Freedom

This weekend, sixty hopeful athletes make their way to Racine, Wisconsin for the USA Freedom Training Squad Camp.

It will be the continuation of a dream to be a part of a national team – to impress coach Christina Licata and her staff enough to earn the right to play for their country in International Cup 2020, and the 2021 Trans-Atlantic Cup.

There will be those this weekend who will be kicking goals and taking marks and making tackles in a metaphorical way of screaming “PICK ME” to the assembled selectors.  Jess Whisney has experience in that respect.

This weekend, the eyes of the footballing world will be drawn to historic Adelaide Oval for the AFLW Grand Final.

After a two month sprint which has showcased the continued growth of the women’s game, it will come down whether Erin Phillips, Steve-Lee Thompson and the Adelaide Crows will complete their AFLW coronation, or whether the glass slipper will still fit for Darcy Vescio, Brianna Davey and the Carlton Blues.

Two nations, linked together by history, will now come together to do battle on the oval on a triennial basis.

The USAFL and AFL England are pleased to announce the Trans-Atlantic Trophy, in which the USA Revolution and USA Freedom will play the Great Britain Bulldogs and Great Britain Swans every three years beginning in 2021.

Great Britain will host the inaugural matches, which are tentatively scheduled for August 21, 2021, with the return games to be played in the United States in 2024.

The year 2020 sounds like something out of sci-fi movie.  Like a time where we’ll have interstellar space travel or something of that ilk.

But in fact, it is only two years away.  And before you know it, 2020 will be here, and so too will the seventh iteration of the AFL International Cup.

Between now and then, the USA Freedom women’s national team has a lot of work to do to improve upon their 4th place finish last year, and to make it to the Grand Final for the first time in the program’s history.