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WUSA kick-started New league announces World Cup-player allocations
Posted: Wednesday May 24, 2000 06:46 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- As they showed last summer in winning the Women's World Cup, Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy do not back down from a challenge. And now they're going after each other as members of the Women's United Soccer Association. The competitive juices already are flowing among the 24 players allocated Wednesday to the eight teams that will begin play next April in the WUSA. Nineteen members of the U.S. team that won the World Cup were assigned to teams. The only omission was Carla Overbeck, who is planning to have a child next year. Mia Hamm, the sport's career scoring leader in international play, will play for Washington. Chastain will play for San Francisco and Foudy with San Diego. Chastain thinks the last time she played against Foudy was in college in 1990, when Chastain's Santa Clara team beat Foudy and Stanford 2-1. "I don't want her to forget that... I'm sure the outcome will be the same as it was before," Chastain said. Foudy, who will play with World Cup veterans Joy Fawcett and Shannon MacMillan in San Diego, isn't so sure. "We're ready to take them on and beat them," Foudy said. "It will be great, because we are all getting so competitive already and the players are loyal to their groups and to their hometowns. "It is that kind of competitiveness we bring to training every day with the national team, and afterward, being able to walk away and know we established something great together." The WUSA, which announced a working agreement with MLS on Tuesday, has strong corporate support, a TV contract with Turner Broadcasting and such media giants as Time-Warner, Discovery Communications, Comcast and Cox Communications running franchises. Now, it has players. Joining Chastain in San Francisco will be World Cup veteran Tisha Venturini and goalie Lakeysia Beene. Joining Hamm in Washington will be goalie Siri Mullinix and defender Michelle French. Atlanta will have goalkeeper Briana Scurry, forward Cindy Parlow and midfielder Nikki Serlenga. Boston was allocated midfielder Kristine Lilly, the career international appearances leader, defender Kate Sobrero and goalie Tracy Ducar. New York got forward Tiffeny Milbrett, midfielder Sara Whalen and defender Christie Pearce. Allocated to Orlando were longtime U.S. star midfielder Michelle Akers, forward Danielle Fotopoulos and defender/midfielder Tiffany Roberts. The Philadelphia team got midfielder Lorrie Fair, goalkeeper Saskia Webber and forward Mandy Clemens. The allocations were made in a three-step process. Each player was asked to list her top three choices. Geographic considerations, along with marketability, were taken into account. Most important, according to acting commissioner Tony DiCicco, was establishing a competitive balance. "Of course, everyone wanted Mia and Brandi and Julie, but unless you are able to clone them, it is not going to happen. So the investors worked together," said DiCicco, who coached the World Cup champs last year. "We think this allocation is right competitively and geographically. I would like to coach all of these teams." He might coach one, if he isn't hired as full-time commissioner. That decision will come this year, as will further allocations of foreign players, a draft of other players, followed by a college draft. WUSA also will hold a tryout camp. Each team has an $800,000 salary cap, with "founding players" such as Hamm earning the most. While the current national team players are concentrating on international games and, in September, the Olympics, they also plan to publicize the new league. "You can't do a ton without the whole team present," Lilly said. "But we can start the ball rolling with interactions and TV stuff and going to soccer venue people and to the fans. I'll try to get there as soon as I can."
AllocationsAtlanta - Briana Scurry, goalkeeper; Cindy Parlow, forward; Nikki Serlenga, midfielder. Boston - Kristine Lilly, midfielder; Kate Sobrero, defender; Tracy Ducar, goalkeeper. New York - Tiffeny Milbrett, forward; Sara Whalen, midfielder; Christie Pearce, defender. Orlando - Michelle Akers, midfielder; Danielle Fotopoulos, forward; Tiffany Roberts, midfielder/defender. Philadelphia - Lorrie Fair, midfielder; Saskia Webber, goalkeeper; Mandy Clemens, forward. San Diego - Julie Foudy, midfielder; Joy Fawcett, defender; Shannon MacMillan, midfielder/forward. San Francisco bay area - Brandi Chastain, defender; Tisha Venturini, midfielder; Lakeysia Beene, goalkeeper. Washington D.C. - Mia Hamm, forward; Siri Mullinix, goalkeeper; Michelle French, defender.
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