In case anyone hadn't seen this: Marta is nominated for an ESPY....I think she and LeBlanc and possibly another are attending. I think M. is probably a "shoe in" yuk yuk CARSON, CA - June 25, 2009 - Los Angeles Sol (Women's Professional Soccer) forward Marta has been nominated for an ESPY Award, the club announced today. The current and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Marta has been nominated in the category of Best Female International Athlete. She will be competing against Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, Mexican golfer Lorena Ochoa, Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice and Russian tennis player Dinara Safina. The ESPYS are the one night each year where athletes from all sports join together to celebrate the best moments of the year. The ESPYS take place on Wednesday, July 15th at the Nokia Theater at LA LIVE and will be hosted by Samuel L. Jackson. The ESPYS will air on ESPN and ESPN-HD on Sunday, July 19th at 9pm EST.
Man I got 2 tickets for the ESPYS for the Red Carpet!!!!!! But I have to be there at noon on WED, so since I have to go to work I cant go, SUCKS!!!!!
Ok so i did the math cause I was bored and this is what I got. St Louis is the only team that can beat the Sol in having the best season record. So here are the possibilities: Worst thing can be if the Sol loose all 3 remaining games. St Louis is the only team that can over take them. But they will have to win 5 of their 6 six remaining games If the Sol wins 1 of their remaining 3 games (40 points), St Louis has to win all 6 of their remaining games to over take them with 41 points. Or if the Sol can win 1 of their remaining games and tie one of the 2 remaining games (41 points) we will still have the best record cause of the goal differential with St Louis. What I'm hoping for is that the Freedom beat St Louis next Wed or if they tie and we beat FC Gold Pride then thats it we are hosting the Championship. Ok so I think this is accurate. LOL!
St. Louis might actually lose both their games before the Sol get to play again (they play the Freedom & Sky Blue.) I would not consider that 'backing in' because LA has had to play more games than anyone else. * * * Looking ahead to the Gold Pride game, the Sol will be missing Box, Cox & LeBlanc because of the two US-Canada games scheduled (the 2nd one being on the day before the game.) I would assume that the Bay Area team will be without Osborne and Sinclair. I missed Greer Barnes being picked up by them, and wish her well.
I know man. I should had most this up when I got the email to pick up the tickets. Maybe one of you guys could had gone. Oh well next time.
FYP lol I jest, I jest I don't honestly think STL can win the regular season title, LA will beat BAY and STL will get less than a win on at least one of their next six games (though I disagree with Tsu's statement, STL will get at least three points out of their next two games). But it's nice to know at least one team can make LA sweat, and I'm glad it's us. ^.^
Easiest way for me to think of what it takes for Sol to clinch the Final championship game is any combination that generates 4 points between Sol and St. Louis (i.e. sol victory or a SL loss is worth 3 pts towards the 4 needed). So SL still making us sweat but clinching first place getting closer all the time whether we play a game or not as any combo works. Technically, think Boston still has chance but their margin is 1 point. It is good for the league to have some drama and excitement in playoff race for as many spots as possible.
J. Purdy's article for ESPN lacks balance for one (she interviews 3 Athletica players and 0 Sol players) and journalistic integrity for another. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=660943&sec=wps&root=wps&cc=5901 The fact that she writes an article about a match she did not attend or see lacks serious professionalism. The incident occurred right in front of my section, 110...so I feel just slightly more qualified to judge. Since Purdy did not attend the match she has no way of knowing that many of the Athletica players after minimal contact stayed down feigning serious injury. Fletcher was no exception in this case. Keep in mind that Fletcher outweighs Marta by quite a bit. Here's what I wrote after the match in the "Stephanie Logterman Foul" thread which I posted to counter the ridiculous Athletica fans' response to Marta's foul: "The foul you are referring to occurred on the sideline in the middle of the pitch...right in front of both benches. WPS does not make a habit of showing fouls unless they are involved in goal scoring, dangerous goal chances or PKs. Of course Marta was grabbed, pushed, tripped and then the incident involving her foul, which was right in front of the 4th official, was provoked by the defender draping her entire torso onto Marta's back as Marta leaned over to head a ball...the CR missed it. Marta deserved the yellow and got one. If you'd like video of all the fouls in WPS posted then that's another matter." J. Purdy is a faker as well.
Playoff tickets Just got my season ticket holder email about Sol playoff tickets - for us the price will be the same as for our regular season ones!
Dan the man thinks that the Sol are in danger of tanking at the end of the season: 1. I really think Los Angeles is giving off a serious "We're going to be upset in the final" vibe. They're very lucky there are so many defenders apparently waiting for calls that, say, the Washington Freedom Soccer News Topics refuse to make. This week, the Sol added Atlanta Beat and Canada veteran Sharolta Nonen in for the injured Shaner in for the pregnant Franko. Presumably she and LeBlanc won't have too many jitters, but if Nonen is still that darn good, well, where has she been, huh? Even Tiffeny Milbrett came back. But please Kendal Fletcher is going to stop Marta come on.
Re: Playoff tickets Yep I've already secured my playoff spot for this season hopefully its the championship
I got my playoff ticket that morning, with a promise that I could get one for the seat next to mine on the 24th if no one has already gotten it. On another note, the All-Star Voting has opened. Each fan can vote up to 25! times... But you can only vote for 3 defenders - I wonder how many teams start only 3 defenders. I can't believe that Bock is listed as a forward, she's only played maybe 2 games up there?
St. Louis still has 4 home games out of the 5 left to them, so they still could make a run - but it's highly unlikely that they will catch LA now. They also still have the 2nd best defensive record. Unfortunately for them, they also are tied for the 2nd worst offensive record - only FCGP has scored less, but then the Bay Area team has played 1 less game. Will this loss, the Athletica also fall back from having a + scoring differential. So the Sol are back to being the only team who do have one - an odd state of affairs this deep into the season.
Our magic # is one! let's see what St. Louis can(or can't) do on Wed. when they play Sky Blue. We are road-tripping to the Bay Area hopefully to see the Sol clinch first place in person. What a week--Chelsea, AC milan, Inter, and a Sol road trip. life is good.
Ok, magic number is now 1 point - Go Sol. Just need to tie on Thursday match against fcpride to clinch. If championship game is on 8/22, any guesses as to what time? Any Thurs. line up guesses? leblanc makosi-falk-nonen-sanchez wagner-abily-miyama-zerboni bock-marta
if st. louis lose/draw tomorrow i think we clinch no matter what happens v. FCGP, no? also, I think LeBlanc might be out because of the US/Canada match on Wed. but I could be wrong maybe she will book it back out west after the friendly. I think 8/22 game they are saying 1PM. Ugh.
According to Lauletta's column today, Falk has injured her ankle in practice and might not even make the trip to the Bay Area. If that's the case, Nonen would start for sure and Bock would probably have to be her partner in the middle. And it would mean that Falk hasn't played in a game in 3+ weeks, with only 2 games left to prepare for the championship game that is a month away. So the lineup might look like this: Marta-Duan (or Larkin?) Miyama Zerboni-Wagner Abily Makoski-Nonen-Bock-Sanchez Henderson Of course, the coach could 'throw the dice' and do something else, like: Marta-Bock Miyama Zerboni-Wagner Abily Makoski-Nonen-Sanchez-Frisk Henderson or possibly: Marta-Zerboni Miyama Abily-Wagner Bock Makoski-Nonen-Sanchez-Frisk Henderson I wish that I had been able to see some of their practices, and some of the scrimmages against the Pali Blues. That might have given me some idea of what would be going on. That's one thing that I liked about the SD Spirit when they were around, I could do something like that. * * * * Playoff factoids & scenarios update