WPS Draft Triumvirate

The consensus among the sages at Bigsoccer seems to be that Cheney, Heath, and O'Hara will be, in some order the top three picks in the Women's Professional Soccer draft.  Generally, the prognostications run in about that order, as well.

It very well could be that way.Cheney is a pure striker, and the conventional wisdom in soccer is if a great striker is available, you pull the trigger and get him or her.  It is hard to argue with wisdom like that. A fair number of bigsoccer folks have her as the #1 pick.

Tobin Heath is a great attacking midfielder, probably the best in the college game. She reads the game well, she creates, and she can run out of the midfield and score. Word has it in WPS coaching circles is she will go as the #1 pick to the Atlanta team.

My #1 pick, though, would be Kelley O'Hara.  Why? Simple, really. KO is every bit as good and dangerous a striker as is Cheney.  And she is as good in the attacking midfield as Heath. Throw in the facts that KO can defend. She can win balls. She is what the Dutch call a total footballer.  Think Johan Cruyff.

And let's not forget we are talking professional soccer here.  If I am a professional coach I want the best soccer player over the best striker, best midfielder, or best whatever for my team. If your team has depth in the midfield, then you tell KO "we'll find you in the box, you just please put the round thing in the back of the net". If you have depth up top, you play KO as withdrawn forward or as an attacking mid.  If you have depth both places, you let her run the flanks and let her shred those slow, plodding WPS  outside backs. If you need someone to just go in there, run the show and play #10 quarterback for you, well there you go, KO is a player that makes everyone around her better.

Finally, she has got the intangibles.  There are a lot of people more soccer-knowledgeble than I am who say no one plays with more heart, with more fire, with more desire.  I'm reminded of what Pat Quinn, former coach of the LA Kings hockey team, said in response to a reporter asking about whether the expensive trade he made for Wayne Gretzky was worth it. He responded by recounting a game in which the Kings were down 4-2 with just a few minutes left in the third.  Gretzky skated back to the bench after another double-shift and noticed more than a few of his teammates seemed resigned to losing the game. "C'mon guys, we are only two down. We can do this", was Gretzky's exhortation. Sure enough, the Kings pulled it out. Quinn concluded, "How do you put a price tag on THAT?"

Kelley O'Hara was Wayne Gretzky to the Stanford Cardinal. That is the kind of player you draft, no matter who else is available.