Both Bay Area professional soccer teams had successful trips to New England this past weekend, with FC Gold Pride winning 2-1 over the Boston Breakers and the San Jose Earthquakes securing a point in a scoreless draw against the Revolution. Apparently, our local teams are big draws back there, as both stadiums featured good-sized crowds. Maybe FIFA player of the year Marta had something to do with that at Harvard Stadium, and perhaps the presence of Quakes sensation Chris Wondolowski did the same at Gillette Stadium. Whatever the case, both teams are back in the Bay Area and satisfied to come out of New England with positive results.
Now, most of our loyal readers are used to the wonderful news wraps provided by the Solar Powered Soccer Blog and its custodian Jay Hipps. Well, this week you are stuck with me -- and I'll try my best to do a Hipps-tastic job! First up, it seems, is some relevant or semi-relevant music video to capture the theme of the weekend. Let's see... Okay, I googled "Boston" and videos and "tea party" just for fun. Top of the list was this classic Glam-Rock number from the mid-'70s -- The Sensational Alex Harvey Band performing "Boston Tea Party" (Google is so literal). I must say, I really do miss all that pageantry in my music:
[youtube 0JvHroG3u5E nolink]
With that out of the way, let's move on to the list-o-links(TM) for both Bay Area teams.
First off is FC Gold Pride, with their own Glam-Rocker Marta:
- Jacqueline Purdy of ESPN.com checks in with Marta wins matchup with Smith.
- Jeff Kassouf of The Equalizer breaks it down in FC Gold Pride 2-1 Boston Breakers: Marta brace powers Pride to fifth-straight win.
- Meanwhile, The Boston Globe enjoyed watching as Marta struts stuff.
- And The Boston Herald astutely notes that the Breakers can't contain Marta.
- Lastly, Lisa Eisenmenger writes a nice commentary in Boston Breakers fall 2-1 to FC Gold Pride in world class thriller.
Over at The Big Razor, the Quakes continued their defensive dominance in their third straight shut-out. Unfortunately, they were shut-out themselves, and as Wondolowski saw his consecutive games scoring streak stopped at four. Time to start a new one this weekend against the Sounders.
- Frank Dell'Apa of The Boston Globe apparently "Didn't feel that?!" and writes Revolution not shaken by Earthquakes.
- Our most excellent guest on the last Center Line Soccer podcast, Kyle McCarthy filed a story in the San Jose Mercury News with a sentiment many of us share San Jose Earthquakes miss chances to grab road win.
- Kyle's colleague at The Boston Herald writes from the Revs perspective in Revolution look solid in tough scoreless draw.
Well, well. Enjoy your Monday morning readings everyone, and we'll check in later this week with all the news at training ahead of this weekend's games.