The countdown begins towards the much anticipated Breakers match in New Britain, CT. Obviously, one of the big storylines for this game as we near the end of the season is the recent hot streak the Breakers, winners of seven of their last nine, have been on. In addition, this very well might be the last game that Kristine Lilly and Tony DiCicco play/coach in their home state. And ever since the schedule first came out in February, me and many others from CT have been waiting for this final opportunity in the regular season to celebrate the existence of the one professional league in America without any staged personal drama stories to generate ratings……… For me, this brings back memories of last summer when the Soccerplus WPSL team played there…..good times….with that in mind, I wish TIFF would have stuck around to play in this match. Some relatives of mine from Germany, all big soccer fans, are coming to see their first women’s professional soccer game. Jackie…..are you riding the Riptide bus or taking the Meinert Parkway (Route 6) over? Heigh ho, it’s off to New Britsky we go!!!!! Go Breakers!!!!!!! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4sqC4U7Ln8"]YouTube- Mayberry Polka[/ame]
And now, it's reality check time. I think the Breakers have a good chance of winning this game, but I highly doubt they'll do it by more than one goal. Why? -- Breakers have crushed Atlanta in the last two matches, but in both those games Atlanta didn't have the world's best young talent due to injury. When you take Bachmann and turn 'er into overdrive, Atlanta is a different team. -- Atlanta's desperate for points. --Atlanta has a TON of talent and has underachieved all year. They're due. -- Whether you want to believe it or not, Solo isn't intimidated. --The Breakers winless streak happened, for the most part, when Leslie wasn't in the lineup. That said....with a great crowd behind them, celebrating this final game in Tony and Lilly's home state, and lots of great positive chants (some Solo heckling is all well and good but let's not make it the main story), the Breakers should have enough momentum and talent to deliver one last home win for their loyal fans.
How many of Atlanta's quality players will be missing for Euro qualifying? Breakers will be missing 3, Smith, Scott and Dieke, and will miss Osborne A LOT. Could be an intersteing match, lctd will earn his money figuring out how to replace those 4 in his starting line-up. I hope he can win without LO.....
Wow, thanks for the info. I'm not sure. Maybe I was wrong about Bachmann being there? I assume if Smith/Scott are playing for England then Aluko will be gone too? I agree that Osborne is a much bigger loss that not having Smith/Scott/Dieke for one game...as good as they are, I think there's many capable replacements. But Osborne's leadership in midfield can't be replaced. With several players gone......where is TIFF when we need her?
When the league posts the player status for the week (no doubt after I have to leave to drive to New Britain) we will have a better idea. I think Hope will either be superhuman or so off her game and distracted that it won't make a difference who Boston puts on the field. She is a pro so I am betting on her having a strong game. Would have been nice to have Tiff to do her late-sub-high energy-run-at-the-tired-defense thing but that ain't happening. Totally guessing at this point, but expect Fabiana, Del Rio and Moore to take 3 of the 4 starting spots left open, with Angeli dropping into Osborne's role. But lgtc rarely does what I think he should so you can bet I am totally wrong on all counts
Looking at the roster as currently posted on the WPS site, I only count 12 non-GK players as being available, assuming Bogus is fit after her hamstring injury. Without her, they are down to 11 regulars. I will further conjecture that we will see some call-ups from the Aztecs reserves or some other one-day pick-ups like we saw last year.
I am seriously tempted to come up for this match, but considering it's our wedding anniversary I think my wife might get a little cross.
When she decided to leave for Sweden instead of finish the season with the Breakers, her mind was Tiffany twisted...... (Eagles reference)
Bring her and go to a really, really nice place on Sunday. I bet one of the locals could direct you to a great sub shop I took my wife to Revolution games for both our anniversary AND her birthday this year! What a lucky woman huh? (In my defense, I did win a Project Pink jersey at auction for her for her real birthday gift................)
So I guess these would be the players the Breakers have? Naeher (GK) Moore LePeilbet Igwe Cox (D) Fabiana Angeli Lilly Del Rio (M) Cheney Tarpley (F) Bench: Hemmings, Bogus, Walsh ?
I'll be on the bus! Some huge gaps to fill for this one... luckily we've seen some scoring lately from people other than Kelly. They will not have it as easy without Kelly there being double-teamed, though.
Looks about right with Hemmings the healthy sub. May see some minor position flips with who you have listed but think you named the starting 11. Walsh hasn't played all year, has been listed as out every week recovering from knee, but at least she is now recovering with the team not still in Australia. Bogus recovering from a hamstring, been out several weeks.
The Breakers have also re-signed defender Analisa Marquez to the developmental squad (as of yesterday). Marquez was on the d-squad earlier in the year before joining the eventual W-League champion Buffalo Flash for their stretch run.
Andy, Walsh was in that whole team pic from Sunday that someone posted in the other thread. Is she physically able to play now? Or just back in the USA and still doing rehab? Thanks, in advance.
Is Mundy available or did she go overseas like Weimer and Nobis? Released by mutual agreement with the Beat this week?
Anyone that knows me will know I hate to be the glass is half empty guy but...I just can't seem to find a big enough glass of Kool-Aid to think we even have a chance of a result in this match... Missing 4 starters the biggest IMO being Osborne....and playing a wounded animal in Atlanta without just Aluko...Even putting aside the Breakers/Beat/Riptide/Solo nonsense, The Beat need nothing less than 3 points in this match and they'll be playing every ball as if it's the last kick of their season....90 minutes of that through our weakened midfield will make for a very long night.... My only hope is that Tony asks Lilly to patrol the defensive midfield in place of Leslie...I just don't have the confidence in Igwe or Moore and we get enough attacking presence from Tarpley/Cheney/Fabiana to make us dangerous....I just don't know who's going to hold possession in midfield without Kelly....Surely we can't ask Jordan to be the playmaker?? Maybe Lindsay? I really hope Amy is ready to carry and cover our backline for 90 minutes and Alyssa needs to equal or better Sunday's performance for us to have a chance.... Somebody convince me!! Or serve up a vat of Kool-Aid!
Are you sure only Aluko is missing? Don't they have other Euros or am I just thinking wishfully? Angeli got her first starts this season filling for Osborne and played her way into the starting line up... Moore in the middle with Amy did OK earlier in the season and in garbage time the last few games..... Igwe at right back maybe? Atlanta's attack has been subpar, Naeher should be OK if they can hold them to 2 shots like Sunday. The 2 Atlanta goals Sunday were far from unstoppable judging by the highlights.... And no, I don't have any Kool-Aide left to share after this post.....
Denmark is England's opponent so I'm going to guess that ATL will be without Rasmussen. Switzerland has a game on the 21st, too, and need to win to stay ahead of Russia (who have a game in hand). But with Bachmann you never know -- after all she said during the U20 WWC that she was having back surgery and was going to be out for the rest of the summer.
A broken clavicle.... Combined with an English WWCQ.... I've never wanted to be more wrong in my life....
I wouldn't be surprised to see Hemmings at right back Saturday. I may be wrong but I think she's played there once this year, and she would've played there a few weeks ago if Alex wasn't ready after the last England qualifier. Moore will start at CB, surely. My best guess would be Igwe in Osborne's spot and Fabiana on the wing, with Tarpley playing more centrally in Smith's role.
I wouldn't be surprised either....I think you prob got it right on the nose there... Which is why I'm not optimistic of a result...
That's why the Riptide has an important and more integral part on Saturday. Keep your team motivated and make sure Hope Solo is rattled.