One has to feel just a little bit sorry for April Heinrichs.

The new U.S. women’s national team coach has been placed in a no-win situation.

She’s been given the task of leading the United States in defense of its Olympic title at the 2000 Sydney Games in September.

Before that, Heinrichs will have to pare down the squad to meet the Olympic roster limit, meaning she’ll have the fun chore of cutting at least a couple players from the ’99 Women’s World Cup team.

Heinrichs was not the popular choice for the job.

By her own admission, she had not considered applying for the job until she was asked to do so by U.S. Soccer.

On the surface, she was the third choice.

The logical choice was Lauren Gregg. She had the support of her two predecessors, Tony DiCicco and Anson Dorrance. And she had the backing of the media, who loved her insights on the national women’s game. Gregg had the backing of everyone, it seemed, except those who counted: the U.S. Soccer brass.

Greg’s main rival appeared to Clive Charles, who has worked in the women’s game for many years. The Englishman had too much to lose in Portland, where he runs a soccer empire, to consider the women’s job.

That left Heinrichs.

She had a stellar playing career – the first great North Carolina player, Soccer America’s Player of the ’80s, captain of the ’91 World Cup championship team, first female player inducted into the National Hall of Fame – though her coaching stint at Virginia was hardly spectacular – no appearance in the NCAA tournament beyond the round of 16.

By all accounts, she interviewed very well, saying she’d cut the veteran players – many of whom she played with – if she had to.

How well she keeps the women focused will go a long way toward determining if they will repeat as Olympic champions.


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