http://www.soccertv.com/women.cfm Thu Jun 19 04:30PM Pacific Thu Jun 19 05:30PM Mountain Thu Jun 19 06:30PM Central Thu Jun 19 07:30PM Eastern Length: 2 hr LIVE ESPN2 (US) Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) - All-Star Game Cary, North Carolina. Telecast is contingent upon successful execution of time-buy contract agreement. ---------------- If that's the case I strongly suggest you folks go to the Gala (if they have one this season). I went to the one in Portland this past September and had a blast. If any of you get to sit next to Jen Tietjen tell her I said "hello". Watch out for those Philly girls...they are a wild bunch.
I noticed that, too. You beat me to it, post-wise. It makes sense to have it here. We're the defending WUSA champions, and we have the nicest stadium in the league.
I was kinda hoping that they would have it in another non-WUSA city again..just like they did last year. That way they can build awareness about the league in an area without a team. I know there were some rumors floating around about the Home Depot stadium as a possibility for hosting this. Oh well. I am too lazy to look for attendance numbers for the Portland game. Wasn't it nearly 20,000 that attended that game. Or maybe it was more like 14,000 or so. Whatever. It was a blast though. And once again I must reiterate...if they have a Gala this year y'all definately need to go to it. The prunes weren't that bad and it's an excellent chance to see players in an uncomfortable situation sitting at tables with complete strangers and no alcohol in site to take the edge off.
Prime Time Telecast Thanks for posting this FearM9. Nice to see that the league is planning to play their All-Star game in Cary during the evening and having it televised by ESPN2.
Let's hope the time-buy goes through, for that, and many other reasons. Of course, it won't matter to me what channel the All-Star game is on...somehow, I'll get my hands on some tickets.
ESPN2 Coverage It will be great exposure for the league if they are able to showcase the All-Star game on ESPN2 during primetime. I was already planning on making a return trip to Cary in June for the Freedom & Beat matches so the timing of this All-Star Game couldn't be more perfect for me.
I'm glad we're getting it. We deserve it! The format should be fun. I enjoyed the "North America vs. World" formats for the NHL all-star game. I wonder what kind of reception Birgit and Hege will get as members of the World team in Cary. Heck, the World team might prove to be the more popular one!
The problem with this format is that the World Stars squad will be almost as thin on defense as the San Diego Spirit. Quick, someone name four international defenders who will be playing in the WUSA this season. Breanna Boyd and a couple of Aussies are all I can think of off of the top of my head. In goal, I guess they will have to allow dual citizens like LeBlanc to play because Gao is the only pure international goalkeeper that even comes to mind.
That's kind of what happened at the 1998 MLS All-Star game in Orlando. A 6-1 pasting. http://www.mlsnet.com/archive/allstar_1998.html Given the fact that the foreigner in WUSA are world class, I suspect they'll do better than their MLS counterparts (who were facing an American squad eager and motivated to start erasing the memory of the WC98 disaster). But I would still expect the game to favor the US side. I'm guessing Gao Hong will be in the game!
Adding Nonen and the German defender Minnert who is supposed to join the league in early June will give the World Stars a more than adequate defense. It will be very interesting if we get a chance to see Hege Riise, Kelly Smith, Birgit Prinz, Dagny Mellgren, and Marinette Pichon all playing at the same time for the World Stars.