, 8 are from England, one is from Northern Ireland, one from Wales, and one American.
Iceland—replace from the beginning of the second one 1/2 of the league season
We take a look at Iceland’s Urvalsdeild ladies league for the 2021 season, which incorporates extra imports than we noticed closing season whilst the league began later in 2020 due to COVID-19 but began this year early in may as is ordinary.
As we input the second half of the ordinary season—with the ten league groups gambling 10 in their 18 suits—Valur (7-2-1 W-D-L for 23 points)
and Breidablik (7-0-3 for 21 factors) are once more the top aspects battling for the league crown,
with Selfoss (5-2-3 for 17 factors), Throttur Reykjavik (four-three-3 for 15 points), IBV (4-1-5 for 13 points) and Stjarnan (4-1-5 for 13 points) still hoping to transport up the table at some stage in the second one half of the season.
Valur (2019) and Breidablik (2018 and 2020) have gained the ultimate 3 league crowns and lead in all-time titles (11 as opposed to 18), with KR (now in the 2d tier 1. Deild women’s league) 0.33 with six titles.
At the bottom of the league, the two promoted sides from 2020—Tindastoll (2-2-6 for 8 points) and Keflavik (2-3-5 for nine points) are combating the drop straight backtrack a division—in conjunction with surprising Fylkir (2-3-5 for nine factors), who finished 1/3 closing season but were 21 factors behind league winners Breidablik and 19 factors in the back of 2d-location Valur.
Four of the pinnacle seven leading scorers are American imports. The pinnacle is Iceland complete internationals
Agla Albertsdottir (21) of Breidablik—who has received two league crowns in 4 seasons at Breidablik
and one with Stjarnan in 2016—and Elin Jensen of Valur, both with 8 goals—the latter has been with the membership because 2010 and performed collegiately at Florida nation college.
Four of the following 5 pinnacle scorers are all individuals: Delaney Pridham (IBV and ex-Santa Clara university) and Breanna Lovera (Selfoss and ex-Northwestern university) with 7 dreams and Tiffany McCarty (Breidablik and ex-Florida country university), Katherine Cousins (ex-university of Tennessee) and 18-year-antique Iceland U-17 worldwide Olof Kristindottir—each of Throttur—with six each.
The pinnacle two aspects did not use any imports in 2020 but that has modified this 12 months. Leaders Valur has an all-home facet besides for three current North American college graduates who’re all forwards.
American Mary Vignola (ex-college of Tennessee), who played a closing season at Throttur, wherein she scored 6 instances in 12 video games,
American Cyera Hintzen (ex-university of Texas), and Canadian Clarissa Larisey (who become a 2d-crew All-American player at the University of Memphis).
Louise had an interesting beginning to her expert profession, signing with Valur in may as she advised CANWNT news. Along with her senior college season being behind schedule from the autumn of 2020 to the spring of 2021, she signed expert paperwork after the college of Memphis misplaced in the very last of their American Athletic Conference tournament.
With a reduced field from 64 to forty-eight due to COVID, she failed to assume they could qualify for the university Cup playoffs, assumed that her college profession became over and that she could effectively signal with Valur. She explained, “the percentages of us making it [to the playoffs] were very, very narrow. Specifically, with COVID, there had been even fewer teams going into the NCAA tournament.
My coaches and I both agreed we in all likelihood may not [qualify],
so I signed my settlement, after which it was too late for me to head returned and have one ultimate trip collectively. It becomes unlucky, however, it’s miles what it’s far.”
Memphis changed into narrowly selected (there had been a few very questionable selections this yr by the college Cup choice committee) but Larisey could not play in the 1-zero upset loss to Utah Valley college of Oren, Utah—who play within the Western Athletic conference—
due to the fact you have to have newbie status to play collegiate football in the U.S. Larissey scored 34 times with 10 assists in 73 video games across four years for the Memphis Tigers, and turned into a 2019 NCAA division I girls All-the USA second group selection and AAC participant of the tournament in 2018 after they won the convention identify.
Larissa is yet every other North American who had a sturdy collegiate career but wasn’t selected within the 2021 NWSL draft, which became confined to 4 rounds with the handiest forty gamers selected overall. As an international participant for NWSL purposes, her possibilities of selection and making a group had been pretty low, besides for as she stated, “except you are at the countrywide crew or very famous. I put my name in there just to see if I had the possibility to [get drafted].
It becomes tough-looking it and not getting chosen, but in the long run, it did gasoline my fire [to play professionally in Europe].
Larissa feels that Canada both wishes to have a crew in the NWSL or its personal league because it has the three-yr-vintage Canadian most useful soccer League at the guys’ aspect. She stated, “If we had Canadian teams that play inside the NWSL, there wouldn’t be as a plenty international blockage for different players around the arena. It is this kind of right league, a lot of the first-class athletes play there. It’d be exceptional to have a crew in Canada and be toward home.
If I am getting to play pro at domestic, close to the family, and with them coming to watch me, that could just be tremendous.” Many fans of the sport in North us would really like to look at one or greater Canadian-primarily based NWSL teams within the league, in particular since there are commonly 9-10 Canadian national group pool gamers every season that the CSA can pay their salaries for, but efforts seem to always fall quick—typically centered at the Vancouver Whitecaps—and there does not seem to be plenty momentum there at the gift—see greater discussion on this problem under on the Diana Matheson tale.
With a six month agreement at Valur, Larissey hopes to draw the attention of Canadian countrywide ladies’
group head instruct Bev Priestman, “hopefully Canada’s radar goes to be huge enough to come over to Iceland; being able to play and feature top mins and top information can with a bit of luck get the Canadian countrywide team to look my way.” If Valur hangs on and wins the identity, intending to really assist to boost hobby in her now not only from the Canadian countrywide crew coaches but also better-profile teams in EU leagues with longer seasons.
Second location Breidablik also has 3 forwards as imports, led by way of American Tiffany McCarty (30), who has six dreams in 10 games and moved from Selfoss last season; she played six NWSL seasons and had 12 months in Norway in 2017 with Media.
Fellow American Taylor Ziemer has 3 desires in six video games and played in the Netherlands with ADO Den Haag in 2018-19, scoring 5 times in 21 video games.
She played first at the University of Virginia earlier than finishing at Texas A&M University and was a U.S. Teens international. The third forward import in Belgium is full international Chloe Van de Velde (24).
Selfoss is 1/3 and has two ECU goalkeeper imports alongside an American midfielder and forward. Goalkeeper Benedicte Holland of Norway (23) performed one sport with Bristol town within the WSL remaining season after time with Sandviken and Arna-Bjornar at domestic.
She has been capped on the U-17 and U-19 tiers. German goalkeeper Anke Preuss (28) has performed since 2016 with Hellas Verona in Italy, Sunderland and Liverpool inside the WSL, Vittsjo in Sweden, and now Selfoss. She has not been capped at the senior degree however was at the German facet that completed second at the 2012 FIFA U-20 WWC in Japan, losing to the U.S. 1-0 inside the final.
Midfielder Caity Heap (26) of the U.S. Has two desires in 10 video games for Selfoss.
She seemed in 19 games across seasons for the Houston sprint in 2016 and 2017 before shifting to Mallbacken inside the Swedish second tier in 2018 and then Sparta Prague inside the Czech Republic in 2019.
Fellow American forward Brenna Lovera (24) has 7 dreams in eight video games this yr. She performed at IBV in Iceland in 2019, scoring 6 desires in nine video games, earlier than shifting to Boavista in Portugal for a part of the 2020-21 season. She played collegiately at Northwestern University in Chicago.
Throttur Reykjavik is coached via UK native head educate Nick Chamberlain, who has consolidated Throttur Reykjavik properly in their second season in the top flight with a few new imports and they currently take a seat fourth on the desk.
In defense, he has a complete global from Switzerland in Lorena Baumann (24), who has received
the Swiss League 5 times—2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-sixteen, 2017-18, and 2018-19. She becomes also capped on the U-20 and U-17 stages.
Chamberlain additionally has a trio of younger people of their first 12 months in Iceland; midfielder Katherine Cousins (24) has 6 dreams in 10 games and has been capped at US U-20 and U-18 ranges and played at the college of Tennessee.
Forward Shea Moyer (22) has 2 desires in 10 games and performed at Penn country university and is any other participant who registered for the NWSL draft in advance this yr but became not drafted. Forward Shaelan Murison has three dreams in eight games and performed on the college of California-Santa Barbara.
IBV, tied for fifth, has a diffusion of worldwide imports, together with one from Trinidad
and Tobago, one from Slovenia, four from Latvia, a German, and two individuals. Defender Liana Kayla-Marie Hinds (26) of Trinidad and Tobago played at Sundsvall in Sweden in 2019 and has been capped by T & T on the U-17 and full degree. Defender Kristina Erman of Slovenia (28) is playing for the primary time in Iceland after gambling in 2020 with Arna-Bjornar in Norway, years with PSV, and two with Twente within the Netherlands, as well as formerly in Serie Ain Italy.
And Defender Eliza Spruntule of Latvia (28) is in her 2nd 12 months at IBV and won five league titles at domestic in Rigas and turned into capped at the overall and U-19 degrees. She is joined with the aid of two full internationals and a U-19 international from Latvia:
Midfielder Viktorija Zaicikova (20) in her first yr.
Forward Olga Sevcova (28) in her second season
Ahead Lana Osiniva Latvia (18) in her first year at IBV and a U-19 international; she received a name at home with Rigas in 2020
Midfielder Hanna Kallmaier Germany (27) is in her 2nd 12 months at IBV after a yr at Swedish second division Elitettan side Kvarnsveden and performed in the second division at home. She has been capped at the U-17 and played collegiately at the University of Kansas in the States. American defender Antoinette Williams (23) has one aim in nine games. Ahead Delaney Pridham is the second American on the side and has 7 dreams in 10 games in her first yr on the membership; she played at home at Santa Clara College.
One neighborhood player to observe in the destiny is IBV’s 18-year-vintage goalkeeper Auour Scheving, who has played nine games in 2021 and is in her second season on the membership after three years in Valur, winning the title in 2019. Scheving has been capped at U-17 and U-19 tiers.
Stjarnan is tied for fifth and has complete internationals from abroad as well as one American becoming a member of Iceland’s second department. Goalkeeper Chante Sandiford of Guyana performed in Russia and Iceland, together with a season in Norway with Avaldsnes in 2018.
She gained a Russian league title with Zorkiy in 2012-13.
This year with Stjarnan she has played eight video games. Born in the big apple, she played at Villanova and UCLA in university and has been capped at the overall level with Guyana.
American goalkeeper Naya Regina Lipkens (St. John’s college) has appeared in one Pepsi Max Deild Kvenna in shape this season after appearing in three fits for Lengiudeild Kvenna (second tier) aspect Viking Reykjavik this 12 months—who are presently in the fourth area in the ten-team league and 7 points out of a promotion spot, behind 2d-place FH—who trail leaders KR through points.
Midfielder Betsy Hassett (30) has 3 desires in 9 video games; she has over one hundred caps for brand spanking new Zealand and is on the 2020 Olympic video games squad. She is in her 2nd season at the membership after three years with KF. Hassett has performed for her us of in 2011, 2015, and 2019 ladies’ global Cup and, at the membership level in the Netherlands (Ajax), Germany (Werder Bremen and SC Sand), Norway (Amazon Grimstad), England (Manchester city in 2014) and the college of California-Berkeley inside the u.S.
Seventh area Thor/KA (3-three-four for 12 points) had imported from England, Costa Rica, and the States closing season.
These 12 months they draw a complete worldwide from Uganda as well as one Canadian and one American import. Forward Sandra Nabweteme of Uganda (24) is in her first season inside u . S . A . And has scored three desires in 7 video games. She played collegiately in the States at the Southwestern Oklahoma country university. Her mom had performed top-level ladies’ soccer in Uganda
Canadian midfielder Miranda Smith (25) played at TPS in Finland in 2020. American forward Colleen Kennedy (24) played at Sandviken in the Elitettan in Sweden in 2020 and collegiately at the university of cellular in Alabama. Kennedy gained NAIA All-American 1/3-team and Honorable mention honors in separate seasons all through her collegiate profession. She graduated from the college of cellular following the 2018-2019 educational yr and explained that “After graduating. I spent 12 months education, training, and getting ready for professional trials.”
Thor’s 3 new imports—American Colleen Kennedy on the left, Canadian Miranda Smith within the middle, and Ugandan complete global Sandra Nabweteme on the right
take damage at some point of a Thor/KA exercise. Photo courtesy: Thor/KA of Iceland/quick sports activities of Uganda ( soccer).
Keflavik—promoted from department 2 at the end of the 2020 season—is currently in the eighth region and has worldwide goalkeeper Tiffany Darunee Sornpao of Thailand, who grew up in Minnesota in the States; she has played in nine video games this season and became decided on for the WWC in 2019 in France by way of Thailand. Midfielder Celine Rumpt (24) of Germany joined the side from Frankfurt in July of 2020.
The membership has Americans together with midfielder Abby Carchio, who received a league
title in Lithuania with Gintra Universitetas last season and played inside the qualifications spherical of the WCL in 2020-21;
she formerly performed at Brown University and completed with 16 dreams and 17 assists in four seasons. Fellow midfielder Aerial Chavarin has 4 desires in eight games this season and performed 3 games in 35 minutes with the Chicago purple Stars in the Fall series in 2020 after completing at Yale college football.
Ninth place Fylkir has one import this season in American midfielder Shannon Simon, who has one intention in 9 video games in 2021 and received a league title and the Cup with Aland United in Finland in 2020, scoring once in 18 games. She performed at the college of Washington from 2014-2017
Tenth region Tindastoll additionally become promoted to the top department for 2021 and has Jamaican global defender Bond-Flasza of Jamaica, who has played all 10 video games this season. She played the closing two seasons in the Dutch league with PSV football.
She was raised in the U.S. And played within the 2019 women’s global Cup for Jamaica.
American forward Jacqueline Altschuld (26) won the Deild women title in 2020 with Tindastoll and has been at the membership for 3 seasons. ( football )
She played with Medkila in Norway in 2017 and collegiately at the college of San Diego. She has been an assistant coach at the college of California-San Diego because the 2019 season. Fellow American ahead Murielle Tiernan (26) is likewise in her 0.33 season at Tindastoll, with one purpose in nine games this season. She played eight games with Hammarby in Sweden in 2017 and collegiately at Virginia Tech university.
football Canadian global Diana Matheson Retires from the game at 37 however Plans to convey women’s expert soccer to Canada football
Injuries stored Canadian international and Kansas city NWSL midfielder out of her fourth girls’ international Cup team in France in 2019 and her fourth Olympic games crew this summertime and she or he has retired from the game with 206 countrywide team caps ( soccer ).
She is returning to Toronto to start an MBA program at Queen’s university but also wants to paintings on seeking to land NWSL franchises in Canada—particularly in Ottawa, Toronto,
and Vancouver which a decade in the past had colorful W-League franchises—and finally a Canadian expert league, ala the men’s Canadian finest football League,
that is in its 1/3 season in 2020 in eight markets, with one more aspect in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan set to enroll in 2023 while it has a soccer-unique stadium.
Matheson explained, “it’s a chunk typically Canadian. We do not do many sports leagues on our own truly properly; we do lean at the U.S. For loads of things.” Her intention could be a Canadian League that might be a minimum of six months in length and with salaries. She stated in an interview with The Athletic, “Being a girls’ football player in Canada is like looking to move Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Now not many human beings get to try it. It’s like a one-at-a-time kind issue soccer.
There’s not a bridge there. You need the proper conditions to do it. You need quite a few successes and privileges and be within the right spot at the right time. And you then can not expand past due soccer. You have to have a huge amount of ability off the bat and also you can’t analyze as you move on….Like right now, if you’re a child in Canada, when you graduate from the youth device or college, you both retire or you move to play out of the country for the relaxation of your career. And I think we will change that.”
She instructed Forbes.Com, “I think there may be money out there.
I suppose many corporations are trying to put money into equity and variety, so that’s one street. I think too there [are] exclusive sales fashions you may take a look at. ( soccer) football
Women’s game is simply interesting because of being progressive. We’re now not simply following conventional possession models, like with Angel town [new franchise in the NWSL for Los Angeles in 2022], or they’re now not simply following traditional revenue fashions in sports. Bums on seats, ticket income, aren’t the number one source of revenue in ladies’ sports activities, so you don’t build a league and you do not build a crew around that ( soccer ).
You have got three or 4 other resources—your sponsorship, soccer your academies, your products—
you have got numerous other belongings you want to monetize earlier than that. I think women’s sports can take a look at what E-sports activities are doing and that industry. E-sports is not creating wealth as it’s selling tickets to matters. There are several creative matters we can do, especially in case you’re beginning from scratch. You can be certainly progressive.”
She played collegiately at Princeton college and joined the Norwegian club team soccer
Strommen (now LSK Kvinner) for two years as a 24-12 months-antique in 2008. She explained to me how a good deal she discovered from that enjoy. football
“I cherished to play across the world. I assume it’s a first-rate enjoy for any player to go to Europe and play.
It’s a one of a kind of play,
specifically for the gamers now that are going to those massive golf equipment. The subculture of gambling somewhere like, you already know, a Manchester United or a Barcelona, truly is quite cool soccer.
I wish the one’s alternatives have been round in advance in my career, I might have loved to head. At the same time, do I need to peer greater Canadians to go to Europe? No longer always, because I would love to peer more Canadians stay at domestic. Once we’ve got [the] NWSL and our personal league as an option, I think we can start to have extra Canadians playing at domestic which is what we need as well. Do the Canadians visit Europe and us due to the fact they ought to, proper? So, sure
I need to look at Canadians maintain to go and revel in that lifestyle, experience
the massive golf equipment, play at the highest degree but at the identical time,
I want more and more Canadians gambling in Canada too.” ( soccer )
All credit to Matheson for reading this want with vision and perception. That is a critical effort and she sincerely has the pedigree and popularity inside not simply Canada
however also North America to get commercial enterprise leaders, football directors,
and other key elements together for this attempt, on the way to assist
the increase of the game in a country in which more adolescents play soccer than traditional fan-favorite game ice hockey. ( soccer )
Above we heard from Valur-primarily based Canadian Clarissa Larisey, who desires to have a Canadian
expert league or team to play in inside the destiny; this time they are subsequently might be the momentum to power the attempt to fruition
both with a Canadian League thru the CSA or NWSL groups or each soccer.
Tom Sermanni, then educate of Australia’s girls’ countrywide crew.
told me in China in 2007 on the girls’ world Cup soccer that it changed into essential
for Australia to get a women’s league commenced—even with a quick season of one round soccer.
That league just completed its thirteenth season after beginning in 2008/09 soccer.
and even though the W-League continues to be a quick season of simplest 12 regular-season video games.
it has helped to expand Australian ladies’ gamers further and sent more than a few to golf equipment abroad. A six-month league in Canada would be super to peer.
however even a 2-3 month effort is a start and things look wonderful for that to occur soon.
with a bit of luck with the aid of the next WWC in 2023, hosted.
with the aid of Australia and New Zealand soccer.
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SOURCE:
The Week in Women’s Football: Ex-Arsenal coach joins Reign; Matheson retires; Iceland update
