Well, since nobody else started it yet, I will. I'm really looking forward to this match, not only because tomorrow kicks off the WUSA/MLS season, but because these two teams usually put on a good show (short of the dog of a match, from the Carolina perspective, at RFK in 2001 -- yuck!). My questions for the upcoming season: 1) How badly will national team callups hurt the Courage? I know this has been a popular subject for all WUSA fans, but the Courage have a lot to lose. As far as I can remember, Carolina has not won any games without Hege Riise marshalling the midfield, let alone the additional absences of Roberts, Prinz, Lehn, Slaton, and maybe Fotop. The depth in the back seems to be solid (with Fettig, Baxter, Burt, Borgman), but they will be overrun if they have no holders in front of them. 2) Does Unni Lehn step up this year? Lehn was at times a stunning midfielder, but she could be maddeningly inconsistent. If she and Riise can start clicking together consistently, the midfield should be better than ever. 3) Can Birgit Prinz pick up where she left off? The real player of the year from last year integrated beautifully with the Courage upon her arrival. This year she has more time to mesh with the team (despite her only arriving here a few days ago). Teams will focus a great deal of their energy in stopping her, which again should be a boon to Fotop and others who have proven they can score consistenly as well. As a team, anything less than last year's 40 goal total from the regular season would be a disapointment. 4) How well has Danielle Slaton's recovery progressed? A healthy Slaton solidfies the defense and sparks the offense from the flanks, and generally when she's on, the Courage win. 5) Can the Courage jump out to a fast start? This isn't baseball, with 162 games. The season is 1/3 over 7 games in and a bad start can make things tight really quick. Last year I remember thinking 10 points in the first six games (pre-Birgit) would be a good start (they ended up with 11). With much of last year's team still intact, this year's total should be 12 or higher. That kind of start means you don't end up playing catch-up for the rest of the season. And of course, 6) How does the new coach fare with the defending champs? I got excited looking over the roster (besides not having enough players), as it appears to be filled with players who were key to last year's run, or were good additions (Boyd, Borgmann, etc.). How Entlich does in putting the pieces together could be the make or break for the year. Enough rambling from me. Come out and cheer with us in the Blue Army!