The Wait Is Over

Setting Things Straight

On Monday night, a number of the players from the US and Canada made plans to spend time together in an attempt to temper the flare-ups and ill will that came out of Saturday's match in Cleveland. It started with the two skippers grabbing coffee together in one of Canada's vacant meeting rooms.

Shelina: Saturday night was a bit of a mess. I didn't realize that your team would take our excitement of getting a draw against you so personally. We weren't meaning to show you up or rub it in. We were just genuinely thrilled with accomplishing one of our pre-qualifying goals.

Julie: Things were a lot more heated when Herdman was in charge and the US had Carli and Abby, not to mention the traitor claims your side pinned on Sydney Leroux. Saturday sort of lit that fire under the younger members of the team, who weren't familiar with some of the battles our two countries waged. The two of us should make some kind of unified statement before tomorrow night's match as a means of reminding our teammates that we're all in this together since so many of us play in NWSL and have teammates or perhaps friends or partners on the opposing side.

Shelina: Did you hear anything specific from your squad about us?

Julie: Rose is in a major snit over Steph and Jessie, and maybe a little bit you, directing their joy at her. Mal was also a bit peeved over Jessie's ignoring her after the match.

Shelina: Jessie and I had dinner together on Saturday after Steph left for the airport to get back to Yael and the situation with Deborah.

Julie: What's up there?

Shelina: The baby isn't doing particularly well in terms of growing and getting enough food from Yael. Their doctor wants to wait until 34 weeks to induce rather than bringing her out now, but it sounds like there is risk to both of those options. Steph being Steph is thinking negatively now and it's affecting her more than she is willing to let on. I think the penalty saves brought her a bit of pride and happiness and she took it out on Rose after the second one. Her reaction to saving yours was sort of business-as-usual.

Julie: Hope everything works out for them. How far away are they from the due date?

Shelina: Two months give or take, but that 34 week mark will come just after the NWSL final, which is honestly what the two of them are targeting for when she'll be born.

Julie: When you talk to her next, let her know that they're on my mind. The two of them were a bit of help when Carli and I started talking about our marriages and how we were managing them. The guarded openness they shared with us showed that there shouldn't be fear in declaring your love for someone of the same sex. Anyways, you said you and Jessie had dinner after the game.

Shelina: Yes. She feels like her and Mal aren't at the same point on the life stream right now. Jessie wants something a bit more solid and grounded and to be her own woman after riding in the shadow of us Canadians for most of the past 10 years. Her performance this year for both club and country has pushed her forward a bit in the minds of the soccer public, but not nearly to the level of Sam or Morgan or Rose.

Julie: Is she looking to get out of Boston?

Shelina: I didn't ask her, but I wouldn't be surprised. I'm sure John wants to keep her, but it might be time for her to spread her wings a bit. The Breakers right now have those three I mentioned plus a center midfielder they picked up in July from Atlanta.

Julie: You mean the giant that they've been using at forward recently?

Shelina: That's her. She and Steph's backup had been keeping an eye on Yael with Morgan, Julie, and the Herdmans in Cleveland for the first match on Saturday. Becca Quinn dropped them a note about the situation since the three of them played together with the Storm prior to this season and Becca and EJ were college teammates and from what I know pretty close friends.