Rose Lavelle was one of the USWNT’s best players at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, taking home the tournament’s Bronze Ball while winning her first world championship.
Lavelle was honored again Monday night when FIFA named her to the first-ever women’s FIFPRO World11. Lavelle was in Milan for the big FIFA gala, which also saw Lionel Messi and Megan Rapinoe named the best players in the world.
Two days later, her NWSL club, the Washington Spirit, had a critical match against the Dash at BBVA Stadium in Houston, with both clubs clinging to faint playoff hopes.
Lavelle was an unused sub in the match, which finished in a 0-0 draw, leaving the Dash out of the playoff picture and the Spirit all but dead.
Why didn’t Lavelle play? U.S. Soccer sent a “strongly worded recommendation” to Spirit coach Richie Burke requesting she be rested after the lengthy travel and with upcoming USWNT friendlies, according to the Washington Post.
Rose Lavelle, like all of her USWNT teammates (and those on the Canadian national team) in the NWSL, are paid salaries not by their clubs but by their respective federations. This can make for some awkward “recommendations” when it comes to playing time.
There are many good reasons for why U.S. Soccer pays the salaries of USWNT players. It allows the large non-profit entity that is the USSF to subsidize the NWSL, helping it grow and remain competitive. It allows the stars of the league to make more money than they otherwise would be able to be paid by NWSL clubs, preventing them from going abroad for higher pay.
But there are also many reasons why U.S. Soccer paying the salaries for NWSL clubs is far from ideal, and this situation with Rose Lavelle is a perfect example. Pressuring clubs to not play their stars creates an unnecessarily fractured relationship between club and country.
And yet, U.S. Soccer is completely within its right to ask Lavelle to be rested. She’s just coming back from a month-long concussion-related injury absence and she’s got a long history of hamstring injuries. She’s played just two-and-a-half matches with the Spirit since the Women’s World Cup. A long transatlantic flight left her “shattered,” according to Burke, though he said she wanted to play at least 10-15 minutes anyway. But U.S. Soccer, which pays Lavelle’s salary, has the right to protect its investment in the player.
“At times, we make recommendations on what we think are the best courses of action regarding the overall health perspective of the national team players,” said U.S. Soccer spokesman Neil Buethe. “We don’t dictate what the players do on a day-to-day basis in these club environments, but we are invested in working in partnership with them to make sure the health of the players is always in the forefront and the top priority.”
In the end, Burke opted to leave her on the bench against Houston, and it may cost his team a spot in the playoffs. (Rapinoe, who was also in Milan, didn’t even dress for Reign FC’s home match against Utah on Wednesday, a 2-1 Reign win.)
With three games left, the Spirit (27 points) need to win out to have any hope of catching Reign FC (34 points) for the fourth and final playoff spot. Washington plays its home finale on Saturday before facing last-place Orlando (Oct. 5) and third-place Portland (Oct. 12) on the road. But the Spirit will be without Lavelle for at least one of those matches; the USWNT continues its victory tour with friendlies against South Korea on Oct. 3 and Oct. 6.
There is, of course, no easy solution right now. NWSL needs the monetary support from U.S. Soccer, which of course prioritizes the national team over clubs.
Ideally, NWSL will grow to a point where it can be self-sustaining. Unfortunately, we’re a long way off from that.
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