USL seizes opportunity, enthusiasm for Super League

I'm gonna be honest, what you're seeing at the top of the NWSL this season is far and above what you're going to see in the USL Super League for a few years.

I do, however, think that a top USL SL team has the potential to be mid table in NWSL, maybe bottom of the mid table. They'll probably be able to grab people who have different cultural backgrounds and beliefs that the prevailing NWSL standard because NWSL standard is literally bully anybody for voicing something different than what Rapinoe would say. And there are a lot of players who may be feeling pressure to conform that may be perfectly fine to dip out. I do not believe there are a significant number of players in this particular situation, at most maybe 3-5 around the league but unless the pay is comparable vs how strongly they feel pressure to conform I'm not sure how many actually would want to leave. You'd need a pretty aggressively different player who wouldn't get a significant pay cut, methinks. I'll call 1-2 across the league who might be identified as this type of player and I wouldn't even know which.

Then you've got some benchwarmers who are going to feel they're either better than warming the bench, or the team they are on is definitely better than the player and the player will feel the need to get out to find a place for themselves. The player could be a top player in a lower table team but they're benching a top team. ACFC's starting GK last season is benching this season, as an example from the only team I follow closely but there could be a few across the league.

Next you'll be looking at international players who may be willing to play in the US. You could find a lot of players from smaller nations from Africa, for example. I'm hopeful that some players from India and there are definitely 2-3 players from the Philippines league that I think could find themselves on a lower table team. I follow both IWL and PWL/PFF so that's why I point out those teams. I could see a team try to get Zandi but I think she'd decline, though she'd definitely be a good get that NWSL wouldn't touch with a 20 kilometer stick and could be the face of a team. I'd think it would be worth the effort to try and get someone from Wrexham, to be perfectly honest. Again, I really don't think anyone would leave that team but you never know, and all the news pulling a player from one of the more popular teams and if it's a friendly transfer, now they've got access to Disney through Ryan Reynolds. Weird side note: the new season of Welcome to Wrexham has been delayed and I didn't look into why -- maybe conversations have been had, already. Also FX (Welcome to Wrexham) was part of FOX, which definitely is not only Disney owned but also a cultural counter to NWSL. I'd think the best team for this theoretical transaction is Tampa Bay with its proximity to Disney World about a couple hours away. There's also the very real look up north and down south, but probably moreso down south where racial slurs and bullying on the squads and from fans and from not fans seem to be a thing -- to be fair, this is just headlines and hearsay, and the hearsay is from a Mexican I work with who hasn't been to Mexico in years. This may be false advertisement.

To add another layer of the international conversation will be players from top leagues around the world who are benchers on their respective teams and looking to make a name for themselves. You could look at a squad like Chelsea, Lyon, or others where there may be a top level player playing as a number 2 because of who they have as a number 1. With the D1 fully professional sanctioning, you could see players from top leagues considered as semi-pro (South Korea is semipro, the Frauen Bundesliga is semipro....) make a move to a fully professional ecosystem.

Lastly you'll be looking at who is available at the top tier of college sports. I don't watch college sports, so I have no answers as to names. However, you can expect some scouts are checking out "name universities" such as Michigan and Notre Dame while also having a look at places like Grand Canyon University (For culture warzzzz) Side note: I attended a sociology class at GCU and have I got thoughts about that, both in the things we were allowed to see that would be considered illegal by many to the conversations that I can't believe were allowed to happen.

edit: The Philippines national team has a very large number of players who come from the USA. I think getting national players from a team who won a match at the WWC would draw eyes. The goal scorer, Sarina Bolden, currently plays in Australia. She was born in the US and attended college here in the US. An argument could be made that any amount of money to bring her would be worth it, especially if they grabbed maybe one other player from the country she represents on the national stage - or even another American born player from the Philippines team.

This is how I would view it.

I think the top bar for the first few seasons will be which teams can get the best international players, and I believe that 2-3 shocking names will appear on a roster in season 1.

r/uslsuperleague