Week “who with the what now?” 3? 4? Review

By: Melissa | April 22nd, 2009

I stop paying attention for like a week and a bunch of new blogs spring up to cover me (well, in MY mind that’s what they’re doing). For the official officialness, WPS redesigned their site and added enough information to cause seizures. Goal.com also put together a good women’s soccer page. And OleOle now has bloggers for each team. All this AND the league still hasn’t folded. But apparently there was a sizeable drop in attendance for Saturday’s Boston game. Ruh row. I blame global warming. I was just in Chicago where I was freezing my $&*^%# off and now I’m lying in a pool of my own sweat here in Oakland. Wtf to all that I say. But enough about me. What the hell happened out there?

Boston Breakers 3 – Washington Freedom 1 If this game had the first penalty in WPS and it wasn’t televised, does that mean it really happened? Actually, make that two penalties. After a scoreless and lackluster first half, Briana Scurry fouled Angela Hucles inside the box in the 54th minute. And in the 72nd minute Breakers defender Amy LePeilbet was caught for a handball in the box. Kelly “too early to be thinking mvp” Smith converted the first penalty but Abby “goalposts are my white whale” Wambach missed the second. Shortly after AbbyFAIL, Christine Latham and Angela Hucles scored leaving the Freedom with another loss. And with the imminent arrival of Erin McLeod to the Freedom, Briana “can’t blame this on the pink jersey” Scurry’s days in front of the net may be numbered.

LA Sol 1 – FC Gold Pride 0 Marta Marta Marta (mom always said, don’t play ball in the house). She scored AGAIN from an Aly Wagner pass launched over the FC Austin Powers Goldmember defense. Wagner’s performance earned her a player of the week nod (her reaction to the news was to tweet that her husband should take her out to a nice steak dinner – word). And despite plenty o’ chances throughout the game from both sides, this would be the only goal of the match. A match many writers on the internets are calling a rivalry. I dunno. Can we really say that after three games? And this being the first “real” one? This win keeps the Sol at the top of the league and if coach Rogers can keep up the momentum of his shockingly astute second half changes, the team will probably win a spot at the finals. And not to mention Jennifer Doyle’s recent comment: “They are already much, much more fun to watch than the Galaxy.” Double true.

Chicago Red Stars 0 – Sky Blue FC 0 Lindsay Tarpley is the Michael Bradley of women’s soccer. Scrappy. Best word to describe the both of them. Unforch, she was unable to use that “skill” to her advantage this time around. The Red Stars were in control of the game from the get-go but after Megan Rapinoe’s chance to seal the deal with a bicycle kick was punched over the bar by Karen Bardlsey, the synergy kinda puttered. And it remained that way going into the second half. Sky Blue was forced to swap goalkeepers (Bardsley was having back spasms – yikes!) and Concussion Kai entered in the 62nd minute. Basically, it was a flurry of subs during that second half but the changes didn’t really create any new chances for either side. I’m guessing the players need more training time together OR both teams will perhaps start looking into some trades… whenever WPS decides to set up a transfer window.

Stay tuned and I’ll whip up a weekend preview for later this week. Also, please DO check out the team power rankings from Pott Rodriguez at Peter Wilt’s blog. I’m dead serious when I say get this girl a book deal and/or her own column on the WPS site.