Recently in Women's Professional Soccer Category

It could happen, although it will take a combination of results from other games this weekend.

Perhaps more interesting is the Sol gamble about the timing of its final regular season game: essentially the club is betting it will draw more kids looking for something to do now school is out at noon on a summer Wednesday after a holiday weekend than fans at a midweek evening game.

What's being promoted as McDonald's Kids Day boasts a festival that includes soccer games, a banner making station, a tattoo station, the soccer collies, a juggling contest and something called the Sesame Street Toddler Play Area.

Naturally, there's a ticket special: tickets start at $15 and include a Marta bobblehead. Visit Ticketmaster for the deal and enter the password "KIDS."

BTW, the Sol have already become the first WPS to clinch a playoff spot, although that's not particularly surprising given their league-dominating 10-1-4 record. That's good for 34 points, almost double the number achieved by the second-place team, the Boston Breakers.

More importantly, the Sol will win the WPS regular season title Wednesday if, well, we'll let the league explain it:

The magic number for the league title for Los Angeles now sits at nine points over the Boston Breakers, who won Wednesday against Washington, 1-0. Any combination of points earned by Los Angeles and Boston not collecting maximum points in a game would lower that number. A victory by Los Angeles on Sunday against Washington, combined with a loss by Boston at New Jersey would mean that the Sol could wrap up the WPS regular season crown at home on Wednesday against Saint Louis with over a month left in the regular season.

Mathematically, Washington, Saint Louis and Boston could still individually overtake Los Angeles but to do so, Washington would have to defeat Los Angeles in Sunday's match-up and Saint Louis would need to win at Home Depot Center next week. Boston plays Los Angeles in the final game of the regular season.

The rest of the playoff picture and positions 2, 3 and 4 are still completely up for grabs.

Got it? Whatever. Keep it simple and circle this date on your calendar: Aug. 22. That's the date of the WPS title game, the Sol are odds-on favorites to be there if/when they win the regular season title and if so it will be in Carson.

In other WPS news:
*I'm guessing this is from the "oops" department - Sol defender Martina Franko is pregnant and unable to finish the season.That forced the Sol Tuesday to acquire defender Christie Shaner from Sky Blue FC as cover. In return, the Sol sent Sky Blue a third round pick in the 2010 WPS draft. Franko, 33, started 10 games for the Sol's miserly defense; in contrast the 24-year-old Shaner, a Notre Dame product, has appeared in just two games over 40 minutes for Sky Blue FC.

*The Sol's Marta was named WPS Player of the Week for a second time this season after scoring three goals to lead the Sol to victories over Saint Louis Athletica and Chicago Red Stars; she shares the league lead in goals with eight.

*Sunday's Sol-Freedom game is live at 3 p.m. Fox Soccer Channel.

*Marta's former club team, Sweden's Umea IK, will play against as team of WPS All-Stars in the inaugural all-star game taking place a week after the title game live Aug. 30 on FSC from St. Louis.

Sol 4 Chicago Red Stars 0

Torrance's Shannon Boxx opened the scoring in the 14th minute, Camile Abily scored the second five minutes later and Marta added the third and fourth goals in the second half.

The 10-1-4 league-leading Sol are undefeated in 10 games; the Red Stars are winless in nine games.

Notable: Marta and Abily are tied for the WPS lead with eight goals apiece.

Quotable:

"It was a big challenge today as it was our third game in seven days, but I thought we played very well," said Coach Abner Rogers. "Obviously, the result speaks for itself. The number of opportunities that we created was very satisfying."

Announced attendance: 4,653

Sol Lineup: Karina LeBlanc; Stephanie Cox, Allison Falk, Marina Franko, Katie Larkin, McCall Zerboni (72: Aly Wagner), Shannon Boxx ©, Camille Abily (80: Maya Makoski), Aya Miyama, Han Duan, Marta.

Next: Sol hosts Saint Louis Athletica at noon Wednesday, July 8.

Worst meets first in the WPS Bagel Bowl at the HDC at 10 a.m. (!) today as the visiting Chicago Red Stars (2-5-5), without a win in eight, meet the league-leading Sol (9-1-4), who are without a loss in nine games.

Motivation for going: every fan gets a free Sol T-shirt.

Motivation for heading to the free Wi-Fi at your local coffee shop: a live Webcast here. Los Angeles Sol Director of Media Relations Nick Ammazzalorso has the call with color commentary provided by Aaron Heifetz, press officer for the United States Women's National Team.

Meanwhile, if Chicago don't beat Tigres in a game that kicks off at 5 p.m. it may not be worth going to the Chivas USA-San Luis SuperLiga game that kicks off at 7 p.m. at the HDC (assuming you're a Chivas fan).

Details here.

Lastly, it appears many of you believe the U.S. has already made a point to the world regardless of the Confederations Cup finale's outcome Sunday against Brazil. Agree? Disagree? Vote here.

St. Louis Athletica 1 Sol 2

Sol goalkeeper Katrina LeBlanc made eight saves.

Game story.

Standings

Just so we're all keeping track:

Tuesday
SuperLiga - Chivas USA at Chicago Fire 5 p.m. on TeleFutura in the second game of the tournament. Chivas USA were outplayed 2-1 game at Home Depot Center against Tigres last weekend. Chivas USA striker Eduardo Lillingston is suspended after his red card. Chicago beat San Luis 1-0 last weekend on a Brian McBride goal. A game preview from a Chicago perspective is here.

Online chat - Galaxy defender Gregg Berhalter chats with ESPN SportsNation at noon. Follow this link.

Wednesday
Confederations Cup Semifinal - U.S.-Spain 11:25 a.m. ESPN. No. 1 ranked Spain, undefeated in 35 games and on a 15-game winning streak. Ulp. Defender Carlos Bocanegro remains "questionable." Absolutely useless factoid from U.S. Soccer: Michael Bradley's goal against Egypt was the sixth of his career; that matches the total scored by Bert Patenaude. He had six goals in four appearances back in 1930, according to my MNT media guide; Bradley has played more than 25 games. Get your finger out, lad!

WPS - Sol (8-1-4) at St. Louis Athletica (4-4-2). The Sol are unbeaten in eight games, a sequence stretching back to May 2; Athletica have yet to score on the Sol in two games this season, a scoreless draw and a 2-0 loss at the HDC in April.

Thursday
Confederations Cup semifinal - Brazil-South Africa 11:25 a.m. ESPN.

Saturday
WPS - Chicago Red Stars at Sol at 10 a.m. (!) at Home Depot Center. Deal of the week to soften the early hour: two tix, a Marta bobblehead and $50 ESPN Zone gamecard for $29.99. Call 1-877-4-SOLTIX. Quality bobblehead, BTW.

SuperLiga - Chivas USA -San Luis 7 p.m. at Home Depot Center.

Sunday
MLS - Best reason to attend the 7 p.m. Galaxy-Dynamo game at the HDC: $1 beers and $1 hot dogs before the game. Also, the first 10,000 fans get a free Galaxy Sinch Sack; the first 7,500 a free Galaxy Car Flag. The Dynamo are first in the West with an MLS-best 28 points; the Galaxy lost last time out to struggling San Jose. I'll have another hot dog, please. Weird fact: the Galaxy's current two-game losing streak is just the second in Bruce Arena's tenure with the Galaxy. ... Notable: Van Nuys' Tristan Bowen, the first player in MLS history to be signed by a club through the league's youth development initiative, made his MLS debut Saturday. The 18-year old forward is the fourth youngest player to ever play a game for the Galaxy; younger were Izzy Sesay, Memo Gonzalez and Quavas Kirk. Not good company.

Busy this weekend?

Get caught up here in 60 seconds (or less):

*The U.S. overcame staggering odds Sunday to see Italy suffer its biggest loss to Brazil in 33 years combined with the first American win ever over Egypt and improbably scoring three after only managing one in the tournament to that point. The no margin for error result: a semifinal berth in the Confederations Cup against Spain Wednesday. The world's No. 1 ranked team are unbeaten in 35 games.

*The Sol continued to shine Sunday.

*Chivas USA tanked against Tigres in SuperLiga Saturday.

*The Galaxy crumbled Saturday against the Earthquakes.

Sol 2 FC Gold Pride 0

A league-leading 10th shutout for the 8-1-4 Sol who were never seriously challenged in this one.

The Sol could have had more goals, but Aya Miyama couldn't convert two excellent second half chances and is still looking for her first goal of the season.

FC Gold Pride have still never scored against the Sol in three attempts and haven't won in their last five games.

Announced attendance today: 4,593.

Next for the Sol: Wednesday in St. Louis against Athletica.

Sol 2 FC Gold Pride 0

Marta just ran onto a long Shannon Boxx pass from the Sol's own half to claim the game's second in the 25th minute, just six minutes after Sol scored the first.

That's Marta's fifth goal of the season and first since May 15.

Belated greetings from Carson on a day the Sol is celebrating the game that spawned WPS and the U.S. men are catching their breath after seeing everything go exactly right in South Africa (that "we'll take it" look on Coach Bob Bradley's face at game's end said it all).

Runaway WPS leaders the Sol have never even conceded a goal to FC Gold Pride winning two previous encounters 1-0 and 2-0.

Sol striker Han Duan is on the bench with back issues; the Sol waived defender Greer Barnes earlier this week.

The game is on Fox Soccer Channel.

Updated: The Sol just scored in the 19th minute from a Aya Miyama corner kick. Canadian defender Martina Franko did well to keep the ball in the danger area and poked it toward the goal where Camile Abily appeared to turn the ball inside the post for her league-leading seventh of the season. Right now, officials are giving the goal to Franko though; they plan to review the play at the half.

It's exactly half way through the inaugural season with 35 of the scheduled 70 games completed.

Player of the Week
It stands to reason that if you score the only goal in three WPS games last weekend that you'd win the Player of the Week award.

Saint Louis forward Eniola Aluko duly took the honor after scoring her third goal of the season to lead Athletica to a 1-0 road triumph over the Boston Breakers. The other two games - Washington Freedom-Chicago Red Stars and Sky Blue FC-Sol - ended in scoreless ties.

Here's the goal and game highlights:

Five different Sol players have won the award, BTW. Here's the full list:

Week 1: Aya Miyama (Los Angeles Sol)
Week 2: Marta (Los Angeles Sol)
Week 3: Kelly Smith (Boston Breakers)
Week 4: Aly Wagner (Los Angeles Sol)
Week 5: Abby Wambach (Washington Freedom)
Week 6: Sonia Bompastor (Washington Freedom)
Week 7: Lori Chalupny (Saint Louis Athletica)
Week 8: Christine Sinclair (FC Gold Pride)
Week 9: Jillian Loyden (Saint Louis Athletica)
Week 10: Shannon Boxx (Los Angeles Sol)
Week 11: Camille Abily (Los Angeles Sol)
Week 12: Eniola Aluko (Saint Louis Athletica)

Yanks Shooting Blanks
Where are the American strikers anyway? Last weekend's goal by the English international means foreign players have now scored seven more goals in WPS than U.S. players. And no American has more than two.

Top scorers:
6 Camille Abily (Sol and France)
5 Kelly Smith (Boston Breakers and England)
4 Christine Sinclair (FC Gold Pride and Canada), Marta (Sol and Brazil)
3 Eniola Aluko (St. Louis Athletica and England), Sonia Bompastor (Washington Freedom and France), Lisa De Vanna (Washington Freedom and Australia)

BTW, WPS has seen 73 goals scored since the inaugural game, an average of 2.09 goals per game.

Attendance Update
WPS officials claim the league is averaging 5,008 fans per game, not including a pair of doubleheaders with MLS teams. That's about what the league anticipated it would draw.

Miscellanea
All dads get in free Sunday at Home Depot Center when the Sol play FC Gold Pride at 3 p.m. in a game that will also be televised on Fox Soccer Channel. ... Mia Hamm and Joy Fawcett will be honored at half time as part of the WPS' 10th anniversary recognition of the U.S. Women's National Team's iconic 1999 World Cup win at the Rose Bowl. Two other members of that team who play for FC Gold Pride - Brandi Chastain and Tiffeny Milbrett - will join Fawcett (but not the shy Hamm) in signing autographs after the game. ... Expansion team Atlanta will make a "major announcement" Thursday, presumably unveiling the team name and colors.

Hollywood Hitmen. Coldplay. Ballack. SuperLiga. Fireworks. Canada. Messi. NBA.

A FourFourTwo magazine spineline stumper? No, today's column.

BTW, more info on the July 4 game at the Coliseum is here.

And here's the official SuperLiga Web site.

Sky Blue FC 0 Sol 0

The Sol moved to 7-1-4 in soggy New Jersey to retain the WPS lead..

Sky Blue (2-5-3) outshot the Sol 7-2 and came closest to a goal when a Natasha Kai shot hit the post in the 15th minute. Sol goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc had her eighth shutout of the season.

Sol XI: Karina LeBlanc; Keri Sanchez, Allison Falk, Martina Franko, Stephanie Cox; Camille Abily, Shannon Boxx, Aly Wagner, Aya Miyama, Brittany Bock, Marta.

Next for the Sol: FC Gold Pride June 21 at Home Depot Center.

Next blogging: Galaxy-Real Salt Lake 7:30 p.m. at Home Depot Center (delayed until 8:30 p.m. on Prime).

An alumni game precedes it at 5 p.m. featuring the likes of Cobi Jones, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Robin Fraser, Dan Calichman and Alexi Lalas.

The first 7,500 fans receive a soccer ball, just in case you need added motivation to get there early. And then you can promptly turn around and donate it to the Summer Santa Toy Drive. The first 200 fans to donate will receive an autographed player card from Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant. All fans receive a buy-one-get-one free ticket offer and a 25% discount at the Home Depot Center Team LA store for the Galaxy's June 28 game.

The toys will be delivered to pediatric patients at a local children's hospital in the upcoming weeks.

Also, tonight is the World Spicy Topokki Eating Challenge.

In praise of Edson Buddle. Now, can he just stay healthy?

The Galaxy needed late goals last month to get something out of the last game with RSL; this time around their opponents are trying to shake off a seven game winless slump.

An update on personnel moves from the Galaxy blog:

One day after keeping a clean sheet against CS Herediano, goalkeeper Josh Saunders sprained his right ankle in training on Wednesday and may be unavailable for the game against RSL. As a result of his injury, and one to MLS League Pool goalkeeper Miguel Benitez (of Cal State Dominguez Hills), the Galaxy have called up Kevin Guppy for Saturday's game. A League Pool keeper himself, Guppy was a four-year starter at Cal State-Northridge where he was a teammate of Sean Franklin. He was on the bench for LA in the Herediano game and has trained with the club for much of the season.

Julian Valentin will not be in the lineup for the Galaxy Saturday; he's returned to the USL's Cleveland City Stars for a temporary extension to the loan agreement that saw him play five games for the club earlier this year. The City Stars have five games coming up in a two week span that begins on Saturday with a U.S. Open Cup game against Rochester. Valentin will be joined in Cleveland by Israel Sesay who joined up with the club earlier this week.

BTW, the Sol also play today.

Playing a little catch-up from Sunday:

*U.S. Coach Bob Bradley has announced the roster for the Confederations Cup.

There's not much difference from the squad that played Costa Rica and Honduras: oft-maligned defender Heath Pearce returns, as does striker Charlie Davis, who has yet to demonstrate much in six national team appearances, while uncapped goalkeeper Luis Robles comes along for the experience.

Veteran defender Frankie Hejduk, who has struggled with injury, is rested, while Brian Ching and the ineffective Pablo Mastroeni were left out. I'll have more on the U.S. National Team in Tuesday's column.

The Los Angeles Sol, meanwhile, continued their dominating ways Sunday by dispatching the Washington Freedom, 3-1.

The question is fast becoming, with the season reaching the halfway point, not who will win the regular season WPS title, but who the Sol will face in the final (the regular season champion automatically hosts the title game).

Consider:
*The league-leading Sol (7-1-3) now has 24 points, double that of the second-place Freedom (3-3-3).

*French striker Camile Abily, who scored from the spot as well as the Sol's slickly-worked opening goal now has five goals in the last four games and leads WPS with six.

*The dominant Sol defense just missed an eighth shutout, but has conceded just four goals in 11 games, half as many as the league's next best defense.

Stats aside, the Sol just look vastly superior to any other team in the league in virtually every department.

Sunday's stunning first goal created by the quick-thinking Shannon Boxx, whose long ball upfield found Aya Miyama who fed Abily, ripped the Freedom defense asunder with its speed and measured touches.

The defense, meanwhile, is virtually impenetrable with few attacks of any consequence even reaching goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc, who deals with most of those that do with minimal fuss.

The Sol even had the luxury of trying usual defender Brittany Bock as a forward, a position she played in college. The result was an integral part of the league's best-defense quickly found her feet after a couple of shaky moments and dutifully scored on her sign-wielding mother's birthday, fulfilling the written request.

Quotable: "It was a great performance out there today," said Coach Abner Rogers. "We are very happy with the way we played. We did what we had to do today to control the rhythm and win the game."

No kidding.

Sol XI: Karina Leblanc; Keri Sanchez, Allison Falk, Martina Franko, Stephanie Cox; Aly Wagner (28: McCall Zerboni (88: Katie Larkin)), Camille Abily, Shannon Boxx ©, Aya Miyama; Brittany Bock, Marta.

Next: at Sky Blue FC on Saturday.

Updated

Sol midfielder Aly Wagner, forced to leave the game Sunday with blood streaming from a nasty gash after a clash of heads is Twittering this morning about the incident:

"My head is definitely aching..wish i could say it came from brilliant brain activity, but i think it has something to do with 9 stitches. .. Heading 101- hit ball not player."

Perhaps it was out of empathy that my laptop apparently expired just as Honduras took an early lead against the U.S. Saturday in Chicago.

Still, the U.S. came from behind to win.

Nevertheless, I was unable to blog the Chivas USA win over Seattle later that evening.

And I will be forced to the sidelines for today's Sol-Washington Freedom game live at 3 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel.