Washington franchise will have similar feel to 2003 WUSA champions
With Abby Wambach at forward and head coach Jim Gabarra on the sideline, the Washington Freedom team that takes the field Sunday for the inaugural Women’s Professional Soccer match will look, at first glance, a lot like the one that triumphed in the WUSA title game in 2003, that league’s final match before it closed its doors.
Washington Freedom
at Los Angeles SolWhen » Sunday, 6Where » Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif.TV » Fox Soccer Channel
Six years later, the Freedom appears set to start in WPS where it left off with the WUSA. But that’s where the similarity between the team — and the economic landscape affecting women’s soccer — ends.
With the belief that top-tier women’s soccer would always return, Gabarra and the Freedom spent the last half-decade building a club that now expects not only to survive but thrive as WPS aims to carve out a modest niche of 4,000-6,000 fans per match.
“I’ve been really optimistic about everything because I think of all the work we’ve done over the past,” said Gabarra. “Irregardless of where the economy goes, I think we’re going to get off to a good start, and it’s going to be hard times. It’s going to be hard times even if the economy were flourishing.”
At its top level, the Freedom boasts a core of 12 players with recent experience with Washington in the semi-pro W-League. Sprinkle in a few U.S. national team stars (Wambach, defender Cat Whitehill, goalkeeper Briana Scurry) and a couple veteran internationals (Japanese midfielder Homare Sawa, French defender Sonia Bompastor) and the pieces are in place to set the standard in WPS.
“I haven’t been on a team quite like this before,” said Wambach. “We all really respect each other. We’re a part of something new so it’s exciting. It’s just great. I feel confident that this team can be really successful.”
The economy is down and women’s pro soccer failed once before, but Whitehill said she’s been inspired by recent Allstate commercials that expounded the insurance company’s growth out of the Great Depression.
“To have to explain what women’s soccer is thinking by trying to start this league now, that can be a headache,” said Whitehill. “But at the same time, if we can make it through this time, we can make it whenever.”
