Athletica players have just been told in a meeting at the Soccer Park that the team is shutting down in the wake of the team’s financial problems. AC St. Louis appears to have survived, though that’s not definite yet. No word yet as to whether the Athletica will play this weekend’s game at Atlanta or not.

Athletic Club of Saint Louis is on the verge of folding its North American Soccer League and Women’s Professional Soccer clubs, sources have confirmed. The club’s weakened cash reserves may not allow them to make their next payroll obligations, and despite ongoing conversations amongst the United States Soccer Federation, NASL, and WPS, no plan is currently in place which will allow the teams to complete their 2010 seasons.

The situation came to light when AC St. Louis failed to make a regular payment to the NASL league office. Each club within NASL periodically sends money to the league office to cover the owner-operated league’s operating costs. Upon investigation, the NASL learned the Jeff Cooper-led group did not have the cash reserves to meet the obligation or its future operating expenses.

This would be a blow to St Louis soccer should the pro teams fold. It may have an impact on the St Louis Scott Gallagher programs in Missouri and Illinois as well.

The Post-Dispatch dug into the details a bit further in their story Athletica, AC St. Louis rumors

But something is going on. WPS has released a statement that says:

“We’re aware of the situation in St. Louis. The League’s Owners continue to review and monitor the situation in conjunction with the US Soccer Federation.”

Asked what the situation is, the response was that there would be no further comment. U.S. Soccer says pretty much the same thing, that they “are aware of some challenges that are currently going on and we are diligently working through the situation.” The NASL is referring all inquiries to U.S. Soccer, since they run the league.

So there’s “a situation” of some sort. The team has had no comment, and all most people over there know seem to know are the rumors that they’ve read online.

Finally, Inside Minnesota Soccer, which has distinguished itself in it’s coverage of the NASL/USSF 2nd Division soccer including the season preview I pointed to last month, offers some additional information on both AC St Louis and Crystal Palace Baltimore:

Several sources are saying that Cooper has indeed left his post of the two troubled teams and “has distanced himself from the club.” One source believed that operating expenses of the Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park, which was given to Cooper’s group last summer, was the main culprit of cost overruns.

Shannon Boxx, US WNT and St Louis Athletica

Tickets starting at $18 are on sale by phone at 1-800-745-3000

The USA and Germany have met twice in the past seven months, the first a 1-0 U.S. victory last October in front of a sold-out crowd in Augsburg, Germany. The two women’s soccer powers also met in the championship game of the 2010 Algarve Cup in early March, a 3-2 U.S. victory in sloppy conditions in Faro, Portugal.

This will be the first international match for the U.S. players during the current season of Women’s Professional Soccer, which will take the weekend off from action due to the game. The U.S. squad will arrive in Cleveland on Monday, May 17, for a week of training prior to the match and Sundhage will name 18 of the 22 players in camp to the game roster.

It includes St Louis Athletica players Hope Solo and current US Team Captain Shannon Boxx but does not include Lori Chalupny who is still dealing with concussion-related injury issues.

Shannon Boxx, US WNT and St Louis Athletica

Last season: 10-6-4, 34 points (2nd place)
Playoffs: lost to Sky Blue FC, 1-0
Head Coach: Jorge Barcellos (2nd season)

Outlook: Athletica are loaded. The club made little noise on draft day having traded away its first round pick last season for Kendall Fletcher and Christie Welsh. Two weeks later they traded up to acquire Shannon Boxx with the first pick in the LA Sol dispersal draft, and the ripple effects of drafting an American allowed them to grab Aya Miyama with the eighth pick.

If Lori Chalupny returns from a self-imposed absence to deal with concussion symptoms (she has been with the team throughout training camp), it will be difficult for any team to ever outplay Athletica in midfield. However, Boxx, Miyama, and Chalupny are not known for scoring goals so the front line will shoulder much of that load.

The back four is also a question mark as Elise Weber slides in to take over for Kia McNeill, traded as part of the Boxx deal. WPS Goalkeeper of the Year Hope Solo is capable to cleaning up many defensive miscues. The last team to score a goal and win a game in 2009 is unlikely to face the same uphill climb this time around.

Athletica face FC GOLD PRIDE who finished Last season: 4-10-6, 18 points (7th place) and failed to qualify for the playoffs.

The new look Saint Louis Athletica could see as many as six new faces in Sunday’s starting lineup. Returning veterans from 2009 Hope Solo, Tina Ellertson, Kendall Fletcher, and Elise Weber will be anchoring the defense. It is in the midfield that Athletica will see the biggest changes. Newcomer Shannon Boxx is a certainty in the middle of the park, and Japanese international Aya Miyama is likely slated for left wing duty. Tina DiMartino and rookie Carolyn Blank are also likely to figure into the starting eleven, which leaves Head Coach Jorge Barcellos some interesting options up top. England international Eniola Aluko is Athletica’s featured striker, but will she be partnered by Sweden’s Madelaine Edlund or by new addition India Trotter?

On paper the matchup between these two club’s has the best of everything that the WPS offers, namely star power. The 2010 edition of Athletica is loaded with experience. The club has a roster of players that have nearly 700 international caps to their name. Athletica has six Olympic medalists, including four gold and two silver medalists. Saint Louis alone has six players that played in the 2008 Olympic Finals in Beijing; Shannon Box, Lori Chalupny, Lindsay Tarpley, and Hope Solo from the United States gold medal squad, and Daniela and Elaine from Brazil who took home the silver. All told Athletica players have appeared in over 100 matches at World Cup and Olympic Finals.

“On paper we have an incredible team,” said Hope Solo during an in-studio interview with 101 ESPN Radio in St. Louis. “Now we have to prove it on the field. I said it last year and I was wrong, but I am saying it again this year. We expect to win this championship.”
Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-888-STL-GOAL or by going on-line to www.saintlouisathletica.com

Saint Louis Athletica is a founding member of Women’s Professional Soccer, WPS. In their inaugural season Saint Louis Athletica finished in second place in the WPS, and reached the WPS Super Semifinal.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) is the world’s premier soccer league for women with eight teams across the United States featuring the best players from around the world. In 2010, eight teams will each play 24-game schedules from April 10-September 12 including six original WPS teams – Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Gold Pride (Bay Area), Saint Louis Athletica, Sky Blue FC (NJ/NY) and Washington Freedom – and two expansion teams Atlanta Beat and Philadelphia Independence. The top four finishers in the regular season will qualify for the 2010 WPS Playoffs scheduled for September 19-26.

For more information, visit the WPS official website at www.womensprosoccer.com or follow all the news at www.twitter.com/womensprosoccer.

Regarding the Wizards, this is a pretty strong message from a major supporter, Down The Byline

Since scoring 3 goals in the first half against New England back on June 13th, the Wizards have scored 1 goal in the next 13 halves of soccer.

Soccer by Ives has the Wizards at 13th in the 15 team league although they’ll probably fall to 14th after losing to current #14 San Jose Earthquakes

The team at the bottom of the pile is Red Bull NY. You know their manager just resigned right? There are also rumors that Barcelona might be interested, the best answers offered on what will happen in the future come from GM Erik Stover who did a recent Q&A with Soccer by Ives.

Looking at some positive news, one of my new favorite soccer sites is Pitch Invasion. They did a recent story on building a soccer culture in America, using Seattle and Portland as recent examples.

Closer to home, the St Louis Soccer United group has been surprisingly quiet this summer. Part of that can be attributed to their efforts with the Athletica squad that played in the WPS. The one interesting bit of news that came out was a group that is proposing a soccer complex in Richmond Heights. Jeff Cooper has been quoted that they are not part of his effort to lure an MLS team to the St Louis metropolitan area.

Looking at the bigger picture here is Don Garber’s recent State of the League comments as well as Yank’s Abroad’s recent editorial on their concerns related to MLS and the marketing approach being taken in a story titled A Troubling Disconnect

Like everyone who wants to see MLS do well because of its vital role in the development of the American game, I am still trying to avoid coming to the conclusion that the level of play in MLS is a total embarrassment, and I’m still not quite there. About half the time I tune in, I see what could be described as an entertaining match with decent tactics and play.

Finally, Pitch Invasion takes a look at the possibility of the United Soccer League, home of the PDL and teams that include the Springfield Demize, becoming a part of Major League Soccer. It’s not necessarily a positive thing.

OK, that’s it for my ride around the world of American soccer, time to concentrate on Liverpool vs Aston Villa on ESPN2. W00t!

The 2009 All-Star Game is being played at The Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park in Fenton, MO, on August 30th with kick-off scheduled for 5:30pm ET/4:30pm CT. The game will be televised live nationally on Fox Soccer Channel and regionally on select Fox Sports Net affiliates (check local listings), starting at 5:00 p.m. ET with a half-hour pre-game show prior to kick-off.

The game is being played eight days following the WPS Championship, featuring a team of 18 WPS All-Stars, who will be selected through mix of voting (starting 11) and at-large selections by the head coach and the WPS Commissioner.

High School games that will have a direct impact on District seeding this week:
Monday – Rolla visits Jeff City. This game should determine the top seed.
Monday – Kickapoo visits Ozark. This will determine the #2 seed and the resultant bye game.
Tuesday – Nixa vs Ozark, the Christian County derby should be very interesting, at Nixa.

Looking out a bit further,
Tuesday – Rolla visits Glendale, a rivalry that always delivers good games due to the quality of the programs involved. Could be a preview of the Sectional game.

Champions League! on ESPN2, Yeah!
Tuesday 1:30 pm – Manchester United vs Arsenal
Wednesday 1:30 pm – Barcelona vs Chelsea

The KC Wizards have a home game on Wednesday, against the newly resurgent DC United. They also travel on Saturday to Columbus. Anyone made it to a game yet? Ives has them ranked at #9 in the league at the moment

How about Saint Louis Athletica? Anyone catch the game on FSC last night? Sounds like it was quite a match, with Athletica giving up the game-tying goal in the 89th minute, keeping them without a win this season. There’s a home game this Saturday that I may take in, still sorting out my Mother’s Day weekend plans. Dan Loney watched the game and offers his unique take on all things Athletica and WPS.

It’s appropriate that a new season begins on reaching this milepost, with High School girls formally starting practice today for games that will begin the week of March 23rd. The first one I’m aware of (still working on the calendars) is March 24th, it’s Ozark at Harrison (AR). I’ve added it to the countdown timer on the right that returns. I’ve gotten a dozen of schedules, meaning I’m still missing another dozen. I’m working on getting them edited and into my calendar this week. I can’t catch your games unless I have a schedule.

It’s also a bit crazy that with this milestone, we get an article like this one, courtesy of our ever vigilant friends at GlendaleSoccer.com . Have you checked out their new website design?

The Los Angeles Sol's Johanna Frisk models a wrap.

As part of the WPS uniform unveiling on Tuesday in Manhattan, PUMA presented several elements aside from just the uniforms in their WPS performance collection including the WPS Official Match Ball, team-colored backpacks and PUMA performance boots with a special white/jasmine green colorway.

One of the more unique elements of the WPS collection put on display are “ wraps” that were made as an additional piece for the Los Angeles Sol, Boston Breakers, FC Gold Pride and Sky Blue FC. It’s a complement to the shorts and definitely something different.

They are completely optional and will not be worn in games. The wraps are removable and can be detached from the shorts with easy to remove buttons.

It’s Monday so what else should we be watching for? It’s a relatively quiet week, Champions League doesn’t return until next week. The big news is that there are 4 new girls teams beginning practice today for the first time ever – Branson Pirates, Carthage Tigers and Logan-Rogersville Wildcats all have new girls programs beginning this season UPDATE – Add the Carl Junction Bulldogs to this list of new teams in the region. The Tiger’s have a brand new website, I got it up over the weekend so content will come later but be certain to add it to your list of websites in the region.

The 2009 Greater Springfield Area Sports Commission “Champions Challenge” soccer tournament is being held at Lake Country Soccer this weekend, March 6-8, 2009. As I’m discovering from the Poll Results (have you voted yet? only once please) I need to increase my Club coverage so I’ll be out both days to get a sampling of the Boys (U8-U19) and Girls (U8-U14) teams that are playing. Feel free to send me a note with some important games you have scheduled – no guarantee I can make it but I prefer to be at games that mean something to the teams involved.

Here’s to another 3000 posts folks. Thanks for stopping by!

St. Louis Athletica's Hope Solo, left and Lori Chalupny unveil their team's soccer uniforms

Twenty-six players — but not most of the team’s big names — will be on hand when practice for St. Louis Athletica kicks off Sunday morning at Southern Illinois Edwardsville, the team’s home. The team opens its season April 4 at SIUE.

“It’s very exciting,” said Amanda Cinalli, a former midfielder and forward at Notre Dame who finished her career there in 2007 and stayed on as a volunteer assistant coach for a year so she could work out and stay in shape for the launch of Women’s Professional Soccer. “We’ve been looking forward to it since the draft in October. I couldn’t wait to get here. It’s surreal. The excitement is peaking right now.”

“It’s fun to truly get started,” said Jeff Cooper, the team’s owner.

The Women’s Professional League (WPS), which begins play this Spring, held it’s first Player’s Draft on Friday at the NSCAA Convention. From players hoping to be drafted, including Southwest Baptist Bearcat Aude Lechat, a native of France who has anchored the Bearcat defense the past three years, earning team MVP honors in 2006 (pictured in white, left photo) – to the Coaching and management staffs from the leagues teams, it was a busy day at America’s Center. Pictured on the right is Jorge Barcellos, GM and Head Coach of Athletica who was assisted by Steve Pecher during the draft.

You can follow the action this season on the WPS “Fan Corner” which has a complete list of the draft. Athletica drafted Kerri Hanks, recent Hermann Trophy winner, where she would join Lori Chalupny and Hope Solo.

For the undrafted player, there are Open Tryouts scheduled throughout the League. Saint Louis Athletica will be holding open tryouts on February 4th, 5th and 6th from 8am to 4pm at St. Louis Scott Gallagher Complex in Creve Couer Missouri. Participants in this tryout may be selected to compete in an invitation-only tryout the following week on Feb 11, 12 and 13th (8am to 4pm). Click here to register for the open tryout. After you register – more information will be provided.