Here's a nice write up of the WPS weekend activity from over in the UK. I love the snippet about how it was really Alex Scott's fear of her housemate Kelly Smith that led to her goal (and an important point for the Boston Breakers). Who knows, maybe I'd have scored as well, if I lived with Kelly Smith!

I just read (via Google Alert) that Kelly Smith has signed a 4-year deal with the Boston Breakers! England striker Kelly Smith has stunned Arsenal by quitting the club to play in the United States' new Women's Professional Soccer league. Smith, 30, has agreed a four-year deal with Boston Breakers and joins team-mates Karen Carney and Alex [.

Phew - I feel like it's been a long time since I sat down with some good strong coffee and just caught up here. There's lots of news in the soccer world as the WPS season kick-off is just weeks away!  March 29th, to be exact.  (I should probably think about taking a day or two [...]

Chicago drops 2nd straight and 4th straight at home
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - The Chicago Red Stars are in last place in Women's Professional Soccer. And coach Emma Hayes was pretty dramatic with her starting lineup choices.
On the bench: Brazilian forward Cristiane, midfielder Megan Rapinoe and midfielder Carli Lloyd.

Your inaugural WPS All-Star Team:
Karina LeBlanc GK - Los Angeles Sol, Canada
Tina Ellertson D - Saint Louis Athletica, United States
Amy LePeilbet D - Boston Breakers, United States
Alex Scott D - Boston Breakers, England
Camille Abily M - Los Angeles Sol, France
Sonia Bompastor M - Washington Freedom, France
Shannon Boxx M - Los Angeles Sol, United States
Lori Chalupny M - Saint Louis Athletica, United States
Kelly Smith M - Boston Breakers, England
Eniola Aluko F - Saint Louis Athletica, England
Marta F - Los Angeles Sol, Brazil
The first order of comedy, of course, is that half of this team won't be available for the All-Star game itself, or for the WPS championship, thanks to the UEFA Women's Championship.

In Week 19 of Women's Pro Soccer, the Sky Blue FC (NJ) coach walked out on her team, a red card left the Boston Breakers shorthanded, and the two bottom teams pulled off some dramatic upsets. Of all the surprises in Week 19, the drama in New Jersey drew the most attention.

On Thursday, Sky Blue FC Head Coach Kelly Lindsey abruptly left the team with no explanation at all.

Spoken like a true Phillies phan, I know.  There's lots of news this morning on the Boston Breakers front, starting with the fact that an agreement has been reached between the Boston Aztecs and the Boston Breakers. Under the agreement the Aztecs will become the reserve team of the Breakers. Seems like a positive [.

Check out MatchTracker starting at 7AM ET to follow the USWNT's opening game of the Algarve Cup.  They start off against Denmark, in a match-up that could prove one of their more difficult of the tournament. "It's not a World Cup year or an Olympic year, so we can try different things and one thing we [.

If Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) sides Boston Breakers and Chicago Red Stars have their way, Arsenal America had better get ready for a new wave of members. This weekend, both Boston and Chicago hit the road to make their WPS debuts, facing the – it has to be said – curiously-named FC Gold Pride (Santa Clara, [.

In what sounded like a wild and wooly second half, Christine Latham and Kristin Luckinbill were major contributers in a decisive 3-1 win for the Boston Breakers.

The Breakers scored first, on a PK by Kelly Smith in the 54th minute after Scurry fouled Hucles in the box. Lori Lindsey equalized soon after, and Abby had a chance to give the Freedom their first lead of the new season on a second PK (after a handball).

That's not a typo - but I'm morose as well, after Rebecca Moros scored for the Freedom against the Breakers, and all the blue team could come up with was a tie in yesterday's match. I am sure that they wanted to pull off the win against the Abby-less Freedom ... and with Maren Meinert there, no less.

Crunching some numbers and shaking them until they give up some useless information about the 148 players who played in Women's Professional Soccer this season:

• Five players - Kristine Lilly (Boston Breakers), Aya Miyama (Los Angeles Sol), Caroline Jonsson (Chicago Red Stars), Becky Sauerbrunn and Homare Sawa (Washington Freedom) all played every minute of every game.

That's how Michael Steele has described the Republican Party. I agree that muck is a great way to describe a medium comprised of the detritus of right wing preachers, radio hacks, and turdblossoms.  But it doesn't seem wise for a party that is struggling mightily to find its identity, should choose as its cheerleader-in-chief, someone [.

... but that didn't dampen the spirits of the nearly 5,000 Breakers fans who trooped to Cambridge to see their Boston Blues defeat the St. Louis Athletica 2-0 in their home opener at Harvard Stadium. Here are the Week 3 WPS Power Rankings by Jo-Ryan Salazar. (I'll track these through the season on my WPS page.

• Yahoo ... RPE is home!

• Kudos to Obama on an excellent (and politically astute) choice.

• I do not like Giant Forest Hogs (think Rush Limbaugh).
• Nor do I like the Black Mamba Snake (think ... hmmm ... Mitt Romney?)
• RPE will have to tell the tale(s).

An early red card for Boston and another coaching change in New Jersey brought a colorful beginning to Week 18 in Women's Pro Soccer. These two random incidents caused a bit of commotion heading into these final weeks of the regular season, but the red card was by far more controversial.

With lots of the WPS internationals overseas for friendlies, this should be an interesting stretch for the WPS. Here's a quick preview from Melissa ... and note, the Breakers-Red Stars game will be available for on-line viewing. Cool! 8:30 PM ET ...

The English nationals are tearing up the pitch, defeating Norway 3-0 in the run-up to Euro 2009.

... but it's a grey, rainy morning here in NH. Cool, too. So much for mowing the grass today!

At least the weather was decent for last night's Breakers' game. I didn't go, but it looks like the B's worked hard and pressured Sky Blue (especially in the first half) ... but couldn't put the ball in the net.

Alex Scott was red carded in the 5th minute and the Breakers played heroically for 88 minutes ... but fell to the Freedom 1-0 ... and fell in the standings to 4th place. With two games remaining, this is getting WAY too interesting for my taste.

Wambach scored the winning goal for the home team .

The Sol's Brazilian star Marta was the top vote-getter overall, being named on all coaches ballots, 94 percent of media ballots (hello, media types), but finishing second to Boston Breakers defender Amy LePeilbet on players ballots (hmm, guess Marta is not exactly popular among her peers?). And the top three players fans voted for?

Yup late again! Some tidbits here ...

First ... ChristopherCornblog's car started smoking en route to the lake last night (and I don't mean that it initiated an unhealthy and expensive nicotine habit). Luckily he wasn't far from Rensselaerville when it happened, so he was able to call HollyCornblog for a ride.

How appropriate ... how much work we need to do!

Latina Worker

by Doren Robbins

Then I notice through a triple-Americano-awakening moment,

in the mall food court, a young Latina cleaning around by the chrome rail

at Sbarro Pizza. Maybe a Guatemalan, possibly Salvadoran or

Honduran—

could've been Argentinean or Columbian, Chilean, Bolivian,

Panamanian—good chance a Peruvian, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Mayan,

Toltec, Sephardic, Huichol coffee plantation or U.

No actually, I have not been off-line because I am in mourning for the Breakers although I AM quite bummed that they didn't make the play-offs (AND that their season ended with a terrible bit of officiating).

What happened was that we lost our internet this morning. Turns out it was a modem problem and Fairpoint was actually helpful in getting it resolved.

The Breakers won last night scoring in the first half and hanging on for the 1-0 victory over the Red Stars (and sole possession of third place). The goal was a beautiful one-touch effort by Angela Hucles after a perfect feed from Lil. The win is significant for any number of reasons not the least of which is that it was accomplished without the services of Kelly Smith and Alex Scott.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By CHRISTA MANN

Week 17 in Women's Pro Soccer began with Wednesday match-ups between the Chicago Red Stars and Boston Breakers along with the Washington Freedom against Sky Blue FC (New Jersey).

An early red card for Boston and another coaching change in New Jersey brought a colorful beginning to Week 18 in Women's Pro Soccer. These two random incidents caused a bit of commotion heading into these final weeks of the regular season, but the red card was by far more controversial.

Women's Professional Soccer on Tuesday announced the selection of the league's First XI and the WPS All-Star Team Head Coach in preparation for its 2009 WPS All-Star Game. Each of the players selected are invited to the 2009 WPS All-Star Game. The players were selected based on votes by fans (25%), media (25%), coaches (25%) and players (25%).

In Week 19 of Women's Pro Soccer, the Sky Blue FC (NJ) coach walked out on her team, a red card left the Boston Breakers shorthanded, and the two bottom teams pulled off some dramatic upsets. Of all the surprises in Week 19, the drama in New Jersey drew the most attention.

On Thursday, Sky Blue FC Head Coach Kelly Lindsey abruptly left the team with no explanation at all.

Women's Professional Soccer on Tuesday announced the selection of the league's First XI and the WPS All-Star Team Head Coach in preparation for its 2009 WPS All-Star Game. Each of the players selected are invited to the 2009 WPS All-Star Game. The players were selected based on votes by fans (25%), media (25%), coaches (25%) and players (25%).