And Nothing Less

WPS April 4th, 5th Matches

tallskyline — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 17:48:30 +0000

Lindsey Tarpley, Chicago Red Stars

Saturday, April 4th
Chicago Red Stars @ Saint Louis Athletica 8pm ET
*Goal.com Preview

Sunday, April 5th
Los Angeles Sol @ Sky Blue FC 4pm ET
*Goal.com Preview
*OurSportsCentral Preview
Boston Breakers @ FC Gold Pride 6pm ET
*Goal.com Preview
*OurSportsCentral Preview
-Televised on Fox Soccer Channel
-We will hopefully post a link to watch it online

LA Sol v Washington Freedom Post Game Thoughts

tallskyline — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:46:23 +0000

In a great unfortunate accident, I fell asleep halfway through the LA Sol versus Washington Freedom match up. If there is one thing I am willing to bet money on though, don’t let this match be the standard for future matches. In both a good way and a bad way.

First, the good way. This match was not the standard of play for the future. I expect teams to play better and better as the season goes on, and team chemistry and problem solving by coaches progresses throughout the season.

Second, the bad way. The near 14,000 in attendance for the game is not likely to be a regular occurrence. This is definitely true considering some stadiums in the WPS are half that size. It is very good to see a large attendance like that, and we all should be happy about it. But keep your eye on that 5,000 average prize, where clubs break even financially.

Overall I thought the level was a little below what I think is an entertaining women’s soccer league. I thought team cohesion was lacking, and therefore the passing and rhythm suffered. I’m sure LA is glad to get the win, especially in an effort to keep a lot of those fans coming back. The Washington Freedom looked a good ways away from championship contender. People talked about Brianna Scurry but the Freedoms midfield is what bothered me the most.

BOLD STATEMENT: Marta may very well not be a shoe in for the league MVP. It is early to say because we haven’t seen what all the teams look like and how they rank in success. But the WPS is a balanced league in principal, and Marta will not have any push overs to bang in a handful of goals against. Then there is also the factor in MVP debates of whether the player made the team better. Landon Donovan himself had an absolutely killer season last year. In the end, Donovan’s Galaxy had a poor season and because of that he missed his chance at garnering one of the few MLS awards that he does not already have, the MVP award.

Marta will not only have to do well individually but make the Los Angeles Sol a very good team. Who could be her competition out there? FIFA World Player of the Year Runner-Up and fellow Brazilian Cristiane would be a possibility, especially on a Chicago Red Stars team that seems packed with quality in the midfield and forward lines. Hope Solo could be in the running if the St. Louis Athletica put together a top performance season, and Natasha Kai could be make a run for it if she turns up with big game performances and clutch goals like she’s done in the past. Of course my dark horse is Megan Rapinoe. It’s ok, you can laugh, but I’ve got a good feeling about this player.

Sol v Freedom Highlights, Coverage, Video

tallskyline — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:48:51 +0000

14,832 filed in for the inagural WPS match.

For official highlights from womensprosoccer.com click here.

Article from Goal.com summarizing the match.
Article from the NY Times summarizing the match.
Article from USA Today on match with player and coach quotes.

The Los Angeles Sol defeated the Washington Freedom in front of 14,832 fans. It was a good day for the WPS, but we don’t want to build it up too much. I’ll add my thoughts later if I get a chance.

Los Angeles Sol v Washington Freedom – Watch Live Online

tallskyline — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:48:58 +0000

*EVENT OVER

You can check out the innagural WPS match with Wambach and Marta over at JustinTV. http://www.justin.tv/xyyz

FIFA Womens Rankings- Where is Norway?

tallskyline — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:16:10 +0000

The latest FIFA Women’s National Team rankings were released, and there is nothing too interesting about it to be honest except for the former World Champions Norway dropping 3 spots to 9th after losing three straight games at the Algarve Cup. Norway is historically the 3rd best team in the world behind the USA and Germany, with a world cup title, a runner-up finish, and two fourth place finishes in the five women’s world cups.

In late 2008, Marie Knutsen, Guro Knutsen, Marit Fiane Christensen, Lene Mykjåland, and Siri Nordby (all of Norwegian club Røa) released a press statement saying they were quitting the national team because of issues with the leadership. They helped Røa absolutely destroy the rest of the Toppserien by winning 12 and drawing 1, with 50 goals for and a mere 5 goals against in their first 13 games. Guro Knutsen and Lene Mykjåland both scored 10 goals, missing the golden boot by 1.
MF – Marie Knutsen – 26 – 53 caps 6 goals
FW – Guro Knutsen – 24 – 14 caps 3 goals
DF – Marit Fiane Christensen – 28 -62 caps 7 goals
FW – Lene Mykjåland – 22 – 21 caps 5 goals
DF – Siri Nordby – 30 – 42 caps 2 goals
Do you think this is a sign of more problems ahead for Norway? Was Norway’s leadership better off with out these ladies? Are you reading this and saying ‘BORING!’.

1. USA
2. Brazil +1
3. Germany -1
4. Sweden
5. Korea DPR
6. Denmark +1
7. Japan +2
8. France
9. Norway -3
10. England
11. Canada
12. China +1
13. Italy -1
14. Australia
15. Russia
16. Ukraine
17. Netherlands
18. Iceland +1
19. Finland -2
20. Spain

Canada National Team: The Next Level

tallskyline — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:39:16 +0000

We knew the creation of the Women’s Pro Soccer league would benefit players and national teams alike. It seems that is only part of the plan for the Canadian Women’s National Team. They see a new era ahead of them, and you can read about it here. Points of development:
- Players developing and playing at a higher level (WPS)
- Increase and retention of young soccer players
- More technical play from players

LA Sol, Marta de Vieira, Stephanie Cox

tallskyline — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:53:57 +0000

Check out this coverage of the Los Angeles Sol, with comments from Stephanie Cox, Marta de Vieira and coach Abner Rogers. Unfortunately the english translation of Marta actually sounds quieter than Marta herself, so it’s a struggle for us english speakers.

Holy shiTwitter.

tallskyline — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:29:05 +0000

I love the use of technology. When it comes to soccer in the United States, a large part of it has lived on the internet. The rise of the US Womens and Mens National teams along with professional leagues since the early 90s has parralleled this amazingly powerful and cheap way for soccer coverage and discussion to live and grow. BigSoccer, Facebook, Youtube, blogs, streaming matches, I used them or still do use them quite frequently to follow soccer both home and abroad. I was extremely excited to hear that MLS would be doubling the quality of their online streamings of games. But when I heard that the WPS was going to have in-game tweets from players, I felt uneasy. I knew the first place I had to go is Amanda Vandervort’s blog, where of course the top post was a collection of all the people and players that could be followed on Twitter.
Amanda is a no doubt a up to speed tech guru, and I see the sense in having certain people of WPS having blogs and twittering, but I do not like top executives, coaches twittering, nor do I like the idea of players twittering during games.
First, Twitter is for a small quick snippet on the go. For me, if an executive or coach has something to say it should be thought out and have a certain amount of depth to it. Not a 140 byte length snippet. In my opinion, those people should use blogs.
Players could and should use it. I can see it being a useful thing to have players post tweets throughout the week like “ankle is still sore, saturday is still a maybe” or “very positive in training to day, ready for Sunday”. It could even be a personal message like “tonight is a pasta night”. I am totally against (until proven wrong I guess) the idea of players tweeting for the sidelines of a match. I think is not where the focus of the players should be, and it opens up a whole can of worms for what they could say, how it would be interpreted, what kind of statements would you get from bench players, and why would you follow thoughts of a bench player when the game is going on.
I enjoy twitter, and have signed up to the WPS feed, and probably to others, but not all of them. What do you think?

Sinclair hopeful for now and later, Canada and FC Gold Pride.

tallskyline — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:44:48 +0000

Christine Sinclair is ready to build on her success.

Christine Sinclair has interconnected hopes for soccer in North America. The most imminent would be her WPS opener with her team FC Gold Pride taking on Boston Breakers on April 5th. Perhaps the most personal would be her chance to score her 100th goal in Canada’s friendly against Japan come May 25th. Sinclair holds hopes for the distant future in what Women’s Pro Soccer can do for aspiring players and the Canadian soccer. “I think this league needs to survive just so young players out there in college, and younger than that, know that there’s somewhere to play if you don’t happen to make a national team,” she said Friday during a conference call. “For some people it’s hard to move overseas to continue your soccer career. So to have a league here in the U.S. – and hopefully it can branch out to Canada soon – it’s hugely important.” Read more from The Canadian Press

*If you are interested in the Canada v. Japan match up at BMO Field, tickets have gone on sale.

FC Gold Pride vs. LA Sol scrimmage highlights

tallskyline — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:03:46 +0000

Can’t wait to see some WPS action? This should help curb your hunger until the season kicks off. Looks like WPS coverage is going to live primarily on the internet and youtube accounts are being set up to post WPS videos, so I’ll try to track those and post good ones that I find.