Monday Wrap: L.A. Sol to Open Inaugural WPS Season at HDC & More
Women's Professional Soccer 's L.A. Sol opens the league's inaugural season Sunday, March 29 in a nationally televised 3 p.m. game against the Washington Freedom at Home Depot Center, the team will announce Tuesday.
The league's other five teams will begin play the following weekend.
"We are certainly honored that WPS has chosen us to host the league's inaugural game; it will be a great reward for all of the women's soccer fans in the Southland who have been anxiously awaiting our arrival," said Los Angeles Sol General Manager Charlie Naimo.
The remainder of the season's schedule will be announced at a later date. Sol season tickets are now on sale beginning at $125. Call 1-877-4-SOL-TIX or click the link to the right.
Also, the 10-round WPS draft is set for Jan. 16. The draft order:
1. Boston Breakers
2. Chicago Red Stars
3. FC Gold Pride (Bay Area)
4. Sky Blue FC (New Jersey/New York)
5. Los Angeles Sol
6. Saint Louis Athletica
7. Washington Freedom
Which means Boston gets Amy Rodriguez of USC.
Rumor of the moment: Supposedly Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan has captured the interest of a dozen teams including Celtic.
Jorge Flores of Chivas USA, Brian Perk of UCLA, Marcus Watson of the Galaxy Academy and Pat Sigler of Cal Poly were among the 26-player squad named to the U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team roster by Coach Thomas Rongen for an eight-day camp in Florida that began today. The camp includes a pair of scrimmages against CONCACAF foes Haiti Dec. 20 and Canada Dec. 22.
And for all you L.A. Rampage, Pali Blues, San Fernando Quakes, etc fans out there:
United Soccer Leagues announced the 68 PDL teams will play a 16-game season beginning May 1 and concluding July 19. Playoffs will begin July 24-26 and the championship will be held Saturday, Aug. 8, on Fox Soccer Channel. The W-League will kick off the season with 37 teams beginning May 8. The season concludes July 19, with playoffs beginning July 24-26. The W-League champion will be determined Aug. 7-8 on Fox Soccer Channel.
U.S. Soccer has announced its first batch of yearly awards with Soccer By Ives winning blog of the year. The Washington Post's excellent Soccer Insider finished second (weren't those two reversed last year?). And as much as I enjoy the wit of press officer Aaron Heifetz (and I do, really) the WNT Blog is not the third best soccer blog out there.
Finally, the answer to the question how fit is Chivas USA's Jonathan Bornstein? Pretty damn fit.
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
Thanks Nick for the WPS Info. :)
I'll definitely be watching the opening game over a stream or their website if it will be available.
Good job of WPS getting Puma on board in these difficult times. Really hope the WPS will be a success.
On a sidenote I don't believe the Galaxy D'Alessandro bid to be true...
Likely it's his agent/club who are trying to get some higher/better offers in...
MLS/Galaxy/AEG refused to pay around $5M or so in order to get Becks in January '07. Why would they now suddenly fork out $10M on a player?
Additionally Don Garber said, there are minimal changes in the salary cap/roster set up.
LA has 1 DP spot (the English guy) and they have little to trade for a 2nd...
Even if Donovan leaves that frees up only 425k of cap space, which wouldn't be enough for D'Alessandro I'd think.