Buehler on radar after Cup audition
By: SIMON SAMANO - Staff Writer | ∞
She came. She saw. She learned. And now Rachel Buehler is better equipped for the future.
Next time she'll be ready.
"Going in there, I'll just not be intimidated that much," Buehler said of the U.S. women's national team, with whom she recently spent two months training. "I'll have much more confidence in myself, knowing that I can play at that level."
During Buehler's stint at World Cup residency camp in April and May, U.S. coach Greg Ryan informed the Torrey Pines High graduate that her dream of representing the U.S. at the Women's World Cup in China in September wouldn't be realized.
Buehler, a veteran of the U.S. youth national program, was understandably disappointed. But she was far from devastated. Her headstrong mentality allowed her to keep it all in perspective.
"Of course you're disappointed when you work that hard and it doesn't go your way," Buehler said. "I have a good perspective, though. I'm young, and it was a good experience. I felt I learned a lot from it. It was a win-win situation."
Buehler received the invitation to World Cup camp in late March. It stirred her emotions, the fact that her dream of representing her country on the grandest stage was that close to fulfillment.
"It's anyone's dream to have that opportunity to play for the women's national team," Buehler said. "For it to be that close was exciting."
And so Buehler, a standout defender for Stanford who earned All-Pacific 10 Conference first-team honors in 2006, went into camp expecting nothing and hoping for the best.
"I didn't really know what to expect," Buehler said. "There was a lot of competition, a lot of really good girls. I was excited for the opportunity more than anything."
Buehler did all the right things at camp. She didn't just work hard, she was like a sponge, absorbing all the knowledge and wisdom she could from the likes of fellow defenders Kate Markgraf and Christie Rampone, who Buehler calls the best defender she has ever watched.
One thing Buehler knows for sure is that she did everything in her power to make the roster.
"I went in and did my best," she said, "and that was all I could do. I went out there trying to make the team. I wasn't going to go without giving my 100 percent effort to make the team."
This was Buehler's first residency experience with the women's senior national team, and it may have been a little too soon for the 21-year-old.
Buehler's time will come, but there's a very good chance that Ryan may have invited Buehler mainly for the experience of residency camp.
"I'm sure bringing me in to get my feet wet was obviously part of it," Buehler said. "And (Ryan) did explain that to me. But I don't think they bring anybody they think doesn't have any sort of shot at making the roster."
Buehler's immediate focus has shifted to the U.S. under-21 team with whom she'll play in her third Nordic Cup ---- the annual under-23 championship tournament ---- on July 18 in Finland. Once that's over, she'll report to training camp for her senior season at Stanford, where national championship aspirations are at an all-time high after the Cardinal lost just one player from last year's team that advanced to the round of 16.
After that, everything concerning her soccer career is up in the air.
Next summer's Olympics in China will likely give her another chance to fulfill her dream of playing with the women's national team. But she also knows nothing is a guarantee.
"I'd say I'm just going with the flow and keeping all my options open," Buehler said. "Whatever opportunities with soccer that may come I will take, because you don't know when you'll get those. But I'm preparing to go to med school. I'm taking my MCATs, and that sort of thing. I have a good education to fall back on, so I'm just going with the flow."
Contact staff writer Simon Samano at simon_samano@yahoo.com. Comment at sports.nctimes.com.
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