April Heinrichs, fresh off a silver-medal performance at the Olympics, considers what the future might bring to the U.S. womenÆs national team and the role the WUSA will play in that future.

SOCCER AMERICA: Given all this group has accomplished, and that the gap is closing, is it going to be possible for anyone, including the United States, to duplicate this groupÆs achievements?

APRIL HEINRICHS: The core of this team was so special, no one is ever going to see anything like that again, possibly never in another sport. I will make the comparison that itÆs like having Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing on the same team ù for 14 years.

ThatÆs never going to happen again ù I know that ù but that doesnÆt mean weÆre throwing in the towel. The way we make up for that is more good hard work and player development at a younger age.

SA: What direction must be taken in the next few years to deal with the challenges ahead?

AH: I donÆt feel weÆre going to be rebuilding over the next three years. WeÆve had eight months of transition, and itÆs been a marvelous transition in so many ways. The next two years will also be transition years in a way, but not rebuilding years.

The only player I know is going to retire is Carla [Overbeck]. … Joy [Faw-cett] may take another year off to have another kid ù we donÆt know. Julie Foudy may go off and be some CEO executive for a year and go, æWell, this is great, but as long as I have the legs, why not keep playing?Æ ItÆs going to be a year in which the WUSA might really take the legs out of players who thought they had another year or two left, because of the day-to-day grind of a league format. WeÆll see over the next few years which players are thriving.

SA: How will the WUSA change the national team?

AH: Ultimately, thereÆll be an uplift in our performance. The difficult things will be cohesiveness and camaraderie and the subtleties of our play. WeÆre much like a club team right now, and in the future weÆre going to be a little bit more like an all-star team.

I think itÆs going to be fun. ItÆll be curious to watch this league unfold. To try to look in the future, I think thereÆs going to be pluses and there are going to be minuses. Ultimately, whatÆs best for the game is that there is a league and that these players have a place to play weekly, and that they have training weekly and coaching weekly, and structure, organization and competitiveness on a weekly basis. I do think in my heart the pluses will outweigh any of the minuses.


by Soccer America senior editor Scott French