Introducing: Amy Rodriquez (8)

Brian O’Connell interviewed Amy at Breakers Media Day (March 8, 2009)

Amy, a forward, helped USC to the 2007 NCAA Division I championship and assisted Carli Lloyd’s overtime gold-medal game-winning goal against Brazil in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

The question for Tony DiCicco: Why isn’t Amy starting? (Here she is, warming up before the May 2nd win against the LA Sol.)

Amy came on late against the Washington Freedom last weekend and her ability to hold the ball up and move it about spryly gave the exhausted Kelly Smith time to get into dangerous positions while the Breakers collected behind. (Too bad Kelly was abused and spent by that time, and the Breakers couldn’t get the go-ahead.) Boston Breakers 1:1 Washington Freedom at Harvard Stadium (May 17, 2009). The match was televised here in the US on Fox Soccer Channel.

Unless Rodriquez is recovering from injury, it’s unclear why she’s not getting the 90 minutes. If others were more potent up front and provided better support to Kelly Smith — whose silky left foot is a constant danger — then the question would be moot. In mitigation (and you might see a bit of DiCicco’s thinking here), Amy coming on in the 60th or 75th minute against tired legs will tend to have a certain desired effect on the scoreline, hypothetically speaking.

Breakers are off this Memorial Day weekend while the National Teams compete.

Category: Player Profile