The Boston Renegades have repeated as National Champions by beating the Charlotte Eagles in Vancouver, BC this weekend. The Renegades won it all last year as well. This is the second national championship of the weekend for Massachusetts Pro Soccer. These should be very proud days for New England soccer fans as many players from both teams are local products.
Many of the MPS Y-League teams are still in the hunt for championships, too. Contrast this with the local professional teams, the Breakers and the Revolution. The Breakers finished their 21 game WUSA season in 6th place, 6-8-7, 25 pts., out of the playoffs for the second year of the two-year old league. They released their coach of two years yesterday. At 21 games played in the MLS season the Rev sit at 7-13-1, 22 pts., with a firm grip on a spot on the sidelines again come playoff time. Interim coach Nichol must be wondering when he will get his walking papers, too. How the Breakers reacted to their team's woes shows some forethought. They waited until the season was over so that no panic move needed to be made to fill a spot. They acted swiftly after their season was over so that no doubts were left lingering. I sha'n't go into the Revs history (or is it hysteria?) with their coaching moves.
Not only that, but both games were on FSW. I doubt if the audience was huge, but it was still kind of cool...
I watched some of this match. I tend not to enjoy watching women's soccer, but it was pretty entertaining and played at a good pace. Congrats to the Renegades.