Friday, May 7, 2010

The Devil's in the Details

found some fun little tidbits about the Phantom Trade when researching my last post...


ST. LOUIS ATHLETICA got 3 things with this trade.

[1] They picked up one of my favorite 2009 Sky Blue FC defenders, Anita Asante. This English National teamer, former North London Gunner, took up the 6th International player spot on the Athletica roster. 

Unfortunately, the WPS only allows for 5 International players on a team. So St. Louis said hello to Asante then turned right round and said goodbye to the Brazilian Daniela.

[2] Though the announcement makes it sound like Nikki Washington is now signed with Athletica because of this trade, the injured Uni North Carolini star never actually signed a contract ("come to contractual terms") with Sky Blue FC. So Athletica just gets her rights in this trade. 

Nikki is a bit of a player, having gone through three WPS teams before she's even put pen to contract, let alone stepped on a field. Watch out, fans, she's a heartbreaker!

[3] They also got a less interesting draft pick. No double play here, just a run of the mill boring second round 2011 draft pick.

SKY BLUE FC got 2 things in this trade and came out with what some think is the worse end of the deal. I'm not so sure...

[1] the Phantom Draft pick, though hopefully it'll stick this second time around. If the 2009 Regular Season Champs fold followed shortly by the 2009 Champs the WPS would feel a lot like the European airlines would feel if another volcano blows. No bright future, just a lot of frickin ash everywhere. 

Scared some of yah to read that, huh? 

[2] India Trotter, who was a member of the 2008 Pali Blues squad, the first of many USL W-League title wins for the franchise. 

I could leave it at that and feel quite confident that Sky Blue got the upper hand, but there's a lot more interesting depth to this trade and I can't help but go on...

Trotter played at Florida State University where she met Pauliina Miettinen, the Seminoles assistant coach. This trade reunites the now Head Coach Miettinen with a player she has loads of experience coaching and clearly has faith in. 

Trotter has great statistics coming out of college and bears the historic honor of being the first Seminole to ever play with the National Team (both the U19 and full teams). No stranger to professional soccer, she was a season-long starter in 2008 for FFC Frankfurt in the German Bundesliga. 

Athletica only played her in 3 games for 34 total minutes. Sounds like she'll get a few more minutes this season with Sky Blue...

"We need someone like India, who is versatile and able to play in the back as well as up front as an attacker.” Miettinen says in the Sky Blue announcement of the trade.

From a strategic point of view, the Sky Blue back line is well covered. Christie Rampone is sprinting into tip-top-shape to take her central D position that Brittany Taylor has brilliantly stepped into. Daphne Koster also plays center D so, though Asante is a great defender and played wonderfully for Sky Blue in 2009, she's recovering from an ACL injury and competition with a deep stack of stellar players for her position. 

While Athletica had to wave Daniele to get Asante, Sky Blue freed up an international spot with this trade. Look for some international action from Sky Blue, soon. 

Miettinen is looking to "benefit in both the present and the future" with this trade, a statement that many coaches make. This time the evidence backs up the bluster, so I'm inclined to believe the reining Champs have a couple more moves to make before truly settling down for the season.

All in all, this was quite a way to start off the transactions for the 2010 season. 

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