Here is a preview of some key matchups from pitchsidereport.com on the upcoming WPSL Elite 2012 season: http://www.pitchsidereport.com/2012/04/26/wpsl-elite-games-to-watch/
I went to the Rochester Rhinos game last night and picked up the FLASH 2012 roster. First game is vc. FC Indiana on May 12 in Rochester. This is the Flash 'home' Website for 2012: http://www.wnyflash.com USWNT: Lori Lindsey, Megan Klingenberg. 2011 Flash: Brittany Cameron, Alex Sahlen, Kim Brandau, McCall Zerboni. 2011 Beat: Angela Salem, Katherine Reynolds, Alli Lipsher. 2011 Majicjack/Breakers: Nikki Marshall. USA-U23 Nats: Steph Ochs, Tori Hunter, Colleen Boyd. I Internationals: Adriana (Spain), Emily Van Egmond (Australia), Jodi-Ann Robinson (Canada). College: Laura Heyboer (Mich State), Katy Frierson (Auburn), Donna-Kay Henry (Tennessee-Chattanooga).
I wrote up a preview of my local WPSL-Elite team, the Chesapeake Charge, for AllWhiteKit: http://www.allwhitekit.com/?p=9075
Good to see Jodi-Ann Robinson start on her professional career. I hope she manged to finish her degree. I wonder if she's at WNY because Hubert Busby is there now.
While this isn't for 2012, I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to start a separate thread about potential expansion, so i just thought I'd highlight it here: http://www.wpsl.info/news/index.php?cat=1&id=1492 IMO HOU, DAL, & MIA all sound like they're pretty far removed from any other teams... PHX too. I'm interested to see how much (lack of) parity there is in the 2012 season, as that could definitely scare teams away if BOS, CHI, & WNY absolutely run away with the league.
That's a concern for me, too, though at least the Chesapeake Charge folks think they can compete with the big girls. (Shek Borkowski has already conceded that he'll be happy if his FC Indiana teams finishes #4.) We'll find out for sure tomorrow night.
First game of the season goes to the Breakers as they top Chesapeake 3-0 on first-half goals by Napoli, Schoepfer, and Luscinski. Chespeake Twitter says that attendance was around 400. 3-0... Not quite a blowout but it sounds like a dominant performance nonetheless. I can't tell from Twitter just how (un)even the game might have been. Anyone who attended have some insight?
My writeup for AllWhiteKit: http://www.allwhitekit.com/?p=9114 Boston dominated for the first fifteen minutes, but Chesapeake stepped up their game after that, and it was pretty even the rest of the way. The Breakers were a little unlucky not to get another goal as they had the better chances, but it was definitely a competitive match for the last 5/6th of it.
Hmm.... the game report from ASC-BOS had me hopeful, but now with NEM-NYF and WNY-FCI in the books, I'm not so sure... The ex-WPS teams Breakers, Independence Fury, and Flash have outscored their opponents 12-2. Maybe it's just that the "learning curve" is going to be big for the first few games of the season and then we'll see the other teams catch up, but.... =-/
I personally am not obsessed with parity at this point. In fact most men's leagues around the world don't have parity. In most countries there's no college draft to even out the playing field. Who has the most money, has the best players. IMO, only in America are we obsessed with parity. When was the last time someone other than Barcelona or Real Madrid won the Championship in Spain? In EPL it's always the same ole teams (Man-U, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal) that win the title. There will be competition between at least 4, maybe 5 these teams in the WPSL Elite. Games between WNY Flash, Breakers, Red Stars, NY Fury will be IMO, very competetive. Still early in the season. I remember when the Red Stars beat the Breakers 4-0 in May a few years ago in the WPS. No one was panicking about disparity at that point back then. So to me these early scores are not blow outs. What surprises me is that FC Indiana is made up mostly of Haiti National Team players. They were beaten soundly by WNY Flash. Imagine what the score would be if they would have played the USWNT?!
I went to Flash-FC Indiana - it was fun. It will take a couple of games to adjust to not having (truly) the best in the world on the field. I think this group of Flash will win fans as the season goes along. Jeff DiVeronica summarized the game better than I could: "Coach Aaran Lines’ club is still very good. Younger. Less-seasoned without those veterans and stars such as Marta, Sinclair and Seger. But still solid and its ceiling for development is so much higher. WNY scored twice in the first 11 minutes, let FC Indiana back in it with a sloppy goal in the 15th, but then really controlled most of the match, leading 15-1 in shots and 13-1 in corner kicks. I knew from watching her last year with Sky Blue FC that Adriana, who had three goals for the Flash tonight (two PKs), would be good. Midfielder Emily Van Egmond, the 18-year-old who played in the World Cup last year for Australia, also impressed. She assisted on Adriana’s first goal, a 17-yard rip after a pretty chest trap, and also clanged a 30-yard shot off the crossbar. I’m concerned about the Flash attendance, which was about a thousand light of where I’d hoped. The announced crowd was 1,304, that’s 800 fewer than last year’s opener. Remember, the Flash didn’t draw well in its first few home games last year, then got a big boost after the World Cup and finished atop the league at about 4,900 per game for the season, tops in the league. That won’t happen this year. The Olympic stars won’t be as plentiful coming back to WPSL teams as was the case last year in WPS after the World Cup."
Don't sweat attendance for a bit in WPSL-Elite. The league doesn't require it like WPS did to stay solvent. Attendance will build. In Chicago we are actually under-promoting the first few games because of all the other things we are all doing to be stood up as a new league and the horsepower it takes to get it going. Games need 4-6 weeks of selling focus to do them well. 4-6 weeks ago we didn't even have the full schedule firm. So some great games will occur with smaller attendance at beginning and we'll build momentum as a league. Should be some excellent games though.
The Charge reported over 400 for their match against the Breakers (on a weeknight). DC United got over 1000 for Saturday's match. And I just got on Twitter to find out that the Breakers have sold out 3,000-seat Dilboy Stadium for their home opener this Friday. The Flash-Breakers match Memorial Day weekend is sold out as well.
I do think parity (or lack thereof) is a concern. Most of the top clubs haven't even assembled their full rosters yet, and we're already getting 5-1 and 3-0 scorelines. Look at the names that didn't even play for the Breakers against Chesapeake- Kyah Simon, Tameka Butt, Melissa Henderson, Heather O'Reilly. Games between the "top 4" should be competitive as MRAD said, and I think the Mutiny are better than Saturday's score suggests (missing several key players.) But the bottom three- FC Indiana, Chesapeake and Philly- could be a LONG way off the pace by midseason.
FYI, I plan to audio "broadcast" live from this Friday's (May 18) BOS vs. IND game via a telephone conference call. For now, this is an experiment to gauge interest, see how well it goes, and determine whether it has any value. Please PM/conversation me if you are interested in dialing in, and I'll get you the conference call telephone number (218 area code) and access code. (From practicing play-by-play commentary while watching a Pachuca/Monterrey game on TV, I've learned that my sports announcing skills are terrible due to lack of soccer knowledge and inability to identify players on the field. It could be that the broadcast might not be better than just following the game on Twitter. Also I'll cancel if the Breakers set up their own audio or video game broadcast or if they tell me to stop.)
I realize there coach is also the Haitian WNT coach, but man, does that seem like an odd decision. They do have some Yank players, but 16 are listed as from Haiti.
Don't quote me because I'm not sure but is it also possible that the Hatian Soccer Federation may be funding some of the team's expenses?
Any game reports for BOS-FCI from those who were there? (I was busy with graduation stuff, so I couldn't follow online.) Highest attendance so far, so I'd hope at least one BigSoccer regular was there and can give their thoughts. =-)
I wasn't there (though I did drive by), but they have posted the game on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/BostonBreakerstv
I was at the game. It was a pretty good crowd, attendance-wise. For spectators, Dilboy Stadium basically consists of the stands and the walkway in front of the stands. There isn't much room otherwise. I ended up abandoning my plan to broadcast the game because there wasn't a good place to talk into a phone without disturbing people or being disturbed by little kids running up and down the stands. I recommend bringing sunglasses and/or a hat with a brim because spectators face west towards the setting sun. Seating is aluminum bleachers, so you may want to consider bringing a stadium seat with a back. The parking lot filled up at 6:20pm (for the 7pm Friday game). Some people who arrived later were able to park on the streets on the Arlington side of Alewife Brook. After the game there was a police detail directing traffic exiting the parking lot, which was helpful. The last 2-mile stretch of traffic to the stadium (from Route 2) was brutal. Food and beverage concessions consisted of portable stands: sausages and hot dogs, chicken fingers and fries, fried dough, and a cart selling Italian ice. There was a continuous, often long, line for food that formed before the game started and didn't dissipate until the 85th minute. I didn't see any team merchandise for sale. I didn't stay for the post-game "autograph alley". I'm not sure if I have anything useful to say about the game on the field itself except that the officiating didn't seem to do much to discourage physical play.
...amazing that you wrote just as someone other than those four were winning the Premeirship. Maybe you wrote that before City scored the two stoppage time goals (sorry... just raggin' on ya') which would help explain why the Haiti team is on the University of Michigan preseason schedule; game at Indianapolis: http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/w-soccer/sched/mich-w-soccer-sched.html That are some shades of the original men's pro league in the USA (1968-69, I think), which had entire overseas teams home-based in US cities.
Today's results: WNY 0-1 NYF: The "Independence" continue to give the Flash trouble. NEM 4-2 ASC: The Charge apparently put together a very strong showing in the loss. So far, there's been no such thing as 'home field advantage' in this league; home teams are 3-3. Neither team on 6pts (BOS, NYF) plays tomorrow, giving almost everyone else a chance to catch up, including first games for CHI and PHI. (I'm excited! ^.^)
I was volunteering for the Breakers game on Friday. With a new stadium and only a few hold overs for the Breakers staff from last year there were a lot of logistical issues that needed to be sorted out on the fly the fan experience should be better as the season progresses. Overall the feedback I got from the fans was that they enjoyed the experience at the new stadium, some even said they preferred it over Harvard. Merchandise was sold on the left side of the stands where audigraph alley was set up at the end of the game. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the game so I can't speak on the quality of play.
I hadn't heard that, but a little research says that was the United Soccer Association (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Soccer_Association) back in 1967 which merged with the National Professional Soccer League to form the NASL. There was also an attempt at putting the USMNT in the NASL in 1983 with Team America. There was also a team of Soviet tennis players who played under the name "Pennsylvania Keystones" in World Team Tennis back in 1977.