The WPS's financial plan is not about turning a quick profit but developing a self-sustaining league. But AEG has never acted like it believed in the Sol, or women's soccer - instead, the structure around the team seemed intent on selling the women and the training staff short. This is bitterly disappointing to fans of women's soccer in LA - a city that could support two WPS teams were they located correctly and marketed well. I am too depressed about this to comment at the moment. Instead, I will gesture here towards my rant/manifesto "Notes from an Alienated Fan" and go pour myself a drink.
Walking into Carson stadium for the WPS final, I found myself thinking that a win for Sky Blue would be good for the league, and perhaps even good for the Sol. The WPS needs to get rid of the impression that there is one team that is far and away better than the rest. The playoff structure, which guaranteed a place in the finals for the regular season champs, did that by clearing a path to the final for the Sol, as if they deserved a free pass. I don't know a single Sol fan who thought this was good for the team.
The Sol have been a bit complacent - sure, they won the regular season, but they petered out toward the end [and only won one of their last four matches]. Given the talent on the roster, I've often thought they could be even more spectacular to watch - but they need a reason to up their game.
Sky Blue came into today's game as the league underdogs. They started off poorly and fired their coach Ian Sawyers in only the third week of the season. His assistant Kelley Lindsey took over but resigned on July 30th (see "Sky Blue Coach Quits Abruptly"). Behind this is a messy story - her assistant coach (brought on board by Sawyers) was the subject of some controversy (the details of which are obscure). Lindsey's resignation was a response to how management handled the problem with her assistant. It all sounds like a right mess. Making matters even more dramatic, USNT captain and Sky Blue defender Christie Rampone basically turned up on the field for practice before a match against FC Gold Pride and found herself in charge - Lindsey had quit that afternoon. Someone needed to run practice before this important game - as a very experienced player she was a natural choice. Next thing she knew, she was asked to coach out the season.
Whatever drama was unfolding behind the scenes was upstaged by this afternoon's gutsy performance against the much heralded Sol. (See Goal.com'smatch report.)
There was no question as to who wanted it more - while the Sol showed sparks of life, players seemed to drift in and out of the game. They seemed surprised by the fight they had on their hands. Shortly after O'Reilly's neatly placed goal in the game's 17th minute, Faulk drew a red card for bringing Natasha Kai to the ground after Kai had beaten three defenders and was making her way into the box. Goal.com questions the call, but from my seat, Kai was certain to take a shot. She was in front of the defenders and gaining speed. And she is Natasha Kai. Even if Faulk clipped her heel, as Goal.com says, she did so because she was trying to run Kai down, but couldn't get in front of her.
This was a rough blow for the Sol, as we were barely through a third of the game when this happened. They still played a strong second half, given this fact (the mid-day August heat couldn't have made being a player down any easier - why oh why are WPS matches at Carson so often played under midday sun???).
Miyama was her usual astonishing self, and Shannon Boxx, too. Marta reminded us of why she is so highly regarded, and so aggressively marked. Her frustration was clear: she spent good stretches of the match being marked by three - even four - defenders. She nevertheless more often than not squeezed a pass through the forest of legs. In one instance, she sent a brilliant cross in front of the goal mouth - but there was no one there to finish for her. Abily, as well as Sky Blue's Anita Asante and Karen Bardsley are representing their countries in the UEFA Euro cup tournament. I'm convinced that Abily was very much the missing link - not only because she's a fantastic finisher, but because when she and Marta (and Miyama and Duan) are on the pitch, even the best defenders are outclassed. Today, the Sol attack seemed nervous and disconnected.
Meanwhile, Rosana, Kai, O'Reilly and Francielli played like they'd been on the same team since they were five. They carried themselves with confidence, and seemed to know not just where their teammates were, but where they would be. All in all, Sky Blue played an aggressive and very smart game. Kudos to Rampone for converting all that Real-Housewives-of-NJ drama into something positive.
Watching them play, I found myself thinking about the fact that most of these players - women from Hawaii, London, Texas, Australia, California and Brazil are living in f'ingPiscataway, in a hotel near their home field at Rutgers University. I was thinking about how shitty it must have been to have all that back-room drama going on in an alien environment - playing for a fledgling league for not so much money and even less security. Kai shacked up with Rampone when she agreed to play for Sky Blue, so she'd have some immediate sense of community. Rampone - a New Jersey native - was apparently the architect behind social outings designed to make her teammates get to know each other as well as their new surroundings.
They are a good story, no matter how you slice it.
Now - I just wish the WPS would get real and stop referring to the Sky Blue as the New York team [at least in the team's url: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/ny]. When they drive that trophy home from the airport, they'll be taking the fabled NJ Turnpike. They'll get off not at the Holland Tunnel, but at exit number 9. At least three of these players know the route well: YaelAverbuch is from Upper Montclair, Heather O'Reilly is from East Brunswick (this is her natural exit in fact), and Rampone is from Point Pleasant (aka - "the shore").
As I picture their ride home - elated and exhausted - sleepy heads leaning against the window as industrial monuments slip past - I hear the paradoxically soft and hard voice of Queen Latifah, taking us all on a New Jersey Drive. The basic message: when it comes this place, the road "out" or "up" is always a rough one - but that ride is the thing that makes you tougher. It's the twists and turns that make you faster, and smarter. That rough ride - past people who don't think you have a chance of going anywhere - is the thing that makes each victory taste all the sweeter.
Sky Blue's presence in the final is a bit of a surprise as they just barely qualified for the playoffs. Of course, in a league of seven teams playing a fairly short season I'm not sure the standings mean all that much. They had a rocky season - they fired their coach at the start, and the next to take the job quit just a few weeks ago. They are now managed by US National Team captain Christine Rampone, who also plays defense for the team. In spite of the managerial upheaval, they seem to be hitting their stride just when it counts.
Sky Blue are billed as the NY team but they are from freakin' Jersey. They play in New Brunswick. I'm of course pleased as punch to have a Los Angeles/New Jersey showdown. The team features the dynamic USNT superstar Natasha Kai, former Arsenal ladies standout Anita Asante, Brazilian playmaker Rosana, and the above mentioned Rampone. Kai is one of the U.S. National Team's more interesting personalities - she's aggressive and fast on the field, covered in tattoos, and casually outed herself in an interview with NBC Sports during the 2008 Olympics.
But their win tonight over second-ranked St. Louis Athletica was secured by Keeley Dowling, a defender (pictured above). Her first goal of the season was perhaps the team's most important.
The LA SOL's roster is a real dream team: Marta - three time FIFA world female player of the year; Chinese striker Han Duan; midfielder Aya Miyama, a Japanese NT player with fantastic footskills and who is perhaps the hardest working woman in show business, USNT players Shannon Boxx and Aly Wagner, and the great keeper Karina LeBlanc. Sadly, striker Camille Abily (who scored 8 goals this season and was a real revelation for those who don't follow European women's soccer) will be playing for the French National Team. I just asked her to be my facebook friend. Fingers crossed.
I can't wait for the game. For those of you who've never been to a WPS match, it isn't the screaming-13 year old Jonas brother crowd the press would have you think it is. It's a great combination of sports nuts - girl-jocks, old guys who wax romantic about how women play the game as it should be played (minimal diving, for example), and plenty of dykes & tykes. You really can't beat it. There is a near total lack of cynicism. You sure can't say that about the MLS games these days.
In their three meetings, the best Sky Blue could do was a draw. But Kai & crew are looking pretty fantastic. And Abily has been a key figure in the Sol's campaign this season - she will be sorely missed.
That said, the real story behind the Sol's success may be their defense - they lead the league in shut-outs, LeBlanc is top of the tables in terms of having had the least amount of goals scored against her, and the Sol defenders lead in having the lowest average of "goals against." If there is a defensive team that can shut down Kai, Rosana and Francielli, it's Brittany Bock, Stephanie Cox, and Allison Faulk.
Before heading into the stadium I checked out the shop - no skort, or wrap, or whatever it is. The guys working there laughed when I asked if they carried it. Looking at the pile of Marta shirts, I found myself contemplating not the name on the back, but the name on the front. Amway? I decided I'd rather wear a Brazil shirt.
[Note to the Galaxy/SOL marketing folks: Why don't you sell national jerseys for all your international players - that'd be half the SOL squad. How great would that be to see national kits on display (and for sale) for Duan, Miyama, Frisk, Abily, Marta, Wagner, etc.?! China, Japan, Sweden, France, Brazil, and the US?! Seems like a no-brainer to me. I'd have picked up a bunch of those for my nieces.]
Amway is a SOL sponsor - and, well, just look at their wikipedia entry, which has a whole section on the "controversy" pertaining to their not-illegal pyramid scheme, and the cult-like culture of the organization which lures people in to work as distributors for their products with promises of the money they will make as they lure more people in to work as distributors for their product. Sound familiar? It should: Herbalife works the same way, and that name is plastered on the front of the Galaxy shirts. From the Guardian's obit for that company's founder (Mark Hughes: Purveyor of Californian Health Cures to the Credulous/June 19, 2000):
During the next few years the firm [Herbalife] was formally criticised at least three times by the United States Food and Drugs Administration, and subject to a CNN television exposé, a senate investigative committee inquiry, denunciations from a medical watchdog organisation and an $850,000 penalty payment imposed by the California attorney general for making false medical claims and marketing an illegal pyramid sales scheme. This recruited 750,000 "distributors" in what Hughes claimed were 48 countries, including Britain.
I've always been puzzled by the Herbalife thing. It seems really backwards to have a weight loss/vitamin supplements company sponsoring a soccer team. Think in terms of fitness, for example - wouldn't the Galaxy want its message to be something like - get out there and play? Not: "take these magic pills and it will be as if you have played"? And then think in terms of marketing: do you really want to associate your team's identity with a company that's been stained with accusations of not only making false promises to its consumers about the health benefits of their product, but also of falsely representing how much money their distributors will make by signing on?
The more I learn about the corporate architecture behind the Galaxy and now the SOL, the more depressed I become.
All this aside - not that it can really be put aside - it was an entertaining game.
It didn't start that way, though (See Nick Green's post, with great quotes from Aly Wagner about the rough start).
Yesterday it was about 94 degrees in Carson - so neither the SOL not the Gold Pride looked quite right. In the opening minutes there was a general lack of fight for the ball - especially when asked to run it down. The game definitely picked up as the players adjusted to the heat. Looking over the WPS calendar I have to ask why on earth the Sol and their opponents are playing games at 1:00pm and 3:00pm in June, July, and August? The Galaxy play mostly early evening home games, with a few exceptions.
They'll get used to the heat, I guess. But, wow. So much for the weaker sex! They'll be a lot tougher than their corporate siblings. (They are already much, much more fun to watch than the Galaxy.)
A lot of the game's energy was generated by the two Japanese stars on the field: AyaMiyawa for the Sol, and EricoArakawa. They both worked from start to finish, and were quick, great on the ball, and just all around dynamic - superstars, really. And I absolutely loved watching Formiga and Marta go up against each other. They seemed really well matched as Formiga won the ball off of Marta a couple times - I am a huge fan of hers, and can't wait to see her play again.
The game was fun. Especially since I migrated from my $40 seats to the sparsely populated mid-field and found myself behind these gals.
Jennifer Doyle lives in Los Angeles and teaches at the University of California, Riverside. She wrote From a Left Wing from late 2007 until late 2013. Scroll through categories below for writing about gender, the international women's game, Los Angeles fútbol and more. You can read the preface to her most recent book here: Hold It Against Me: Difficulty and Emotion in Contemporary Art. Sometime in the near future, this whole blog will be taken down and archived, as she prepares to publish a book anchored in this writing.
