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W-League players headed to World Cup
USL News Release
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
TAMPA, FL - The 2007 Women's World Cup in China will kick off next Monday for 54 current and former W-League players representing nine countries and 17 current W-League teams. Although the tournament is in China four years later than expected, the number of W-League alumni slated to participate has grown from the 42 that took part in the 2003 tournament in the United States.
Not surprisingly, the W-League alumni list is topped by the United States and Canada with 13 members of the US squad and the entire Canadian team having played in North America's top league. With 54 alumni in the tournament, the W-League could arguably be the most represented league at the World Cup.
"The W-League, now heading toward its 14th season in 2008, has a long tradition of representation at the Women's World Cup and we are as proud as ever to have to so many current and former players from nations around the globe competing for the most coveted world championship in women's sports," said W-League Director of Operations Kristin Lettiere.
Residency camps for the US and Canadian squads have limited the number of current internationals playing in the W-League over the past two seasons, but many were in USL action prior to their move to residency with six Americans playing in 2005 and 16 Canadians in 2006.
Four players headed to China less than two months after the conclusion of their club play in the W-League are the Jersey Sky Blue's Formiga (Brazil) and Ottawa Fury's Faye White (England). Canada's Jodi-Ann Robinson and Sophie Schmidt both played for the Vancouver Whitecaps this past season.
Formiga helped lead expansion Sky Blue to the playoffs in their first year with a goal and five assists in six games during the season. White joined Ottawa as a defender midseason and helped the club finish as the regular season champions only to be ousted in the Eastern Conference final by the eventual champion Washington Freedom 1-0.
Headlining the W-League alumni list are 16 players from the US, Canada and England that have won W-League championships. US standouts Cat Whitehill, Lindsay Tarpley and Heather O'Reilly captured the 2005 championship with the New Jersey Wildcats alongside England's Rachel Unitt and Rachel Yankey. Eleven Canadians have combined for a total 16 championships with goalkeeper Karina Leblanc playing for the Wildcats and 10 others for the Vancouver Whitecaps. Andrea Neil, Brittany Timko, Erin McLeod, Martina Franko and Randee Hermus were members of both the 2004 and 2006 championship squads in Vancouver while Christine Sinclair (2006), Jodi-Ann Robinson (2006), Kara Lang (2004), Katie Thorlakson (2004) and Sophie Schmidt (2006) each only won one.
Other nations with W-League representatives headed to the tournament are Australia (6 players), Ghana (4), New Zealand (2), Japan (1) and Norway (1). Australia is led by veterans Cheryl Salisbury (Memphis 2002) and Joanne Peters (Charlotte 2002) and include recent W-League alum Thea Slatyer (Washington 2006) and Caitlin Munoz (Boston 2004). Ghana has a trio of Rhinos players from the 2005 campaign in Mavis Danso, Patricia Ofori and Belinda Kanda as well as former Northern Virginia Majestic standout Adjoa Bayor. New Zealand's duo both played in 2006 with Priscilla Duncan as a member of the West Michigan Firewomen and Emma Humphies as a part of the Cocoa Expos inaugural campaign.
W-League Alumni in Women's World Cup >>
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