But moving on… Hello and welcome to mid-season! Now is the time for the smart people paying attention to reflect and review the first ten weeks and even the drafts. So far, the league is averaging around 5,400 fans per match (but I think that count may be a bit high) and the number of people watching the WPS games on FSC is about the same as the those watching the FSC MLS games. And hey! WPS is now streaming those FSC games on their website. And after Chicago put their non-FSC games online and now LA appears to be following suit — next up is for the league to keep online archives for fans to stream on-demand. I’m not saying they will do that, I’m merely suggesting that they should.

But the inaugural season so far is not without it’s criticisms. John Howell at the Bleacher Report thinks each team needs a psychologist because these top-flight players are so used to winning, they can’t figure out how to come back from falling behind (but I think there were at least two Washington games to prove his theory wrong and I’m not entirely sure if this guy is really just asking for a job). And Commish Tonya, speaking at the Association for Women in Sports Media convention, said the way WPS is built almost “takes gender out of the equation in what our brand stands for” - meaning the league signed top players and will not use sex appeal to sell tickets. According to Antonucci, MLS is busy competing with the “other football” and soccer is already a popular sport for girls to play, so it’s natural for players to turn into fans as they get older. The Sports, Media, & Society blog argues this idea won’t work:

Popular spectator sports in western culture have always been all about gender performance. In other words, gender can’t be removed from any sports equation. That’s one reason (among several) that soccer will struggle in the U.S. to ever have a sustained, high-numbers following — it’s a gender-neutral sport, and, thus, is less appealing to fans (logically, this quality gives it more appeal as a participatory sport.)

Although, I don’t know if I can agree with the argument about the popularity of soccer in general since I’m pretty sure western culture includes Europe… but the Commish is quoted further In Jim Slater’s article “US women’s soccer league builds for success,” he writes:

WPS is cultivating attendance, attention and sponsorship slowly and in markets, wanting to build lasting partnerships as a sport league and avoid sympathy ploys as a women’s league fighting for attention against male rivals.

“This isn’t about making people feel guilted into helping our sport,” said Antonucci. “We’re going to earn it.”

…which brings me to the point here that WPS may be positioning itself as the gender-neutral gendered sports league yet I wonder how it is going to appeal to the the worldwide, both male and female, soccer fan (since it wants to be the top league in the world - right?) while at the same time aligning itself with the teeny tiny handful of women’s professional sports leagues we’ve got right now. Seems to me, in order to do both, one can’t ignore gender at all. Thoughts?

(Consider this blog an incomplete rant so please add any ideas/opinions you’ve got)

Legendary US-based footballing broadcaster, Seamus Malin, will join a new broadcast team being assembled to cover 4 extra WPS matches this season, two Boston Breakers v Washington Freedom matches (June 24th & July 29th) and a home & home series between Chicago Red Stars & FC Gold Pride (June 7th & July 12th). A different team excluding Malin will cover the Red Stars|FC Gold Pride matches. Check local listings on Comcast SportsNet (CSN).

Seamus — a Dubliner by birth and career administrator at Harvard University — has covered “soccer” (perish the word) for ABC, ESPN, CBS & has covered World Cup Footballing broadcasts in the US since 1990.

My own personal recollection is Seamus doing color for the New York Cosmos broadcasts between about 1978 and the NASL’s sorry demise. He is the only American announcer to do justice to the Beautiful Game via his intellect & empathy.

A lifelong Villa supporter, Seamus is a FAN; he’s still got his ticket stubs and program from England 1966.

This will make WPS television coverage in the US even more palatable on Comcast.

Here’s an old (2006) interview so you will recognize his voice.

Welcom back Seamus!

Applause, applause … another strong (& correct) move by the league. Next step, GRASS!

“WPS Update: All Winners” | USSoccerPlayers.com | June 1, 2009

Athletica 0:2 Sol
FC Gold Price 1:3 Freedom
Sky Blue FC 2:1 Breakers

After Week10 action in the WPS, the table tells a tale. Most prominent is the evenness of results. If you adjust the point totals for games in-hand — Red Stars & Athletica have two each; Sky Blue, Breakers & Freedom each have one — all the teams would be within a victory of 12 points, give or take.

Only the Sol have pulled away, and their outlying +9 Goals-For/Against statistic tells that tale pretty clearly. Conversely, FC Gold Pride’s poor Goals-For/Against number (-4) indicates an omenous trend which could see the San Francisco side adrift, come late Summer.

Regarding the Sol, it’s tempting to say, “It’s the Marta-factor!” But when you watch them it’s clear they have a strong defensive midfield (see Boxx, Wagner et al.). And they have a strong attacking midfield (see Miyama, Abily et al.). And Han Duan, Marta’s imposing Chinese International strike partner, has settled in and begun to score.

One potential weakness is a tendency to go Route 1 to Marta all the time. Closing down Route 1 can become a handy strategic imperative for opposing defenses. And playing with Marta requires patience and adjustment. She goes on searing, improvisational runs with the ball which, on a good day, can panic defenses. This is good when it affects the score, as it has done on four occasions. Marta is 2nd in the scoring table; she lags the WPS scoring leader, Kelly Smith (Boston Breakers), who has 5 goals.

You might expect a player of Marta’s obvious flair to have more assists, too; but she ranks 8th in the League with only 2. This is because Marta runs away from her Sol-mates. With the ball, she is reactive rather than prescriptive. Quite often you see her attracting two or three defenders, but at the end of a labyrinthine course she’ll have no teammate nearby to help. Lacking Camille Abily’s presence in the middle (she is 5th on the scoring table with 3 goals), Aya Miyama’s creativity & possession on the left (ranking 6th in Shots-on-Goal; 4th in Shots) and the well-organized back-four, the Sol would suffer.

This image against Boston Breakers May 2nd at Harvard Stadium makes the point. (Photo: Samuel Hiser | hiserfotograf) Here, Marta attracts the attention of Boston Breakers defenders Amy LePeilbet and Alex Scott with Angela Hucles tracking back to smother the danger. Alex, calmly in her own box, dispossessed Marta here.

You have to credit the balance of the Sol — and Abner Rogers’ talent selection and attention to detail — for their success. They defend as a team; they do not waste possession; this is not a one-woman side. Don’t get me wrong, Marta is critical to the LA Sol. She is unequivocally a star, and she helps attendance both home & away. But her impact on a match — apart from the thrills — is less direct than we might have expected. She is, above all as it turns out, a space-maker for others. This, too, is a credit to the structure & execution of the League as much as to the Rogers touch and the talent of these women.

Balance, while we’re on the subject, is another quality of the Boston Breakers; but we’ll get to that soon on the Breakers’ page. The Breakers need to work on their Away results. The arduous travel of playing a seven-team roster in the USA is a feature of the show, and one which demands acclimatization — particularly for the International players from Asia, Europe & South America.

[I'd like to ask Kelly Smith, for one, how she's holding up after the recent International break, which comes perhaps as a welcome interlude between the extreme physicality of WPS action.]

Well done, ladies!

Source

Kandace Wilson leaves Sunday’s FC Gold Pride game against LA Sol on crutches after a second half hip check from Marta caused Wilson to be transported to urgent care. After witnessing this sudden and - uh - forceful display of force from the league’s golden child, many of us are perhaps wondering if WPS will punish Marta with a fine or suspension. Stay tuned…

“Differences have arisen between Ian and the ownership of the organization,” said Thomas Hofstetter, CEO and President of Sky Blue Soccer - the parent organization of Sky Blue FC. “We are working through this matter as professionally as possible and will have further information available sometime next week.”

Not exactly the best morale boost for the team stuck in last place. And they lost that game against the Freedom 2-1. Surprise surprise.

Adding to the mystery is a random tweet from Steven Goff on Friday: “Washington Freedom, which ousted team president before season started, dismissed 3 front office folks this week, soccer industry sources say.” Kind of a strange report when you consider the fact that the Freedom are slowly inching their way up the standings. So the firings can’t be because of team performance - right? And both Sky Blue and Washington made some player movements this week - the Freedom in defense and Sky Blue added another forward - presumably to help out Natasha Kai who I swear gets injured during every game. I really hope that’s the reason why she was left off the USWNT roster against Canada.

As for Chicago, their performance on the field aside (but honestly, Saturday’s game was our first real glimpse of how amazing Christiane is as a playmaker), this club is miles ahead of all the other WPS clubs. The webcasts they provide us are just perfect. And because I’m a complete geek, I noticed Saturday’s webcast used the Google App Engine. But the best part was right after the game began, the program scaled up and migrated over to Amazon Web Services. My geek self seriously wants to work for the company providing these webcasts! Absolute brilliance! Ok, there were still some glitches as I logged out during half-time and could not log back in for the second half, but that only proves that the company totally needs to hire me to sort these little snafus out. But dorkiness aside, Chicago are doing a great job marketing to multiple demographics - partnering with ZipCar, promoting Green Laces, having members of the Windy City Rollers Rollerderby team perform the national anthem, and a bunch of other awesome stuff too. I just don’t think the other clubs are anywhere close to these accomplishments.

And I’ve got to be in San Jose tomorrow - a few freeway exits from Buck Shaw - for work, so I’ll be making my way over to the stadium for the game against the Sol (crossing my fingers there will still be walk-up tickets available). Both teams are missing key players which, off the pitch drama aside, is the real theme for this week. The US plays Canada on Monday and suddenly all our teams are bringing out their Z squads. Bit of a problem for WPS and one they seriously need to address if they plan to continue broadcasting these games internationally. But since I’m just a lowly blogger with no credibility, here’s someone with perhaps a bit more influence adding a few comments of his own:

You might want to look into fixing that. And good luck tomorrow. I’ll be one of the four people in the stands attempting to create some sort of supporters section. Except, uh, I keep forgetting to buy a ticket.

In other news… The Offside will be welcoming a Boston Breakers blogger shortly. Hooray!

Jon Stewart Nevermind the guy lives in New York. But he’s a long-time soccer fan and any Daily Show fanatic knows he’ll talk about the sport pretty much any chance he gets on his show. Not to mention his hilarious interview with Clint Mathis from back in the day. And I read somewhere or someone told me or maybe I just made it up that he has season tickets for the NY Red Bulls. Either way the guy is on that Steve Nash level of cool credibility and since Nash isn’t doing much right now to help promote the league (too busy hanging out with FC Barcelona I guess), WPS really needs someone out there to - err - remind potential fans that the little league that could is still trying. Also, Stewart has kids and if WPS marketing gets anything right, its the ability to market to pre-teens.

Julia Stiles Ok, so she probably doesn’t have the money although maybe she does have some of that Bourne dough burning a hole in her pocket. She used to (maybe she still does) play in amateur leagues in New York and her indie credibility might help gain WPS more of that elusive and fickle full-of-disposable-income fanbase stuck between Miley Cyrus and the soccer mom. But at the same time, her uber literary slant may turn away some of the more hardcore supporters. I mean, who wants to be sitting next to a woman when she’s marking up pages of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar?

Anthony LaPaglia This guy is already all over LA soccer with Hollywood United. And since Hollywood United recently joined USL’s Premiere Development League, I can’t see why LaPaglia or even United wouldn’t be interested in getting a little piece of WPS. I even read on a Riot Squad message board months ago that he was already rumored to be investing in the Sol. And the guy already owns a portion of Sydney FC of Australia’s A-League. And he has a daughter. I swear this stuff writes itself. But I’ve still never seen his show. I’m sure it’s great. Just… keep… forgetting… to… watch.

(I’ve just been informed that LaPaglia already owns half of the Sol - whoops!)

Robbie Williams Me and about 50,000 other people are TOTALLY friends with Robbie Williams on Facebook. But seriously, has he completely retired? Is he just holed up in some mansion on LA? And if I have my story straight, he invested in his old hometown football club, Port Vale, and he set up an amateur team in LA which he captains. And then there’s the bit where he turned a bunch of tennis courts at his house into a soccer field. If he just took a teeny tiny portion of that energy and applied it to the women’s game, WPS will probably dedicate some effin statue or something to him.

Ok, some friends just called and want me to come over and eat their food so I’m leaving it at that. I’m sure I forgot some potential investors (and Eva Longoria does NOT count - girlfriend can’t say she’s a Chivas USA fan then switch teams as soon as the Beckham circus comes to town!) so do feel free to suggest anyone I’ve missed.

In lieu of a bunch of hastily put together and not at all coherent series of match reports this time around, I’ll just whip up some quick observations from this weekend’s games:

Marta (again) scored the only goal during Friday’s game against Sky Blue FC. The highlight for me was a Facebook update from Alecko Eskandarian saying he was wearing his Sky Blue FC shirt in support (you can take the guy out of Jersey…). And that was my one and only highlight because whatever that television station was broadcasting it, it was waay too obscure for anyone to bother setting up a precarious internet feed for me to enjoy. But the real question was whether Marta scored that goal or if it was Marta’s bobblehead. I will be asking that question next weekend when Marta, her bobblehead, and the rest of the LA Sol travel to the Yay to play a severely depleted FC Golden Grahams squad (WPS needs to seriously consider the idea of an International Bye Week). Speaking of bobbleheads, this quote from Marta is priceless: “I am honored to be chosen for the first bobblehead in WPS history.” Jimmy Conrad, you are now officially upstaged.

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I can’t remember the name of the station who supplied the feed for Saturday’s Chicago/Bay Area game but I love them. Where I’m at is having a bit of a heat wave so I spent that time outside with the laptop on the wireless with the game and a grill and we whipped up hella grilled cheese sandwiches. The point here is, the situation was PERFECT and I will write it over and over like a effed up broken record: PUT THIS CRAP ONLINE. As for the Red Stars, two losses does not mean it’s all over. And one road win for FCGP and they are suddenly biting at the heels of Boston in the standings? Both teams will be hit hard next weekend with national team call-ups which is a bit unfortunate considering where they sit on the table. But at least Saint Louis will also be missing key players. Big ups to Chicago this coming Saturday.

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Sunday I was again outside with the laptop eating grilled cheese sandwiches (go with what you know) but this time watching Boston v Washington. As for this game, it’s a shame the result was a tie because clearly Boston wanted the win. It started out with me thinking “&^$_#*@ football lines” then “holy sh*t Lisa DeVanna!” then “whut up crossbar” then “why hasn’t Amy Rodriguez scored yet?” Then I think I ate a bunch of sandwiches and forgot about all of it. Washington’s defense still looks a bit like swiss cheese except now they’ve got a better goalie to maybe keep them in this thing. And Boston will stay at the top of the standings even if Kelly Smith has to drag all her teammates with her. Speaking of, I ask, where’s her bobblehead? If you are a footballer in this continent, when you get your own bobblehead, does that mean you’ve truly made it? And I’m totally someone who hates random bric-a-brac so do these head things have a purpose? Like, can you put your weed in one? Or maybe all the money you took out of the bank when this financial crisis hit?

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I would like to take a few seconds here to give a shout-out whut whut thank goodness Andrea Canales is back writing about women’s soccer again. When the old Sideline Views blog folded I was absolutely crushed. She and Kathryn Knapp are putting together a fantastic one-stop-shopping news source over at Goal.com. And regarding the recent review/suspension of Abby Wambach and Kia McNeill from last Sunday’s Athletica/Freedom game, Canales spells it all out short, sweet, & to the point:

Women should not be exempted from the fierce desire to win and the willingness to push themselves to the limit to make that happen. However, neither should they get a pass on reckless “red mist” moments of play where they lose sight of the potential to injure.

Perhaps Commissioner Tonya read Canales’ article because after the WPS Disciplinary Committee ruled to take no further action, she stepped in and announced a one game suspension for Wambach and McNeill. She also requested US Soccer review the referees assigned to WPS games. Except, I think Fox Soccer Channel didn’t get the memo because all throughout Sunday’s Red Stars/Sky Blue game, the commercials for the upcoming Freedom/Boston game kept announcing Abby Wambach’s Washington Freedom (and I’m not quite sure on this but Wambach may be out not from suspension but really because national team camp officially starts on Sunday).

Saint Louis did react to the loss of Daniela very very fast. Fast enough to get two trades in before their next game against FC Gold Pride. Christie Welsh and Kendall Fletcher moved from LA to STL in exchange for a conditional 2010 first-round draft pick and a 2011 first-round draft pick. But with the league so new, it’s hard to gauge this decision. Brash and desperate = yes. But how losing these future draft picks will affect STL in the future is unkown at this point. The last time I checked, each team was only allowed 5 international spots and for the women’s game in the US, the college draft does produce quality players. At least the band aid appears to be working as Saint Louis beat FC Gold Pride 1-0 this weekend.