Fourteen MASL W Players Will Compete in Women's Minifootball World Cup in October
September 10, 2024 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) News Release
The US Mini Football Women's National Team has announced its roster for October's WMF Women's World Cup in Mali Losinj, Croatia. Fifteen players and five alternates were charged with the task of earning a second straight world title.
The team is led by MASL standouts Franck Tayou, brother Uzi Tayou and Ian Bennett as well as MASL Pro-Player Combine goalkeeper coach, Mark Litton.
Of the 15 players on the active roster, 14 are expected to play in the newly created Major Arena Soccer League Women starting in the 2024-25 season.
US Mini Football Technical Director Craig Rhodis, Goalkeeper Coach Mark Litton, and eight players return from the 2021 squad that won the first ever WMF Women's World Cup in Kiev, Ukraine.
Returning are 2021 WMF World Cup leading scorer Kenne Kessler, twins Gabby and Emily Byorth, Ashley Gogolin, Alivia Milesky, Erin Yenney, Val Battisti, and Christy Zwolski. 2021 Best Goalkeeper Braeleigh McCoy,was named as an alternate.
Of the seven players slated to make their World Cup debuts, three, Elyssa Francis, Kaela Dickerman and Kate Drummond, appeared at both of the team's training camps held in March 2023 in Louisville and this July in Cincinnati. The other five earned their spots fromJuly's camp.
Rhodis and Litton will be joined for the first time by a trio of assistant coaches who have starred for the US Mini Football Men's National Team. Franck Tayou, Uzi Tayou and Ian Bennett were at July's training camp and were part of the roster selection process.
"Our staff and players have worked hard to make sure we are prepared for the World Cup.We have very high expectations for our women's team, but we realize that the competition will be very strong. We are always looking for ways to improve, to raise our standard. That is one of the reasons for adding Franck, Ian and Uzi to the staff. They will help us tremendously," said Rhodis.
"As we have gone through the process of selecting the roster and preparing the group, we have realized that one of our advantages is our women have a competitive indoor league. Fourteen of our 15 players compete in the MASLW. A competitive league creates better players. This has given us a head start. As this league continues to grow, it will create more competition for future rosters," added Litton.
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- Fourteen MASL W Players Will Compete in Women's Minifootball World Cup in October - MASL
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