First Ever Ever Ever Game Preview

By: Melissa | March 26th, 2009

Hello and welcome to the preview of the first ever game of this country’s second ever women’s professional soccer league! And hello and welcome to my first (and not last) experiment with The Offside WPS game preview format! So to begin, I think we need to get the basic sh*t out of the way…

The Basic Sh*t (i.e. who are these b*tches?)

The Washington Freedom I’m pretty sure, besides Boston, this franchise is the only one to survive the old WUSA. During the “dark years,” they laid low in the W-League then snagged their territory back when WPS started getting its sh*t together. But also during those dark years, the Freedom became W-League champions. And I kinda feel that fact was not forgotten by the professional-side coaching staff since a few former Freedom W-League-ers got drafted right back. One also gets the sense this franchise likes to stick with what it knows since a certain striker will be playing on Sunday who happened to be one of the Freedom’s 2002 draft picks (can you guess who?).

The Los Angeles Sol Now the third professional team to occupy the Home Depot Center. The financial backing and “sexy football” thinking of AEG likely helped secure Marta’s contract but it will be the long-time experience of co-owner Rudy Bianchi and General Manager Charlie Naimo that will transform this team into championship contenders. So to anyone reading this preview itching to make comparisons and/or predictions connecting Beckham’s disaster stay in MLS with LA Sol’s story so far, just hold up. Naimo already led a few W-League teams to the championship and Bianchi also owns 2008 W-League winners, Pali Blues. And besides the Washington Freedom, last year’s Pali Blues squad got gutted in the WPS drafts. These two teams really know how to pick players.

The Game (i.e. Hangover Football Sunday IS ON!)

3pm sharp Pacific Standard Time at the Home Depot Center Whoa nelly, this game’s got a lotta stories and we haven’t even seen anyone kick a dern ball yet. First and foremost, we have the return of Abby Wambach – who broke her leg right before the Olympics. She missed out on the Summer Games and the Algarve Cup AND the Freedom just signed Lisa DeVanna. DeVanna is one of the best strikers around and, at one point, was supposed to replace Marta at Umea. Both teams are also fielding our french players. The same french players who are currently being sued by the President of Lyon and the same french players who may or may not have the right paperwork to play in WPS yet. And to top it all off, Aly Wagner and Kati Jo Spisak were just sanctioned by the League to live-twitter from the bench during the game. Oh and La Sol have Marta. She’ll go do some stuff. It’ll be cool. Moving on…

So, how should I prepare for this game? Um, helloooo! Did you not read what I wrote above? Spend your Saturday night with some friends and your libation of choice (perhaps by watching the US men’s World Cup qualifier… just a suggestion), then roll up to the Home Depot Center on Sunday with a hangover and go spend some time with man’s best friend: hair of the dog. Not in LA? Sunday’s game is on Fox Soccer Channel so you have no excuse.

But I have school payments, car payments, and the bank just reduced my credit limit. Now you expect me to purchase crazy obscure cable? Ok, that’s a good excuse. And I’m not the one telling you to get FSC, WPS is. But all is not lost my broke-ass friend. I’ve got one word for you: Veetle. Live it, learn it, love it. The end. And a special note to WPS – in a recent article for Yahoo! Sports, Martin Rogers writes that WPS’s long-term stability will rely on it’s ability to carve a strong but small niche in the sports-o-shpere. He also writes that the American soccer fan already has plenty of options for soccer on television so it’s not unfathomable to think that WPS Sunday Soccer ratings may flop. With that in mind, does the League perhaps have a plan B? Oh, I dunno… maybe a plan to stream this stuff online via a subcription service?

Whoa. Stop blowing my mind. Let’s get back to the game. So who’s gonna win this thing? The Seattle Sound– oh wait, wrong league. But honestly, I don’t know. And I don’t think this game is going to be all about the winner. The most important part is making sure WPS presents competitive and skilled football on par with it’s desire to be the top women’s league in the world. Especially in this country, the women’s game is still hung-up a bit on the 1999′ers – the Foudys, the Hamms, the Fawcetts – and sure, the new league has some familiar faces. But the majority of the players now are the generation after. The 80’s babies. And they’re not all riding the wave of an international win. And even the Olympic gold was more of a thump than a bang (remember the 30 Rock episode where Kenneth the Page asks if women’s soccer was just a dream?). So I say, it’s the 80’s babies who will really determine if this thing is gonna sink or swim. Are they going to be able to capture the interest of the fans and keep them coming back? Only time will tell. And after that dose of seriousness, I now leave you with a song just for those kids born in the 80’s…