This is a big year for women’s soccer, no doubt about it. The 2011 Women’s World Cup could be the most exciting yet and WPS’ third season is its most critical for survival. Loyal readers of The Equalizer continue to come to www.womens.soccerly.com for all the latest news and analysis on WPS, the U.S. Women’s National Team and more. For that, I say thank you and please continue to spread the word.
What we are committed to is giving you in-depth coverage of the women’s game. In the past month, several additions have been made to the staff that will only further enhance coverage. Tim Grainey has been putting out excellent pieces on women’s soccer around the globe (like this comprehensive preview of the English FA WSL) and Giovanni Albanese Jr. has kept you up to date on WPS as it gears up for year three. Nell Enriquez has gotten up close and personal with players (like Tasha Kai) and she will be heading photography efforts for the site as well.
I am also proud to announce that Dan Lauletta, who writes for www.womensprosoccer.com and whose coverage of the game begins in the WUSA days, has joined the team. We have also lined up a beat reporter to cover magicJack throughout the WPS season and provide the inside scoop on all things out of Florida. She will be formally introduced as magicJack’s opener approaches.
So what can you expect from The Equalizer moving forward?
Well, we will continue to bring you the latest breaking news and analysis, but content will be far more in-depth and diverse than just that. On Monday mornings, I’ll be bringing you a video talk show, which I will host, recapping the weekend’s events. Then, every Tuesday, Giovanni will provide his take on the weekend’s action with his signature humorous approach. Also on Tuesdays, be sure to check out my columns on www.SportsIllustrated.com, which will return to being weekly starting April 5.
Every Friday, Dan will give you the scoop on what to look out for in the coming weekend with his weekend preview columns. Integrated in throughout the week will also be daily recaps of news from across the Web, player blogs from Alex Scott and a couple of other players who I think you will enjoy reading about, and podcasts.
On the podcast note, you may have noticed we’ve been on hiatus these past few weeks. Richard Farley, who hosted the podcasts, has taken an editorial position at www.FoxSoccer.com, so he will no longer be with the site. I absolutely wish him the best of luck and thank him for handling a lot of behind the scenes work at The Equalizer. In the meantime, I am working on a way to retool the podcast as more of a means of doing player interviews.
Come Women’s World Cup time, we will also be covering every game in-depth along with editorial coverage of the tournament. I am working on a side project regarding the tournament as well, which you will hear more about later. Also, every game will feature live-blogging, so fans can interact throughout the game. We will also be live-blogging Fox Soccer Channel games so that WPS fans can channel their ideas in one place to talk about the nationally televised games and the league as a whole.
Oh, and one cool feature that folks might like is something of a time machine flashback, where I will be reviewing old classic matches from the WUSA, WPS and U.S. Women’s National Team. Check for the first installment of that soon, which will be a recap of the thrilling 2001 WUSA Founders Cup, one of the best games ever played in WUSA or WPS.
On the technical side, we continue to work on partnerships and site upgrades to better feature our content and make the site more user-friendly. All of these upgrades will continue to take place over time.
These are exciting times as WPS kicks-off less than six full days from now and the Women’s World Cup is less than three months away. Thank you for all of your continued support and I personally look forward to bringing you the women’s soccer coverage you expect, as does the rest of the team.
Sincerely,
Jeff Kassouf
Founder, Owner/Operator, Editor-in-Chief
