(June 26, 2008) -- When you've gone from Uppsala, a Swedish city a short train ride away from Stockholm, to Stillwater, an Oklahoma outpost a long train ride from anywhere, the globe shrinks.
In fact, it starts to look remarkably like a soccer ball.
Many of the WUSA's best moments and lasting legacies came courtesy of those with international passports. From players like Kelly Smith and Maren Meinert to coaches like current United States national team boss Pia Sundhage, the league's international pull helped make it the center of the women's soccer word. And when Sky Blue Soccer recently announced that former Brazilian star and WUSA veteran Sissi was coming on board as a talent scout for the Americas, the move offered evidence as to the expected reach of Women's Professional Soccer when the league kicks off play in 2009.
(Robyn McNeil)
Yolanda Odenyo (left), from Sweden, is playing with Jersey Sky Blue this summer in the W-League and has her eyes on the WPS next year.
Not that the WPS New Jersey/New York entry must travel too many miles to begin its international outreach.
A rising senior at Oklahoma State and a veteran of Swedish youth national teams, Yolanda Odenyo is spending this summer in yet another time zone. Although currently slowed by a muscle pull that has forced her to the sideline, she's playing for Jersey Sky Blue in the W-League in hopes of latching onto a WPS side for the 2009 inaugural season. Or at least confirming what WPS scouts’ eyes may have already seen from college soccer's Swedish All-American.
Growing up in Uppsala, Odenyo idolized Sundhage the same way so many of her American peers modeled themselves after stars like Michelle Akers and Mia Hamm. And why wouldn’t she. A creative and dangerous attacker, Sundhage scored 71 goals in 146 games while starring on the Swedes’ 1991 and 1995 World Cup squads and 1996 Olympics team.
Of course, only a few years after waiting in line for Sundhage's autograph, Odenyo found herself playing for the legend in the youth national program. Those experiences -- she played for Sweden at every level between U-16 and U-21 -- helped hone the skills that make her such an effective midfield general for the Cowgirls. So did extensive playing time in Sweden's Damallsvenskan, the top domestic league for women and the place where many of the world's best players went after the demise of the WUSA.
"I think in the Swedish game, players are a lot more skilled tactically, and therefore the game is real fast and real quick and real physical," Odenyo said. "They have good functional techniques – they're not so much individually gifted technically in one-v-one systems like Americans are, but it's definitely real quick and everyone just knows the game a lot better. So it taught me to play at the highest level, and again, when you get to play against some of the best players in the world, you can only get better."
With teams like Umeå, which currently boasts Brazilian star Marta along with Swedish legend Hanna Ljungberg and reigning Hermann Trophy winner Mami Yamaguchi from Japan by way of Florida State, the Damallsvenskan offers top-notch competition. But after the league's signature side, few of the teams can be considered professional.
"The downside, if you play on the top two or three teams, there's a lot of money in the organizations, but below that you're struggling," Odenyo said. "All the facilities and opportunities to get better that you have at college is way beyond many of the club teams that rightfully would probably kick our butts. But you just kind of get tired of struggling all the time and not having top-notch facilities and people around you that can help you out all the time."
So given Odenyo's experience on this side of the Atlantic, perhaps it's no surprise she's also doing some scouting of her own for friends in Sweden wondering about the new opportunities about to open up in the United States.
"They're calling me, asking what's going on, because they don't hear as much, obviously, there," Odenyo said. "I feel like everybody was very skeptical; people don't really want to believe it until it happens. They've been calling me, asking me what the deal is, because like I said, we've all heard rumors before."
There are certainly reasons why recruiting the best of European football will be a challenge for the new professional league in the United States. Aside from the declining fortunes of the dollar compared to the currency on the continent, next summer's European Championship in Finland will provide those involved with difficult training decisions.
At last year's World Cup in China, Norwegian star Solveig Gulbrandsen spoke confidently of her own interest in playing in a new professional league in the United States. But even if time doesn't mellow that outlook for Gulbrandsen, who will be 28 years old with a three-year-old son and Euro 2009 to likely worry about by the time next summer rolls around, some players in similar situations may not want to uproot their lives for months at a time to play in the United States.
"Not everybody wants to live that life," Odenyo said. "Whereas if you're in Sweden, you can build a life because you're there all year round. And obviously not everyone is equipped to go and live in a different country."
But for many others, the lure of coming to the U.S. to compete against the best competition in the world in a purely professional league will be an adventure not to be missed. It's the same challenge that brought Odenyo to Oklahoma State three years ago and which drew her to New Jersey this summer in what she hopes is a preview of things to come.
Because for some, home is defined less by the view out the window than the lines on a soccer field.
"I was just telling my friend the other day the longer I stay, the harder it is to leave," Odenyo said. "Initially it's hard to get used to being away from everybody, but now it's going to be the opposite if I leave, because I've built a life here. And then when you go home, you realize time hasn't stood still, so things are not the way you left them. I think for me, it's just wait and see what opportunities arise."
Graham Hays is an ESPN columnist and a contributor to womensprosoccer.com. He can be reached at moonlighthays@gmail.com . The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Women’s Professional Soccer or womensprosoccer.com.
