The Aztexan

This hasn't been the best season for my MLS and USL-1 club teams: FC Dallas and the Austin Aztex have both struggled mightily, and short of a miracle or two, will both wind up at or near the bottom of their respective tables.

St. Louis Athletica, however, are a different story. Despite a slow start, my team in the brand-new Women's Professional Soccer league has had an excellent season. They recently clinched 2nd place, just behind the Marta-led Los Angeles Sol. That position puts them directly into the semifinals, hosted at Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park in St. Louis, without having to get past a quarterfinal playoff game. (Similarly, under WPS' unique system, regular-season champions Sol place directly into the final, also with home field advantage.)

Athletica have pulled off this record even after Daniela was sidelined by injury (an injury "so painful she lost consciousness", and for which Abby Wambach was ultimately suspended by the WPS Commissioner). Although it's not like their roster is weak without their star Brazilian player; it features such players as Lori Chalupny, England's Eniola Aluko, Australia's Sarah Walsh and of course, Hope Solo in goal.

A national team regular, Solo is widely considered to be among the top goalkeepers in the world today. She's also a great player for WPS off the field, garnering extra publicity in articles like this one in The Atlantic: The Bad Girl of Women's Soccer.

Solo, who plays goalie for the St. Louis Athletica, wasn’t impressed [by Puma's new WPS uniforms]. “They go and make this padded goalkeeper jersey and it’s hot pink—it just looks girly, it looks juvenile, it doesn’t look professional,” she told me one afternoon as we sat on a bench in an empty Harvard Stadium, where her team had just finished practicing for its game the next day against the Boston Breakers. “And so I said, ‘There’s no way in hell I’m wearing this.’”

The Athletica will face new Jersey's Sky Blue FC in the semifinal game tonight, Wednesday, August 19. Sky Blue backed into these playoffs, suffering more than their fair share of first-season drama.

The league in general has had a pretty rough first year, to nobody's surprise. Starting a professional sports league from scratch would be challenging in the best of times, let alone during the kind of economy WPS was dealt for its first year.

"We knew there was going to be some choppy water with respect to the launch," [Commissioner Tonya] Antonucci said. "Some are losing twice as much as projected, and that's not an easy thing to experience. … We're taking it seriously, though I don't think it will have serious effects. I think the owners are just as committed as when they started.

"What it means is it will take longer to get to break even. Should the economic conditions of this year continue and if these losses were to continue for three years, then we'd have a serious issue on our hands, just like many businesses. Let's talk in three years."

The league has had about one game per week on national television, broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel. The level of play has been outstanding, no surprise given the caliber of talent drawn from around the world. The playoff games, as well as an MLS-style all-star game against Umeå IK of Sweden, will also be televised.

Wed. 8/19 — Super Semifinal: St. Louis Athletica vs Sky Blue FC
Sat. 8/22 — Championship: semifinal winner vs Los Angeles Sol
Sun. 8/30 — All-Star Game: WPS All-Stars vs. Umeå IK

Also on the field for Athletica during their playoff run will be former University of Texas defender Stephanie Logterman. She's one of several Longhorn alumnae making their mark on the new league. Another is Boston Breakers defender Kasey Moore, who was featured in a recent CBS News segment on WPS.

Speaking of UT soccer, their season starts this Friday, August 21 at 7:00 PM, hosting TCU here at Mike A. Myers stadium:

The UT Longhorns will start the season ranked 15th in the country, one of four ranked Big 12 teams, along with Texas A&M (7), Oklahoma State (11), and Missouri (24). The Horns play an exhibition game at LSU this Friday [which they lost 2-1], and start the regular season next Friday, Aug. 21, 7pm, hosting TCU. A very young defense will be a concern, as the Horns graduated four four-year starters on the back line.

At just $7, tickets to see these matches on the beautiful grass at Myers are a steal. In fact, tickets to the opening game are even cheaper: $3 gets you into the game, plus free popcorn.

This has been called the "Summer of Soccer" for U.S. fans, from the Confederations and Gold Cups to friendlies featuring high-profile foreign clubs, many drawing record crowds and TV audiences across the country. Though not as headline-grabbing as Azteca, Beckham or Chelsea, our country's new pro women's league is off to an auspicious start. If you haven't checked it out yet, I recommend it. Go Athletica!

Labels: UT, WPS

Hailed as the biggest professional soccer game in Austin history, the State Farm Copa Aztex is this Saturday, July 18. The match will be an exhibition game between two storied Mexican teams gearing up to start their season: Cruz Azul and UANL Tigres.

The Chronicle has more on the game and why it's a big deal:

It’s the final preseason tune-up for the clubs, who open the 2009 Apertura season next week. Tickets are $30 and $50. Doors open at 4pm, with a pregame concert by Espinoza Paz.

This could be a huge deal for soccer in Austin, not just because of the game itself but because it’s the first time UT has teamed with an outside entity to use its gorgeous Myers Stadium. (Another first for both the Aztex and Myers: “adult beverages” at the pregame beer garden!) This event is the beginning of a three-year agreement between UT and the Aztex.

If you're not into Espinoza Paz, a group of Aztex supporters will also be gathering at Scholtz's Beer Garden on San Jacinto before the game, at about 6:00.

One interesting aspect of this game for fans of the U.S. men's national team is the presence of Edgar Castillo, currently on loan from Club América to Tigres. U.S.-born Castillo has previously been called up to the Mexican national team, but has no international caps. Though previously stating he didn't want to play for the U.S., he has been singing a different tune more recently. Whether you're a fan of the Nats or El Tri, you have a chance to scout him for yourself Saturday night.

Tickets for this huge soccer event are available at Texas Box Office.

Labels: exhibition, internacional, UT

The news came out this week that Austin Aztex FC and the University of Texas will jointly host an exhibition match featuring 2 premier Mexican pro soccer teams, dubbed the "State Farm Copa Aztex". The deal is to last for several years, making this an annual event. The teams announced for this first year's matchup on July 18 are Cruz Azul and Tigres UANL.

News 8 Austin has a short video clip from the press conference.

The games will be played at the home of UT's womens' soccer program, Mike A. Myers stadium. Seating 20,000, and marred by a big track around the pitch, the facility features a beautiful natural grass field. Many believe grass fields cannot exist in Texas, but apparently UT has the know-how and/or big bucks to keep it up.

Tickets are priced at $30 or $50, and go on sale Monday, June 8. I haven't seen exactly what the $20 difference gets you, presumably closer to the middle of the field. The event will also feature "Univision Radio presenta El Golazo Musical", a pre-game festival featuring food, giveaways, a beer garden and live music. That starts at 4:00; the game kicks off at 7:00.

As the Aztex and UT say in their press releases, this will be a big event that will boost soccer's profile in Austin, especially among Mexican fans. (Hopefully Cruz Azul and Tigres fans are loyal enough to turn out for this, even though both teams fared poorly in the just-finished Primera División Clausura.) But for myself, as a fan primarily of American soccer, this match isn't for me.

If nothing else, I wish some actual Aztex would play in Copa Aztex. Even a pre-game scrimmage between the Aztex U23s and the reserves of one of the Mexican teams (the USL-1 team will be in Minnesota playing the Thunder that night) would tie it more to the hometown team. Without anything like that, it seems at first glance that the team has little more to do with the event than the other title sponsor, State Farm Insurance. Of course, I know they had much more to do with it than that, using and building their soccer relationships with first division Mexican clubs to put the whole thing together. I hope the event is a big success, and gets lots of publicity. I also hope that future Copa Aztexes include more of the Aztex FC than the name and the front office.

Labels: exhibition, internacional, UT

The brand-new Women's Professional Soccer league held their first draft yesterday, and four UT Longhorn players were selected.

University of Texas senior Kasey Moore led a group of four Longhorn soccer players picked in the inaugural Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league draft as the three-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-American was selected as the 15th overall pick Friday morning.

Seniors Stephanie Logterman and Jill Gilbeau were picked 20th and 22nd respectively, giving UT the second-most picks from a Division I school in the top 25 (three). Former UT standout Kelly (Wilson) Schmedes was the 44th selection, rounding out the Texas players in the draft.

The 4 draft picks in summary:

• Kasey Moore (pick #15) & Kelly Schmedes (UT alumna; pick #44) — Boston Breakers (with Angela Hucles & Kristine Lilly)


• Stephanie Logterman (pick #20) — St. Louis Athletica (with Hope Solo)


• Jill Gilbeau (pick #22) — Washington Freedom (with Abby Wambach & Cat Whitehill)

I'm looking forward to seeing how the WPS does. Their season starts on March 29, with a match between the Washington Freedom and the Los Angeles Sol. The Sol just signed Brazilian star Marta, two-time FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, and her teammate Cristiane is looking at signing with "my team", the Chicago Red Stars. Watching the international stars will be fun, and now I can keep an eye out for a few of the women I saw at Myers Stadium last year, too.

Labels: UT, WPS

A quick follow-up to my recent post:

First, I went to the Longhorns game I mentioned in that post. It was a pretty good time. I can't really call the crowd anything more than "sparse", unfortunately. And I'm probably just showing off my ignorance of the college game, but some of their rules are crazy. No stoppage time, for one thing. Plus, the clock counts down, rather than up, even to the point of the announcer counting down the last 10 seconds of each half.

But the field at Myers sure is nice, there's no denying that. And they beat Iowa State 2-1, so I got a coupon for 5 free wings at Pluckers! Bottom line: there are worse ways to pass the time than watching athletic college girls play your favorite sport.

But if you want to check it out this season, you better act fast: there are only 3 home games left. Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 PM against Oklahoma (see UT beat OU again!), Sunday, Oct. 19 vs. Oklahoma State at 1 PM (tickets just $3 with this PDF coupon), and Friday, Oct. 31 vs. Baylor at 7 PM (trick? or treat?).

I also discovered that these games can be watched live online for free: look for "TexasSports.tv" on TexasSports.com for that.

The Women's Professional Soccer league (WPS) continues its preparations for next year. An article on the USL site sheds some light on the questions I had about if there would be crossover from W-League to WPS:

USL W-League players represented 24 of the 28 picks made in Monday’s Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) General Draft, which consisted of four rounds of selections between the seven WPS clubs. Moreover, 18 of those 24 selections competed as recently as the 2008 W-League season. Six players taken in the draft, including the number two overall selection Jill Oakes, were part of the recent USL W-League Combine held in Tampa, Florida.

One big standout seems to be the W-League team Pali Blues. They won the W-League championship this year — their first year in the league. And they've had no less than 9 players drafted into WPS so far, with more expected.

Labels: UT, W-League, WPS

My fifth-grade daughter volunteered to be a reporter on her school's closed-circuit TV news this year. The other day she was interviewing a classmate, and asked her that quintessential kid's question: "what do you want to be when you grow up?" The girl's answer: a professional soccer player.

Since the WUSA folded five years ago, there hasn't been a top-level pro league for women soccer players in the U.S. That league, created on the excitement of the national team's 1st place win in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup and the star power of players like Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy and Austin's own Mia Hamm, lasted just 3 seasons.

Now a new league, Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), is gearing up to take a second shot at the big time. They'll begin play next April, though of course preparations are well underway now.

This incarnation of women's pro soccer is also riding the momentum of the national team, though this time it's with gold medals from the Beijing Olympics. And it's a new generation of stars, too: Hope Solo, Christie Rampone, Natasha Kai and Shannon Boxx, to name but a few.

The league will start with just 7 teams in 2009, plus 3 more already announced for 2010. Dallas was on the original list of 2009 teams, but apparently they couldn't secure a place to play. The team in St. Louis not only has a very nice looking logo/crest, they also have an interesting name: "St. Louis". That's it. Just, St. Louis. No mascot, no club name, not so much as an "FC", from what I can tell.

The league is forming their teams now. They've already divvied up the 21 national team players, with three going to each team. And they held an "international draft", too. If I understand it right, that draft was just for the right to try to buy particular international stars, which I thought was pretty interesting. Marta, Daniela, Christiane and the rest of Brazil's single-named, silver-medalled Olympic squad will be the most sought-after, it seems.

Next up is the league's general draft, to be held this Monday, Oct. 6. This draft will include any players who signed up for it, whether domestic or international. I presume a good number of players will come from the USL's W-League. That's one aspect of WPS I'm looking forward to seeing: what its relationship to the W-League will be like. Hopefully more cooperative than what seems to exist between USL and MLS, anyway. And someday this could become of great interest to Aztex fans, if the club adds the W-League team they already own the franchise for.

Meanwhile, with no team in Texas yet, I've been following the Chicago Red Stars. And even though she's not listed in the international draft, if Germany's Fatmire Bajramaj ever comes to play in the WPS, I'll immediately switch allegiance to whatever team she goes to. Just because.

As I've said before, part of what I find fascinating about soccer in the U.S. is watching the business, promotion and marketing aspects of the sport. I think MLS has done a pretty good job so far in growing the league in a sustainable way. It's not perfect, and there's still criticism about the level of play compared to other leagues around the world. But at least they've avoided the flame-out of the NASL. So, I'm interested to see how WPS does, too. I understand their teams will be partnering with MLS teams in some cases, to take advantage of similarities and synergies (if you'll pardon the buzzword). As with MLS, the question boils down to: can this work?

On a related note, Austin's current women's team — the UT Longhorns, ranked 7th in the nation &mdash just lost the first game of the season last night, 2-1 to Nebraska. They play again at noon tomorrow (Sunday, Oct. 5), taking on Iowa State here at the Mike A. Myers stadium.

Labels: MLS, UT, W-League, WPS