[NWSL] The National Women's Soccer League allocated 55 national team players from the United States, Canada and Mexico as the first phase of the new league's roster formation. Just how the process worked was the subject of immediate debate after the locations were revealed. The Portland Thorns landed both Alex Morgan -- the new Mia Hamm of women's soccer -- and Christine Sinclair -- the Canadian star who played at the University of Portland.

“I don’t think I’d be crowning any champions quite this early,” Gulati said, “but I can understand why people on Twitter would say Portland’s got a couple of high-profile goalscorers.”

On top of that, the Thorns also landed U.S. national team midfielder Tobin Heath, who should have a field day feeding Morgan and Sinclair.

Player of the Year Abby Wambach, who bought a $700,000 home in Portland last summer, is headed to Western New York in her hometown of Rochester, while Hope Solo will also stay at home, playing for the Seattle Reign.

Midfielder Megan Rapinoe, who played with Sinclair at UP, will play for Seattle after her season with Lyon in France, meaning that three of the four big names on the U.S. national team will be playing in the Northwest.

"The Northwest was popular with our players, in some cases because they’ve lived there or because they went to school there,” U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati admitted. “We tried to balance it as much as we could."

Players and clubs submitted preferences and a panel of experts familiar with the player pools provided input on the players to form the allocations.

Next up for the teams is the college draft Friday at the NSCAA Convention in Indianapolis.

One of the top senior midfielders, North Carolina's Amber Brooks, revealed she has signed with German club Bayern Munich.

The following are the team-by-team allocations:

Boston Breakers
Sydney Leroux (USA)
Heather Mitts (USA)
Heather O'Reilly (USA)
Adriana Leon (CAN)
Rhian Wilkinson (CAN)
Anisa Guajardo (MEX)
Cecilia Santiago (MEX)

Chicago Red Stars
Shannon Boxx (USA)
Amy LePeilbet (USA)
Keelin Winters (USA)
Erin McLeod (CAN)
Carmelina Moscato (CAN)
Maribel Dominguez (MEX)
Dinora Garza (MEX)

FC Kansas City
Nicole Barnhart (USA)
Lauren Cheney (USA)
Becky Sauerbrunn (USA)
Desiree Scott (CAN)
Lauren Sesselmann (CAN)
Renae Cuellar (MEX)
Marylin Diaz (MEX)

Portland Thorns
Rachel Buehler (USA)
Tobin Heath (USA)
Alex Morgan (USA)
Luz Saucedo (MEX)
Marlene Sandoval (MEX)
Karina LeBlanc (CAN)
Christine Sinclair (CAN)

Seattle Reign
Megan Rapinoe (USA)
Amy Rodriguez (USA)
Hope Solo (USA)
Kaylyn Kyle (CAN)
Emily Zurrer (CAN)
Jenny Ruiz (MEX)
Teresa Noyola (MEX)

Sky Blue FC
Jill Loyden (USA)
Kelley O'Hara (USA)
Christie Rampone (USA)
Sophie Schmidt (CAN)
Melanie Booth (CAN)
Monica Ocampo (MEX)
Lydia Rangel (MEX)

Washington Spirit
Ashlyn Harris (USA)
Ali Krieger (USA)
Lori Lindsey (USA)
Robin Gayle (CAN)
Diana Matheson (CAN)
Alina Garciamendez (MEX)
Teresa Worbis (MEX)

Western New York Flash
Carli Lloyd (USA)
Abby Wambach (USA)
Bryana McCarthy (CAN)
Jodi-Ann Robinson (CAN)
Veronica Perez (MEX)
Pamela Tajonar (MEX)