Is this Week 1 or Week 2? Whichever it is, here’s your preview

By: Melissa | April 3rd, 2009

And this coming Hangover Football Sunday is packed with three games! So lucky you if you happen to be near Edwardsville, Illinois or Bridgewater, NJ or Santa Clara, CA. But the Santa Clara game will be televised meaning us NorCal folks get a bit of a break this time. Yay. Ok, let’s begin…

Boston Breakers at FC Gold Pride Tony DiCicco may actually be one of the best coaches this country has ever produced and he brings an offensively packed Boston team to face the late-starters at home. I say late-starters mainly because our Bay Area side was the last team to join the league and, if you’ve been paying attention to David’s FCGP blog, the jury is still out whether the new coach made good or bad changes to the line-up after he came on board. So Sunday is the day to find out what is really going on down there. And it won’t be easy for the Lions. Boston brings with them Kelly Smith, Angela Hucles, and Amy Rodriguez. Also – if I remember my twitter feed – Kristine Lilly bagged at least one goal in pre-season. Number 2 Nat goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart will have her work cut out for her. Luckily she has support from college standout Carrie Drew as well as Rachel Beuhler and Brandi Chastain. And on paper, the FCGP roster looks very good but ultimately the question remains: with so little time and so many changes, is the chemistry there yet?

Chicago Red Stars at Saint Louis Athletica Is it me or was Saint Louis eerily quiet during pre-season? I honestly don’t know what to say about them right now. Jorge Barcellos took the coaching job after leaving his post with the Brazillian National Team and won big when Hope Solo joined during allocation. There are some great signings and they’ve been kicking ass in pre-season so the visiting Red Stars will definitely have their work cut out for them. And at this point, I can’t even predict who is going to take this match. Both teams have talent-packed rosters and proven coaches. Emma Hayes for the Red Stars had success in the W-League as well as with the Arsenal Ladies. And instead of rattling off player names (for both sides) and how awesome they are, I’m just going to say I wish this was the game televised on Sunday.

Los Angeles Sol at Sky Blue FC We’ve already got a glimpse of the shape of Sol to come and it looks pretty good so far. And I think Sky Blue FC have the deepest offense in the league right now (I honestly thought coach Sawyers would trade a forward before the season started). But the defense looks a bit green despite being well-anchored by Christie Rampone. And the Washington Freedom’s poor offensive showing this past Sunday certainly didn not put La Sol’s defense to the test. This time the Sol face Collette McCallum in the midfield with Natasha Kai or Heather O’Reilly or Sarah Walsh on the front line. So it’s possible this one will be the highest scoring game of the week. Between Sky Blue’s packed offense and the Sol’s Miyama-Marta combo, the winner may just boil down to Karina Leblanc yet again coming up big and making those crucial saves.