WPS on FSC schedule...

Sol vs. Bay area on Match Tracker:

http://matchcenter.wps.stats.com/wps-soccer.asp?lg=WPS&g=2009041911872

The other game is on FSC at 4 pm PST today...

Looks like Megan was fun to watch again in WPS action. I did not see it. From Sunday's match. "On the ensuing play, Rapinoe attempted a bicycle kick from just inside the box that was tipped over the bar by Bardsley. Megan states: “(The bicycle kick) was a little far-fetched, but there wasn’t much else I could do with it. I didn’t connect with it that well, but I made a chance and got a corner kick out of it.”

Penn State/UP Fan wrote:Looks like Megan was fun to watch again in WPS action. I did not see it. From Sunday's match. "On the ensuing play, Rapinoe attempted a bicycle kick from just inside the box that was tipped over the bar by Bardsley. Megan states: “(The bicycle kick) was a little far-fetched, but there wasn’t much else I could do with it. I didn’t connect with it that well, but I made a chance and got a corner kick out of it.”

It was actually a very pretty play on a terrible, wet day. She was at the corner of the box and, as she said, had nothing else she could do. She was facing away from the goal and the ball was out in front of her coming over her shoulder. It was almost more of a chip than a strike, but was just about to dip under the bar when the keeper tipped it over. Overall, she had another terrific game at her usual level of intensity. If only the quality of the commentators was up to the quality of the game.

Yeah, I'm not too impressed with the commentators either. The one did a pretty nice job announcing Milbrett's goal recently, but, other than that it's really been lacking as far as enthusiasm goes...

Video interviews, etc...

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/wps

Megan's bicycle kick was nothing short of amazing. Of course, she wasn't able to get a lot of pace on the ball but she put the dang thing on frame which a few of her team mates were unable to do while facing the goal unchallenged.

I saw a part of Carly Lloyd that I didn't like. She was caught on camera bullying one of her players. Being a team leader as she claims to be should not entail chastising your own players calm criticism and buoyant encouragement should be her approach in my opinion. Now if she was playing exemplary football and everyone around her wasn't I would probably be more understanding of her taking an attitude. Fact is she shanked at least one blistering shot outside the box that went embarrassingly wide of the goal.

I am also quickly tiring of the announcers saying that the teams have yet to reach top form or not communicating well. These women have been playing most of their lives. It should not take months and months to develop a rhythm. Megan was playing an attractive style of attacking soccer. Unfortunately, she seemed the only one committed to attempting anything creative. She looked quite at home in the rain whereas the conditions seemed to affect the mentality of the rest of the field.

The announced that Canadian GK Erin McCloud signed with the Washington Freedom. I hope she replaces Brianna Scurry right away so that we can keep a good memory how good a keeper she used to be instead of the aging former star that she is.

Overall, so far the WPS seems a bit underwhelming. I just don't see the level of play I was expecting. I hope it improves as the weeks go by. Hey I sound like one of the announcers. By the way, I agree, Fox needs to get a new pair in the booth. They do nothing but tell me things I can see for myself happening on the field and they don't do much to create any excitement. You could do as well just watching with the sound off or maybe put a mic in the crowd.

Thanks..

Nice find.

It seems that "on frame" is not a concept some have heard.

Auto Pilot wrote:By the way, I agree, Fox needs to get a new pair in the booth. They do nothing but tell me things I can see for myself happening on the field and they don't do much to create any excitement. You could do as well just watching with the sound off or maybe put a mic in the crowd.

You could put a fan from each team in a room together with a live broadcast of the game and record what they say, kind of like a DVD commentary. There's a show in England that does this for Premiership games. I love watching it on FSC.

Yeah its called FanZone and it absolutely entertaining and fun. During the broadcasts on top of the over the top partisanship of each of the fan commentators. There is a ticker that runs below the screen where people email Comments about the game. Its loads of fun to watch.

I'm surely no expert, but I noticed two things. There were some bad finishing efforts, and the WPS is color blind: Sky Blue wears orange, while Red Stars wear baby blue??

up7587 wrote: and the WPS is color blind: Sky Blue wears orange, while Red Stars wear baby blue??

(I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking that...)

Ditto, I was repeating a mantra to myself Orange is Sky Blue Orange is Sky Blue.

If they had the colors correct Sky Blue would wear Sky Blue and Chicago would wear red.

I was reading Auto Pilot's comments on Carly Lloyd this morning. I noticed that bullying incident, too - not nice at all. It got me to thinking that, at least in the games I have watched, the U.S. national team players have been pretty ineffective so far. It seems to me that the most dangerous players have been foreigners and some of the younger U.S players (read, Rapinoe). I also have not seen much out of the superstar Brazilian attacking players. I am wondering if the varying styles of play of the different national teams is the problem. It does not seem to be a problem in the man's pro leagues, but they have had many years to adapt to differing styles of play between national teams and their pro teams, whereas most of the women have played with only one style of play, which is their national team's style. If that is the case, it will take longer for the women's pro teams to build a cohesive style, and some players may never be as effective playing away from their national teams.

Good point, FFA. But doesn't this reflect poor roster choices on the part of the teams and their coaching staffs? If you wanted to play a possession style of play, it would seem like you would go out and recruit the best players who were comfortable in that style. If you wanted to play a run and gun, over the top style, you go out and get the speedsters.

Or maybe you just recruit the best overall talent and let them try to learn to work with each other, in which case chaos may reign for the first few months.

One can hope that the teams develop more personality as the season progresses and that we start seeing fewer passes to nowhere and more of the kind of tight, organized game that we are so used to seeing at Merlo.

I would HOPE that would happen (tight organized games) - it probably will, as long as the individual players are not too fixed in their style of play. A really good point about drafting. You would think teams might have picked players based on the style of play the management (coach) wanted to use on his/her team. Maybe some did - I have only seen a few teams. It will be fun to watch things develop in any case.

The tight team-type of play at Merlo is what got me hooked on the team in the first place. UP games, at this point, are much more fun to watch then the pros, even though the individual skill level is obviously a little lower.

fan from afar wrote: You would think teams might have picked players based on the style of play the management (coach) wanted to use on his/her team. Maybe some did - I have only seen a few teams. It will be fun to watch things develop in any case.

The tight team-type of play at Merlo is what got me hooked on the team in the first place. UP games, at this point, are much more fun to watch then the pros, even though the individual skill level is obviously a little lower.

The way the drafting was done made it hard to actually go for a type of player. There wasn't ever a large pool to pick from, only a small collection of first WNT, foreign pros, and then college players. That made the possibility of pairings like Christaine and Marta on the same team impossible.

Had all of the players been available at once, you might have seen a different team makeup on some squads.

I agree that UP is more fun to watch at this stage, but give it time...Guys like Abner Rogers will shape a team eventually.

I agree that it's definitely going to take some time, however, I still believe that the spacing in the WPS is better than in the MLS right now. Some of the coaches in the MLS coach like they are afraid to lose in my opinion.

If you love the sport, they are putting out a pretty good product and watching the former UP players and the Brazillian players is a treat. By pure luck, Chastain is playing close to home on her college field at SCU, and that is good for the league...

athleticjames wrote:
By pure luck, Chastain is playing close to home on her college field at SCU, and that is good for the league...

I don't think luck had a lot to do with it. Some players made certain squads as much for their marketing potential as for their skill.
Chastain was going to put people in the seats, so if she had any skills left at all, having her their to kick off the league was a smart move.

Purplegeezer wrote:

The way the drafting was done made it hard to actually go for a type of player. There wasn't ever a large pool to pick from, only a small collection of first WNT, foreign pros, and then college players. That made the possibility of pairings like Christaine and Marta on the same team impossible.

Had all of the players been available at once, you might have seen a different team makeup on some squads.

I very much agree with Geezer's comment on the the draft format making for an odd composition of teams. It seems to have made for some strange bedfellows. I guess it was bound to happen in the first year. I assume next year wont be so compartmentalized and the teams will get overall picks regardless of whether they play for the US National Team, International or otherwise. We will see teams seeking to get the best player for the position they are looking for, without consideration of where they originate.

How, many time did you see Megan waiting for players to make Pilot like runs toward the goal to no avail?

I will agree with AFan's assessment of the Brazilians with the exception of Marta who seems to be bringing everything that was expected.

Can't wait for Budgie to come back from Germany. She will be so much better.

Auto Pilot wrote:Can't wait for Budgie to come back from Germany. She will be so much better.

She's back!

Budgie

I can't help notice her College numbers are better than Amy Rodriguez' (31 goals, 79 points).

It's been an interesting process to follow as they have allocated national team players, drafted college players, and moved through tryouts to finalize the teams. I was originally concerned that because of the depth of the teams right now that it would be difficult for new players to make the rosters for the next couple of years because it didn't seem like there would be much turnover. Now after watching several of the games it seems like the skill level of the older players is not on par with the top girls that will be graduating in the next 2 years. I think as these players graduate and move onto these teams the overall quality of play in the league is going to improve substantially.

Auto Pilot wrote:
I will agree with AFan's assessment of the Brazilians with the exception of Marta who seems to be bringing everything that was expected.

I think that might be an unfair statement, also. Marta is the most creative player in the world. Other players need to play with other players who can actually play the same style. If you are with a bunch of dump and run players, how are you going to see passing skill?

It's the same trap the WNT got into. they put a playmaker on a skills island with nobody to play WITH and then are shocked that playmaking doesn't happen. If a playmaker has nobody with the smarts to show themselves in passing lanes, you aren't going to see her passing skill, are you?

Maybe somebody should have put 4 Brasilians on the same team and see what happens....

I couldn't agree more. It seems as if the drafting of players was not done with the idea of putting together a roster of players that would complement each other, and I think Geezer hit exactly on the reason why - the separated draft system, which seems to have made it difficult if not impossible to put together a team to play any certain style.

I think you will see a large number of Portland players move into the league over the next two years, including a few that are ex UP players playing elsewhere right now. Without checking a roster, I can think of 3 seniors and 4 juniors who I think will play, and I am probably missing one or two.

I am wondering - are the pro players signed for multi year contracts? I wonder if there will be (can be) trades made after the season to get players onto teams on which they compliment each other better.

Speaking of Germany, am I right in thinking German players are not involved in WSL? Seems like they were stalwarts in WUSA -- Birgit Prinz and Maren Meinert et al -- and really established themselves in that league.