Freedom Insider

By StarCityFan

Amazingly, despite the months-long drought of wins, the Freedom are still in the driver’s seat when it comes to making the playoffs. They’re competing against the Red Stars, Sky Blue FC and (just barely) the Beat for the fourth and final playoff spot. If they win out, none of those teams can catch them. That may sound tough, but they’re the only one of these teams that has no more matches against teams that are definitely bound for the playoffs, and all but one of their four remaining matches are at home.

Winning out would give them 34 points, but my prediction is that, given the other teams’ schedules and past performance, 29 would probably be sufficient.

The next two matches, both at home, are key as both are against their primary rivals, the Red Stars this Thursday and Sky Blue on Saturday the 28th. Games like these are six-point swings: the difference between winning and losing is the difference between being three points ahead of the opposition or three points behind. Two wins would give the Freedom 28 points with a road match against Chicago and a home match against a floundering Atlanta squad left. Just one point from either of those games should put them over the top, and if it’s not enough, then at least the must-win final match comes against the seventh-place team.

Sky Blue has a game in hand but a much tougher schedule. In addition to playing Washington here, they face the three playoff-bound teams plus Atlanta in Atlanta, where the Beat have actually been able to win a few. The matches against FC Gold Pride, Philadelphia and Boston are at Yurcak Field, which you’d think would be an advantage but has actually been the opposite. Sky Blue is only 1-4-3 on their home soil (guess they haven’t been paying attention to the “Defend Your Turf” campaign).

The Red Stars, other than the home-and-home against the Freedom, play the Independence and Gold Pride in Chicago and would be fortunate to pick up anything more than single points from each of those matches.

The Beat have a home-and-home against the high-flying Boston Breakers, plus they host Gold Pride and Sky Blue before ending the season at the SoccerPlex. They also have a game in hand on the Freedom but are five points back.

Coloring Thursday’s match against the Red Stars will be World Cup qualification matches by various European teams. Sonia Bompastor will be up with the French National Team, while the Red Stars’ Katie Chapman and Karen Carney will be playing for England. Additionally, the Red Stars will be missing defensive stalwart Kate Markgraf due to a concussion. These are all significant absences. Some have expressed a concern over losing Sonia’s presence in the Freedom attack, but I’m more concerned about not having her there to disrupt attacks coming from Washington’s left flank – many’s the time she’s either singlehandedly prevented balls coming in from that corner, or worked with Becky Sauerbrunn to do so.

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By StarCityFan

[Editor's note: The following represents StarCityFan's own personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Jim Higgins (owner/operator of Freedom Insider), Freedom Insider nor any other members of the Freedom Fighters.]

There are several supporters groups for the teams in Women’s Professional Soccer. Despite the team rivalries, we are all first and foremost WPS fans, so there’s considerable solidarity among us. When the Boston or Chicago fans are coming down to the Soccerplex for a match and need travel advice, I’m glad to provide it. When I went to St. Louis for last year’s All-Star Game, I had dinner with members of Laclede’s Army. When I’ve gone up to Boston, the Riptide have allowed me to share in the repast from their tailgate parties. So you can imagine how I felt after coming home from last Wednesday’s Freedom match, going online, and finding that Hope Solo had posted the following to Twitter:

To all the boston fans and especially the young kids that I didn’t sign autographs for I’m sorry. I will not stand for…An organization who can so blatantly disrespect the athletes that come to play. Perhaps the WPS or Boston themselves…Can finally take a stance to the profanity, racism and crude remarks that are made by their so called ‘fan club’…To the true fans, I hope to catch you at the next game. Thanks for your support and love for the game.

Now, there’s no love lost between Hope Solo and the Riptide, who sometimes refer to her as “Public Enemy No. 1,” but this is taking things to a whole ‘nother level. Such an accusation, if upheld, would lead to severing any ties between the team and the supporters group and barring the members from attending any future matches. Note also that it’s actually a two-part accusation:

1. “profanity, racism, and crude remarks” were made at Wednesday night’s match
2. This is standard operating procedure for the “fan club”

Needless to say, the Riptide and everyone who knew them was shocked at this statement, and the Riptide quickly posted a rebuttal on their website, denying any such behavior and concluding with

It’s fine if Hope Solo doesn’t like us. It’s fine if she lets us get into her head and upset her during games. It’s not fine that she accused us of racism, and we won’t stand for it. We ask that she either explain her remarks or retract them.

I sent an email to the league office the next morning, noting the seriousness of the allegations and insisting that an investigation be initiated to determine what actually happened. Speculation was rampant online about what Hope Solo actually heard, if anything, or if she was just carrying out a grudge against a supporters group after she let them get into her head in a match her team lost.

The following afternoon, Atlanta’s general manager, Shawn McGee, announced that the matter was being looked into:

At this point, we have no comment. We are in the process of gathering information regarding the incidences at the match last night and will work with the Breakers management to ensure that everything gets handled appropriately. Racism and inappropriate comments of any nature have no place in the beautiful game. The Breakers, the Beat and WPS will work together ensure that the pitch is a place to celebrate the sport and the great athleticism of our players…and is a safe place to do so.

That didn’t do much to squelch speculation. On Friday, it was announced that a statement would be forthcoming Monday, and late that day such a statement appeared. I defy anyone to find it who isn’t looking for it, and it’s not accessible at all from the main WPS website, but you can read it here on Atlanta’s section of the website or here on Boston’s. As it turns out, there was some “abusive language” used during the game, though none of it could be attributed to Riptide. The most relevant portion, from a supporter’s perspective, was the following:

The coordinated review of the Breakers and the Beat also conclusively showed that at no time was there any organized or coordinated singing or chanting of racially insensitive slogans or profanity by the Riptide supporters group or any other group of fans. The Beat regret that a member of their organization used social media to make public allegations against the Breakers organization and its supporters group without first bringing her concerns to the attention of either club. The Beat and its players understand that the remarks were from a few individuals and not representative of the Breakers organization or the Riptide supporters group.

I find this seriously lacking, for the following reasons:

1. There’s no actual apology or consequences here. If I falsely or erroneously accused one of my company’s best customers of racism, in a very public way that could potentially have driven them out of business, then I would be lucky to keep my job. At the very least, I would have to make a very clear and abject apology to said customer. Why isn’t Hope Solo required to do this?
2. There is an implication that, even if the Riptide as a whole didn’t make abusive comments, individual members did (Just see the comments posted below the statement, particularly the Atlanta version, for people who have accepted this implication). Unless there is clear evidence that an actual member of the supporters group made such statements, the group and all its members should be exonerated.
3. Even if this statement were adequate, it’s buried in the WPS website. Hope Solo has over 1800 followers on Twitter, most of whom, unless they’re reincarnations of Sherlock Holmes, still think that the Boston supporters are a pack of racists.

I sent an email to the league office and to the two teams noting my objections to the statement and had a short back-and-forth with the Atlanta GM, who was unrepentant. At this point my impression is that WPS is turning into yet another league that, rather than putting the fans first, is intent on coddling its marquee players no matter what they do. If you agree with me, or at least think that the official response to Hope Solo’s accusations is inadequate, please take a few minutes to send an email to the following to register your objections:

• WPS Chief Operating Officer Mary Harvey – Mary(dot)Harvey(at)womensprosoccer(dot)com
• Atlanta Beat General Manager Shawn McGee – SMcGee(at)theatlantabeat(dot)com
• Boston Breakers General Manager Andrew Crossley – ACrossley(at)bostonbreakers(dot)com

(Remove the parentheses and change the words to their corresponding punctuation to create a legal email address – as annoyed as I am at this point, I will still do them the courtesy of not exposing their addresses to spam email harvesters.)

If you think I’m overreacting, feel free to tell me by commenting below.

As for me, at this point I am boycotting WPS other than using up the season tickets that I’ve already paid for. I will not be writing any more WPS-related blog posts, buying any merchandise, renewing my season tickets, nor continuing to operate the Freedom Fighters supporters group until our cohorts in Riptide have received an apology proportional to the serious accusation leveled by Ms. Solo. The one relevant expenditure I will be making is to have a t-shirt made that reads “Hope Solo Called Me A Racist”, which I will be wearing to the few remaining WPS matches I plan to attend, most notably the one on September 11, when the Freedom take on the Atlanta Beat.

Kevin W. Parker
“StarCityFan”
Ex-President
Freedom Fighters
The Washington Freedom Supporters Club

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I am probably one of the most optimistic sports fans I know, always believing that on any given day my favorite team can win a game no matter who the opponent is. But given the Freedom’s history in Boston between WUSA, W-League and WPS, I couldn’t help but assume it was going to take more than a miracle for the Freedom to snap their winless streak.

And unfortunately, my lack of optimism was spot on. Saturday’s loss in Boston was the team’s 10th straight match without a win, pushing things from serious to critical. Washington now sits in a tie for last and the playoff window is being slammed shut.

Just about every roster combination has been tried lately and nothing is working which leads to the question of what is truly wrong with the Freedom? Have the players stopped listening to the coaches? Was the early season success a fluke? Is this group of players strong enough to compete at this level?

Something is clearly broken and there aren’t many other things to try in order to fix them. The growing fan sentiment of Jim Gabarra needing to be replaced continues to get louder and that may be the only thing left to do at this point. I hate to make that suggestion given all that Gabarra did to keep the franchise alive between pro leagues but at even that sacrifice can only help him for so long.

It would be nice to see this slide end Wednesday when the Independence come to town but at this point I will have to see the Freedom win before I believe they can do it again. And that may be a pretty pessimistic attitude to have at this point but 10 straight winless matches will do that to you.

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I feel like the Washington Freedom are playing right now – lousy.

I’ve spent a lot of time traveling lately with another week on the road before I am back home and I am already run down. Sitting here on the West Coast, I imagine things are that much different for the Freedom – mired in a terrible losing streak with no sanctuary in sight.

If you can’t hold on to a lead against the last place team in the league, where are you going to catch a break?

While the losses continue to mount, so do the calls to fire Jim Gabarra. But let me ask you this – will a coaching change really turn this thing around? I think the truth of the matter is that Gabarra doesn’t have the necessary pieces to keep things going. A couple of months ago this team was on a roll and everything looked good. Now things have gone from bad to worse and the Freedom are stuck trying to break out of a funk relying a lot more on unproven rookies and young players then previously thought.

Jeff Kassouf of The Equalizer tackled this question earlier this week and right now I stand behind his argument of patience. But as GM Mark Washo said, this is a team that expects to win championships and a 9-game winless streak is not going to accomplish that. If things don’t turn around soon, Gabarra may find he has finally run out of time.

That’s too bad though in my opinion given the fact that Gabarra stuck with the Freedom through all sorts of uncertainty. But this is pro sports and often times the right decision and the hasty decision often conflict, usually ending in a coach looking for a new job.

Those are my thoughts as we head into the weekend taking on a Breakers squad the Freedom always seem to struggle with, so now I ask you – should Gabarra stay or go?

LINKS

I’ve been sitting on some of these for a while so I apologize if some of these are a little stale. I did try to weed out the ones that no longer apply so hopefully these are still good reads. Enjoy.

• Washington Freedom could join Crystal Palace Baltimore downtown stadium if approved (The Equalizer) – Ah, the old stadium story. Would be interesting to see though if a change of venue would increase ticket sales given that Baltimore is a lot more accessible than Germantown.
• Freedom, WPS heed lessons of history (Gazette.net) – Coaching, stadiums and league sustainability; it’s been a rough time for the Freedom and rough times seem to bring out the core stories and arguments. This story is from the local Gazette and does a good job of reminding us that there is still a long way for the league to go.
• WPS Restructuring Means Loss of Jobs, Move Towards Decentralization (All White Kit) – As someone who lost his job during a front office restructuring, you hate to see news like this. But then again, this all goes back to what will allow the league to sustain itself and hopefully these moves will have a positive impact on the long term plan.

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By StarCityFan

Washington Freedom (4-5-5, 17 points, 4th place) at FC Gold Pride (11-3-1, 34 points, 1st place)
Saturday, July 24, 7 p.m. EDT
Maryland SoccerPlex, Boyds, Md.
All-time series: Even at 2-2-1
Last meeting: Gold Pride 3, Freedom 2

FC Gold Pride and the Freedom have been going in opposite directions since I wrote the preview for their last meeting: the league leaders have won three in a row to pad their lead, while the Freedom have lost two, holding at the same number of standings points. The Freedom in fact have not won a match since downing the Philadelphia Independence, 2-1, at the SoccerPlex on May 30.

With only 10 games left in the season, it’s crunch time. Starting today, Washington plays four games in 12 days that could decide its postseason fate. By the end of the evening on Aug. 4, the Freedom could at best have 29 points, likely good enough for second place and close to clinching a playoff spot, or they could still be mired at 17 points and needing to win most or all of their remaining games to reach the postseason.

Having to play the first-place team in that situation does not bode well, and against Team Marta (Sol last year, Gold Pride this year), Washington is 0-4-1. However, the Freedom did put on a battle the last time these teams faced each other, roaring back from a 3-0 deficit with two late goals to make the game competitive. And I may be a bit biased, but I think that if Kari Seitz had been refereeing that match, Gold Pride would have finished the game with 9 or 10 players. Seitz, you might remember, had the guts to red-card Los Angeles Sol defender Allison Falk in last year’s championship for fouling Natasha Kai when she was the last defender able to interfere with Kai’s attack on goal. Unfortunately for the Freedom, this referee was not so bold, despite one brazen foul and several very arguable ones in similar situations.

Again, I’d like to see Nikki Marshall up top. She gave the Gold Pride back line fits even in the few minutes she played in the prior match, scoring one goal and threatening repeatedly. With Abby Wambach back, that should give the Freedom the “lightning-and-thunder” combination they’ve been missing ever since Lisa De Vanna broke her leg. Lene Mykjåland, alas, has not been living up to expectations – I keep wondering if our Scandinavian is having issues with the heat of this miserable summer.

Sarah Huffman and Allie Long are back from national team camp and should bolster the midfield. If Marshall plays forward, Kristi Eveland will be in the back line, as she was in the previous game against Boston. The defense needs to hang tough for the full 90 minutes, though I think the key won’t be shutting Gold Pride down (practically impossible with Marta, Christine Sinclair and Tiffeny Milbrett up front) so much as scoring enough goals to stay ahead of them. So I’m hoping for an old-fashioned Washington Freedom 4-3 barnburner. Let’s see if they can chalk up their first-ever win against Team Marta.

P.S. There was a preview of last weekend’s Boston Breakers match, but it vanished in the ether somewhere between my email and the website.

[Note from Jim: It is lost somewhere in the website - I had it all ready to go, hit publish and it vanished. I was away from my computer all day Sunday so I couldn't fix the problem and have been traveling since then so my apologies to StarCityFan and all the readers.]

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