Time for U.S. to Select World Cup Goalies

When the FIFA Women’s World Cup was relocated to the United States from China in late May because of the SARS virus, it was considered a boon for the U.S. and its struggling professional league.

But sometime in the next month or so, the World Cup dream of a U.S. player will evaporate primarily because the tournament has moved.

The affected player will be one of the five goalkeepers vying for a place on the U.S. team. If the tournament had remained in China, the U.S. roster would have included three goalkeepers. Now that the world championship will be played in the U.S. from Sept. 20 to Oct. 12, the odds are that only two goalkeepers will make it.

“That’s something that we’re certainly discussing,” said Phil Weddon, the team’s goalkeeper coach.

“We’re leaning towards two,” acknowledged Coach April Heinrichs.

The reasoning behind the switch is twofold.

First, with the World Cup in the U.S., it makes it much easier to bring in a standby goalkeeper should one of the top two suffer a tournament-ending injury.

Second, the chance of a third-string goalkeeper playing is much slimmer than that of another field player getting into a game.

“Had it been in a foreign country, there’s certainly more of a case for having three goalkeepers, because of the time change and everything else,” Weddon said. “We may be in the luxury position here of carrying two and getting 18 field players.

“The obvious consideration is that we’re going to have field players who are coming off the WUSA [Women’s United Soccer Assn.] season and are going to be far more fatigued. And the likelihood of using a field player sub is slightly greater than using a goalkeeper sub. But we haven’t decided yet.”

Heinrichs agreed.

“I think we’re more likely to play the 18th player than we are the third goalkeeper,” she said.

“If it were a decision you’re making from your heart, you go with three. Because I think we have three who have really been with us quite a bit and who all now have experience.”

Those three are Briana Scurry, 31, of the Atlanta Beat; Siri Mullinix, 25, of the Washington Freedom; and LaKeysia Beene, 25, of the San Jose CyberRays.

Just behind them in the pecking order are Jaime Pagliarulo, 26, of the San Diego Spirit and Hope Solo, 21, of the Philadelphia Charge.

“We’re in a very good position here where we’ve got four, possibly five, goalkeepers in the country who are vying for spots,” Weddon said.

Solo is a longshot.

“Having not started for her WUSA team, it’s going to make it difficult to select her,” Weddon admitted.

Pagliarulo is making a hard run at being selected.

“She’s had a very impressive WUSA season and that’s why we’ve brought her back in [to camp],” Weddon said. “If she continues to play well, she could be in with a shout. Strange things happen for goalkeepers. If someone loses form or there’s an injury, she’s definitely in with a shout.”

Scurry, Mullinix and Beene are the top three, however, and choosing among them is an unenviable task.

“What were looking for and what we strive for is to find that complete goalkeeper, one who is good with the feet, good with the hands and has good decision-making,” Weddon said. “I think for three of the goalkeepers so far, we’ve seen that consistently.

“Bri [Scurry] has taken a tremendous amount of effort to work on her kicking game. She’s improved drastically. People have said for years that that’s a weakness. I would say it’s not a weakness anymore.

“Siri, obviously, has a very good kicking game but has some areas [of handling concern] on crosses and flighted balls. She’s continued to work on that and she’s doing well.

“LaKeysia’s more complete [than Scurry or Mullinix], but not great on any of those things, but she’s doing the same [work to improve].”

The U.S. has only three matches left before the World Cup. Heinrichs has said she will name her roster sometime after today’s game against Brazil in New Orleans, but will probably delay the decision until after the World Cup draw on Thursday, when she will know the team’s first-round opponents.

The players, meanwhile, are understandably impatient.

“Obviously, we’d want to know, and probably right now, who’s going to be in the World Cup and who’s going to be No. 1,” Beene said.

“I think we’ve all become better goalkeepers within the last year and a half because we are competing against each other and feeding off each other’s strengths.”

Until the decision is made, Weddon will continue to hone all five keepers.

“He’s been great for us,” Heinrichs said. “I think he’s a great trainer of goalkeepers. He strikes the ball accurately, he strikes the ball consistently, he strikes it with a little bit more pace than most goalkeeper coaches, so it challenges our goalkeepers and simulates a game situation.”

For Weddon, born and raised in England but a longtime Connecticut resident, working with the world champions on a daily basis is a dream come true.

“This is the Brazil of women’s soccer,” he said. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”