Freedom Insider

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend and I apologize for not having posted anything since last Friday. I was hoping to have the next part in my season recap series up but I will probably wait until Friday. Meanwhile, I saw this item posted on the Women’s Soccer USA blog and wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts.

Before I talk about the content, I wanted to say that while it may drive us crazy that this “anonymous” blogger never really cites her sources, most of what she says often turns out to be true. I have an unconfirmed feeling this person is someone in the WPS league office, especially given the fact the blog posted nothing between March 5 and August 22. That said, onto the claims.

So again, if these claims are true, many teams could be headed for some big shakeups this offseason. Looks like things are a mess in the Bay Area if four internationals and a fifth player all want out. That does not bode well for FC Gold Pride.

Apparently finishing at the bottom of the standings didn’t bode well for Red Stars players either. Moving Carli Lloyd to Sky Blue FC or Philly would be a big get for either club and Lloyd would be the highest profile player traded yet.

One thing that is truly troubling from this article is the number of international players who look like they will not return. Between the four from FCGP, three from Chicago and Han Duan from LA, the talent the league worked so hard to secure is now leaving in droves. I wonder if some of the same things that kept Lene Mykjaland away from the Freedom last year have now driven these players away. I guess it would be possible some of these players want to stay in the U.S., but the wording in the post makes it sound like Frida Ostberg, Caroline Jonsson and Duan are not coming back to WPS.

The last piece of info, according to this blog, is that Philly will make Sweden’s Caroline Seger the No. 1 pick in the International Draft.

I realize there isn’t much (any) Freedom specific news in my post this morning but given the rumors floating around, that is a good thing. That said, don’t be surprised to hear of a Freedom transaction or two this offseason. With Jim Gabarra running things you know there is something up his sleeve he’s just waiting to pull. I thought he would’ve done something last year to land Christie Welsh or something but he hasn’t showed that card yet.

The expansion draft is a little over 6 days away, so sit back and enjoy the ride. Things should really start to heat up once Philly and Atlanta get some players. In the meantime, leave a comment and start a discussion on these rumors or any others you might have heard.

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If you haven’t read anything detailed about Saturday’s 0-0 tie with Chicago at RFK, check out recaps here, here and here. This post is going to focus less on the game and more on the emerging rivalry brewing with Chicago.

I know it makes more sense geographically for our rivals to be either Sky Blue FC or Boston (or even Philadelphia or Atlanta in 2010) but if you look at which team seems to just rub us the wrong way, the answer is Chicago (although Saint Louis) isn’t far behind.

In two games with the Red Stars, they have had two players ejected for basically using brute force in an effort to take out one of our dangerous forwards. Frida Ostberg was kicked off the field on April 11 after picking up her second yellow card for clothslining Lisa De Vanna while Karen Carney was given a straight red card after her scissor kick while defending Abby Wambach.

Saturday’s game was more a contest of strength than goals as total of five cards were handed out. In contrast, Washington went through March and April without have a player receive a single card.

Up a player on Chicago once again for most of the second half, Washington pored on the offense only to have Caroline Jonsson continue to stonewall them, stopping 8 shots on goal throughout the match.

While the tie result eventually cost the Freedom its No. 2 spot in the standings (in conjunction with Athletica beating the Breakers 1-0 on Sunday) the nature of this game could be a good thing for WPS.

Now, before you send the hate mail, I am not condoning physical play where the actions of each team are to injure players first, score goals second. However, rather than forcing rivalries to develop on the convenience of geographic location, a true rivalry with naturally occuring storylines is developing.

As a fan of the Redskins, one of the things that makes the rivalry with the Cowboys so compelling is all of the history these two teams share both on and off the field. Not only have the Cowboys and Redskins both had amazing come-from-behind wins, blowout wins and straightforward wins, but the teams have also found a way to get on each other’s nerves outside of the gridiron as well.

Now that these teams have played twice and neither has been able to take down the other, don’t be surprised if the intensity gets pushed up a level or two the next time these teams meet. Most likely there will be another great story to tell once the dust finally settles.

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Chicago (2-3-4, 10 points) vs. Washington (3-3-3, 12 points) at RFK Stadium
Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
Game followed by Chicago Fire at D.C. United MLS match

Washington had the perfect opportunity to show how much of the gap it had closed in its chase of the WPS-leading LA Sol but all the Freedom left with was an embarrassing loss. So in what is shortly becoming a never ending bag of tricks, Jim Gabarra gets FFC Frankfurt to loan him Virginia native Ali Krieger (the Freedom’s third USWNT allocated player) to shore up the defense that has given up a league-leading 18 goals.

You have to wonder how many more tricks Gabarra has up his sleeve and if this doesn’t work, how does he top this move? And with Lori Lindsey still fighting off the illness that sidelined her last week, are more lineup changes in the works for tomorrow? I wouldn’t be surprised given the fact Gabarra has already changed his formation this year.

Four points separates the second place Freedom from last place Sky Blue FC, so every point is critical. I don’t know if I am going so far as to say this is a must win game for this club because frankly, every game could be argued as a must win, but I do think it is critical for the Freedom to come away with one point.

Given the fact Chicago had gone almost four games between goals before last week’s goal against LA, I think Krieger is just what the defense needs to finally get that elusive clean sheet. Look for Washington to win this matchup 1-0. No more superhuman performances from Caroline Jonsson.

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