12/21/24
March 29, 2009
Women's Pro Soccer has another bite at the apple: In the shadow of the 2003 collapse of the WUSA, does this go 'round have what it takes to stick? Well, they've got a bunch of the stars from the Gold & Silver medal teams from the '08 Olympics including Brazilian phenom Marta, arguably the best woman player in the world, so that's a start.
I'm torn between Washington and Sky Blue - two of the fastest and slickest Matildas (Lisa DeVanna and Sarah Walsh) respectively. I saw Lisa DeVanna score a sensational goal against Italy a month or so ago - nearly as good as that Marta one against the USA in the last World Cup.
posted by owlhouse at 08:34 PM on March 29, 2009
Here's a Guardian piece on the English players leaving a relatively successful domestic league to join WPS. Many of them are veterans of American college teams, so it's not exactly a Beckham-to-LA thing, especially given that the contracts work out at what can be best described as "national median wage".
That's not necessarily a bad thing, as people who've supported lower- and non-league clubs will know, and the obvious aim is to ensure that college talent sticks around. Still, if it ends up putting the same demands on players as the WNBA -- i.e. if they spend their "off-seasons" playing in Europe -- it may be counterproductive, and you'll end up with a league of crocks.
posted by etagloh at 11:58 PM on March 29, 2009
I think they know more about what it will take to support a league, and the level on which it can be run, than they did first time around.
I hope so. I'm not thrilled about the DC location. And the site doesn't let you buy single game tickets, which sucks. There is one game where they are offering single game tickets on a different site. They seem to be making it unnecessarily difficult.
posted by bperk at 10:07 AM on March 30, 2009
We'll see what happens. I think they know more about what it will take to support a league, and the level on which it can be run, than they did first time around.
Ordering my Breakers tix,