The WUSA site has put up it's prematch info, so go to http://www.wusa.com/press_room/355352.html and look for the game info down at the bottom. From the "They Said It" section: "It's going to be interesting to see what the fallout is after that game (USA vs. Nigeria on Saturday in Washington, D.C.). I hope my wife (San Diego midfielder Julie Foudy) runs her tail off Saturday and is exhausted." - San Jose CyberRays Head Coach Ian Sawyers on the impact of the U.S. Women's national team game on Sunday's Sprit-CyberRays match. *** I wonder what Jules has to say back about that? Also, check the C-Rays section of this report by Beulah about the Was-SJ game last week... http://www.beulahsports.com/wusaarch_4_19_03.html It, and the thread in the San Jose forum about that game show that the Spirit are again facing a team that feels it should have beaten their opponent the week before. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=45008&perpage=15&pagenumber=2
Isn't San Jose supposed to be without it's two Brazilians this weekend because of National Team duties??
NATIONAL TEAM DUTY AS OF 04/21/03 SAN DIEGO SPIRIT: M Daniela (Brazil); F Shannon MacMillan (USA); D Joy Fawcett (USA); M Julie Foudy (USA); Aly Wagner (USA) - note The U.S. plays on Saturday (4/26); San Jose at San Diego takes place on Sunday (4/27). SAN JOSE CYBERRAYS: F Katia (Brazil); F Pretinha (Brazil); GK LaKeysia Beene (USA); D Brandi Chastain (USA); D Thori Bryan (USA) - note The U.S. plays on Saturday (4/26); San Jose at San Diego takes place on Sunday (4/27).
US Women get soccer sub Nigeria hasn't arrived in the US, so now Canada will be the USNWT's opponent. That means that Christine Latham will also have to make the trip back to the west coast after the game Saturday... http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/thu/sports/news_1s24spirit.html
I've never seen anything so absurd with all these national team players playing one day and then flying across the country to play the following day. I appreciate and admire their efforts to not only the sport and the team, but the fans, but they were put in an impossible situation by the Federation (or whatever they're called) and I just pray they don't come out of it injured or so fatigued they won't even be ready for next week, much less Sunday.
If April want to score with WUSA coaches, she could sit her starters at half-time, or better yet not play them at all. Memo to US Soccer: ALL NATIONAL TEAM GAMES DURING THE WUSA SEASON SHALL BE PLAYED MID-WEEK!!!! An injury to a national team star would be devastating to both club and country. I don't understand why they would risk that.
I love that quote by Ian. That's what the CyberRays want; Julie mad and determined. I don't like the idea that NT games are played on a weekend. But in this case one should yell at the INS for once again messing up women's soccer in this country again. For prior incident, see the idiocy of the Makinen situation.
From CyberSoccerNews: San Diego Looks to Get Above .500 National team commitments raise questions for both Spirit, CyberRays by Jorge Palacios
Spirit , CyberRays Resume Rivalry Sunday Article by Tim Nash, from the Spirit web site: http://sandiegospirit.com/press_room/spotlight_on/356028.html
According to SA's Women's Insider, Christine Latham will be playing for Canada: "Other WUSA coaches also will have access to their players. Every WUSA player on the American roster -- plus Canada's Christine Latham -- plans to travel to be available for their matches later Saturday (New York at Carolina, Philadelphia at Boston, both 7 p.m. ET)or Sunday (San Jose at San Diego, 5 p.m. PT). To deal with the situation, the WUSA has for this week suspended its rule requiring coaches to submit their starting lineups one hour before kickoff, giving them more time to gauge whether their national-teamers are ready to go. Lineups instead will be due when teams are departing the field following pregame warmups. In addition, all "developmental" players will be eligible for game rosters, and coaches won't have to name their 18-player (home) or 16-player (road) squads until just before the game."
this is what's known as a mess. fans should get discounts to these games. (i say that only slightly sarcastically).
I would like to think that these girls know their limits and that both of their coaching staffs think wisely towards each one's playing time. No player should play the full 90 in both games...ridiculous. This was a poor scheduling move, but in that, it is concrete, so the girls now have to decide where they are setting the limit. They are smart girls, I trust their judgment, but I don't trust the coaching staffs' competency at times... Now, one thing we can hope, the SJ/WNT batch is much more tired than the SD/WNT batch...Omid, no 3 back, especially when Joy is recovering from injury AND will partially be spent from saturday. Find a healthy alternative so we can walk away with a big "W".
from the Tim Nash article: "In the 44 games in Spirit history, San Diego’s record has never been over .500." Ouch.
I hadn't realized it until just now, but the game will be for sole possession of the last playoff spot (yeah, I know, there's a lot of the season left to go, but we've got to start somewhere!) With Carolina and Philadelphia starting the season in the cellar, the Spirit should take this chance to put some room between themselves and the C-Rays.
There is an article in the U-T this morning about Mac scoring 4 goals in the US-Canada game yesterday (I posted the link in Mac's thread.) That article says that Omid plans to start all 5 returning players. The on-line version doesn't include the sidebar on today's game. The 'Outlook' section of that has this to say: If you see three fans wearing kilts and waving Scottish flags in section 103, that would be the younger brother and two cousins of Scottish forward Julie Fleeting (they're in town visiting for the week.) "I just hope they don't sing all match," Fleeting says. The versatile Kerry Connors will start in place of Daniela at defensive midfield, her third different position in as many games. During the off-season the CyberRays traded with Philadelphia for Mandy Clemens, who went to high school across the street from Torero Stadium at USDHS. San Jose is coached by Ian Sawyers, a.k.a. Julie Foudy's husband.
Anyone else "watching" this game on matchtracker. Nothing much happening yet. Glad Tsunami posted the info that Conners would be at d-mid. Looking at the starters I'd guess we're playing a 3-4-3. But what do I know. Maybe Mac's a middie.
So far all the action seems to be at their end of the field. Maybe we can punch one in. Oops, shot by Brandi. wide right.
hey spiritland... quick question, but is this game being televised in SD??? if so, i would love to get a copy of the game being that a certain player scored a goal that i would love love to see!! please let me know! thanks! elaine
Just a few impressions of the game... The C-Rays played well, considering that Katia & Pretinha were missing. Their defense was very organised and they were able to keep possession of the ball for long periods of time. But they were not able to take enough advantage of the Spirit having players not in their regular positions (both Connors and Latham really looked at times like they didn't know where they were supposed to be or what they were supposed to be doing. The officiating was (to quote Bill Walton) "Horrible!" The Spirit were lucky that they did not have players hurt, as once the C-Rays saw that the ref wasn't going to call players for leaving their feet or shoves from the back they did a lot of that. The ref also seemed to think that making a handball call wasn't the thing to do. Thori Bryan and the rest of the SJ defense did not have a solution to containing Julie Fleeting. If SD had had more possession of the ball they could have given 'Fleets' even more times to take shots. I and some other BS posters got to meet Julie's relations who are visiting from Scotland. Yes, they did wear kilts, and did some singing (but not all game.) After the game, they serenaded Ronnie Fair when she came over to do autographs by putting her name into the "You are My Sunshine" song lyrics.
This game showed to me how far the Spirit have come on offense as compared to the last two years. The first Spirit goal was a beautiful cross from the deep corner onto the foot of a charging Spirit player. All too often in previous years, the box was routinely devoid of Spirit forwards - but not this game. The Spirit really do have multiple scoring threats now.
I agree, a much improved Spirit effort, especially the 2nd half. (Come to think of it, the 1st half was pretty disappointing.) Good ball movement, spacing, off the ball runs. Fleeting in particular was a force down the middle. Almost had 1 or 2 others to go with her first. On the other hand, our 2nd goal was a bit of a fluke, coming off a Pick Flick, a very strange way to score a goal if you ask me, and not really indicative of overall play. Also, I'd say the Cyberrays had more overall quality chances, so I feel fortunate to come away with a win. It was also both inspiring and sad to see Brandi fighting through terrible cramps as best she could once she went up top when the 'Rays were trying to fight back. I love watching Brandi play and to see her under these conditions, having played a full 90 just yesterday across the country, was both inspiring to see her competitive spirit and...well...bravery seems like a stupid word, but you know what I mean, but also incredibly stupid and shortsighted given the circumstances that both she and about 1/2 dozen players had to endure. Professional athletes or any other athletes shouldn't have to go through such conditions and in the end it saddened me to see it. I just hope no one got seriously hurt or there's no aftereffects. Anyway, sorry for the soapbox. Enjoyed the game. As dull as the first half was, the 2nd half was a killer.
Here is the Spirit's email account of the game: *** San Diego Spirit 2, San Jose CyberRays 1 Spirit Moves Above the .500 Mark for First Time in Team History FLEETING AND ‘PICK-FLIP” ACCOUNT FOR GOALS 2-1 WIN SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Spirit came from behind to with two goals in an eight-minute span in the second half to defeat the San Jose CyberRays, 2-1, in front of a crowd of 5,965 at Torero Stadium. Scottish international Julie Fleeting paced the Spirit attack, firing eight shots and scoring the tying goal while a CyberRays own goal off a long throw-in from Kim Pickup the 61st minute gave San Diego the win. The win Spirit moved the Spirit to 2-1-0 (6 points) on the season and above the .500 mark for the first time in club history while the CyberRays dropped to 1-2-0. Both teams played without Brazilians – Katie and Pretinha for San Jose and Daniela for San Diego – as they are currently in Peru with their national team for 2003 Women’s World Cup qualifying. San Jose tallied first in the 49th minute after Spirit midfielder Julie Foudy was disposed in the midfield by the CyberRays Ann Cook who then fed Sissi. The Brazilian placed a perfect ball through to the rushing Tisha Venturi-Hoch, who slid to drive a perfect shot into the upper left corner past charging Spirit goalkeeper Jaime Pagliarulo. Pagliarulo had come up big on two quality chances earlier in the game she tipped a Christina Bell header over the crossbar in the 15th minute and then guided a Sissi shot from 35 yards over the bar in the 29th minutes. Five minutes after going behind, San Diego tied the match on a wonderful finish from Fleeting. Fleeting’s second goal of the year came from eight yards out as she ran onto a perfect service from Shannon MacMillan to volley past CyberRays goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene. Fleeting took a season team-high eight of the Spirit’s 16 shots on goal. Beene was forced to make nine saves in the match, while Pagliarulo recorded only two in her second win of the season. Beene played a big role in the 61st minute own-goal off a flip throw-in by Kim Pickup. Pickup’s toss from the right sideline sailed into the middle of the six-yard box and, with a big group of Spirit and CyberRays players converging on the ball, it glanced off Beene’s hands into the CyberRays net. San Diego travels to Boston next Saturday to meet the Breakers in the second game of a MLS/WUSA doubleheader at Gillette Stadium, kickoff 3:30 p.m. PT. The game will not be televised. MATCH SUMMARY San Jose - 0 1= 1 San Diego - 0 2= 2 Scoring Summary: SJC -- Tisha Venturini-Hoch 1 (Sissi 1, Ann Cook 1) 49 SD -- Julie Fleeting 2 (Christine Latham 1, Shannon MacMillan 1) 54 SD -- own goal (LaKeysia Beene) 61 San Jose CyberRays -- LaKeysia Beene, Keri Sanchez, Thori Bryan (Kelly Lindsey, 78), Brandi Chastain, Michelle French, Betsy Barr, Ann Cook (Melinda Carter, 89), Sissi, Tisha Venturini-Hoch, Mandy Clemens (Amanda Cromwell, 65), Christina Bell (Dianne Alagich, 72). TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Sissi 3, Tisha Venturini-Hoch 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Tisha Venturini-Hoch 2); FOULS: 9 (Ann Cook 4); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 4 (Sissi 3); SAVES: 9 (LaKeysia Beene 9); Misconduct Summary: None. San Diego Spirit -- Jaime Pagliarulo, Kerry Connors, Joy Fawcett, Kim Pickup, Lisa Krzykowski, Zhang Ouying (Allie Sullivan, 54), Julie Foudy, Aly Wagner (Ronnie Fair, 86), Christine Latham, Shannon MacMillan, Julie Fleeting. TOTAL SHOTS: 16 (Julie Fleeting 8); SHOTS ON GOAL: 10 (Julie Fleeting 7); FOULS: 9 (Julie Foudy 2, Christine Latham 2); OFFSIDES: 4 (Julie Fleeting 2, Christine Latham 2); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Shannon MacMillan 3); SAVES: 2 (Jaime Pagliarulo 2); Misconduct Summary: None. Referee: David Simon; Referee's Assistants: -Brenda Wright; Diane Diggers 4th Official: Pat Novak Attendance: 5,965 Weather: 63, Sunny and Breezy QUOTES Spirit head coach Omid Namazi on his National Team players after playing two games in two days…. “They were tired, but they wanted to play and show our crowd that we can play a lot better than we did in the first game. We didn’t want to change our starting lineup so we would keep the continuity and that’s what we did.” Omid Namazi on Pickup’s throw-in resulting in a goal… “We wanted it more than them. They had as much of an opportunity to clear the ball as we did to put it in. We were just being aggressive and attacking the ball.” Ian Sawyers not having Katia and Pretinha… “It was a significant loss, we have one of the top goal scorers in the league with Katia and Pretinha is playing well this year, so it was a huge impact on our game, but it gives a huge opportunity to step up.” Kim Pickup on being a part of the offense… “Everyone plays both ways, but it is nice to know that you have a specific role in the scoring attack. I‘m glad that I can help this team win in any way possible, whether it be in the back or up front.” Julie Fleeting on her goal… “There are so many good players in this league that is always tough to score goals, but we created good opportunities in this game and came out on top. Mac served me a great play and I was able to get on the end of it and finish.” NOTES -Daniela will return from South American qualifying for the Spirit’s match next weekend at Boston. -Fleeting has a two-game goal streak; MacMillan has a two-game point streak -Shannon MacMillan, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett played 90 minutes after playing 90, 45 and 45 minutes respectively for the U.S. Women’s National Team yesterday. Aly Wagner, who played 90 minutes for the USA yesterday, played 85 for the Spirit tonight. -Christine Latham, who played 56 minutes for Canada yesterday against the USA, also went the distance for the Spirit. -Jaime Pagliarulo has won consecutive games for the first time. *** Jo - the starting formation for the Spirit seemed to be their 'regular' (but in the first half disorganized) 3-5-2, with Latham starting at right outside mid in the first half, shifting to left outside mid in the second half, and then as a partner to Fleeting up front near the end. Mac was up top with Fleeting before she dropped back, there were a lot of times that it looked as if she was also a midfielder... Look at the shots and shots on goal - the Spirit did a better job of getting their efforts 'on frame.' I believe that that has been an ongoing problem for San Jose (look at their game before this one...)
The WUSA has posted up their version of the game's events, and the article includes a shot of Kim Pickup in the midst of one of her throw-ins, balanced straight up over the ball. Because the Spirit bench is in the picture, right behind her, she was taking this one far away from the goal. I have to say that she did her best job ever with those 'pick-flips,' as after the first one she was able to flatten out the throws... http://www.wusa.com/press_room/356530.html