Leslie Osborne is an inspiration

By: Melissa | October 21st, 2009

The official news is supposed to be out today but the fans already know Leslie Osborne will sign with the Boston Breakers after turning down an offer from the Washington Freedom. She also turned down the Red Stars. This is – at the every least – the first publicly known bidding war over a WPS free agent and hopefully not the last. Shrewd businesswoman I say and an inspiration to all of us trying to get ours (well, at least an inspiration to me as one of my clients is starting to negotiate with me to join them full time). Also of note is the fact that Leslie attended Santa Clara University (whether Kiera Knightley was her classmate is unknown at this time) and likely not coincidental, she was allocated to the Bay Area team last season. So she balked her hometown roots by turning down Chicago and she bailed on her university ties by leaving FC GoldMember – an act I find very impressive because women’s soccer tends to focus a bit too much on where one grew up and where one went to college. I believe when you leave home and when you graduate, you are pretty much done with that chapter. But I digress…

So what else is going on in the world of women’s soccer?

Tiffany Weimer is excited to start playing for the Breakers this season. Also excited is Kelly Smith. She says: “Watching her play is an absolute pleasure, I’m really excited.” *GULP*

According to her club in the Netherlands Daphne Koster signed with Sky Who Blue. As the captain of the Danish National team, she took them all the way to the Euro semi-finals.

Did you miss the audio interview with Abby Wambach and Cat Whitehill this week? That’s ok. The Freedom Insider took notes for us.

Goal.com checks in over at the Australian W-League where Sydney FC will play the Brisbane Roar this weekend. Seems the two teams are developing a bit of a rivalry. Says WPS free agent Sarah Walsh: “It will probably be Sydney’s toughest game… It’ll come down to – to borrow the old cliché – of who wants it most.” Both teams contain the highest number of Matildas (national team players) in the league. Should be a bloodbath.

Over in the UK, there are apparently some rumors that Grimsby Town may ask Hope Powell to be their new head coach which would make her the first first team female coach of a UK men’s team. Likely just rumors but it seems folks agree that she certainly is qualified to do it.

Also in the UK comes a story from the Guardian – John Terry put his pants back on long enough to realize the Chelsea Ladies were in all sorts of financial trouble and he bailed them out, found them a new head coach, became the club’s president, and started attending their games. no word on whether he chased down Lorrie Fair for an autograph.

On a similar note, WPSL finalists Ajax America are officially broke and need everyone’s financial help to keep on playing. Also revealed in that link is the news that LA Sol lost $2 million dollars in 2009 but AEG do promise to remain partners through 2010. After that? Well, let’s hope Anthony LaPaglia doesn’t bail too.

The Soccer Science blog asked Emma Hayes 10 questions in a segment that really should be renamed Get To Know Me!

AND FINALLY, Match Fit USA is conducting a contest to determine who will be the winner of the Twitterverse Players League. Simply put, readers get to vote on their absolute favorite US men’s soccer player on twitter. This contest got me wondering – if there was a women’s version, would there even be enough interesting tweeters to have a proper contest? Seriously ladies, it’s time to step it up.