Marta, Gold Pride Top Breakers

Brazilian's Wonder Goal Proves to be the Difference

By Mark Goodman

July 22, 2010

BOSTON -- There’s a reason FC Gold Pride has gone from worst to first in WPS.

Her name is Marta.

The Brazilian, four-time reigning FIFA Women’s Player of the Year, scored a brilliant goal in the 45th minute to break a 1-1 deadlock as FC Gold Pride held on for the 2-1 win.

Jordan Angeli

Jordan Angeli (pictured above in action in Sunday's game against Washington) scored her third goal in as many matches Wednesday, but it wasn't enough, as the Breakers fell, 2-1, to FC Gold Pride. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

With the first half winding down, Marta collected the ball at midfield and dribbled about 35 yards down the right flank, as Boston defender Amy LePeilbet was with her every step of the way. Just outside the box, Marta slowed down and with minimal back lift, hit a left-footed shot that curled around LePeilbet, keeper Alyssa Naeher and into the net.

The Breakers, who got a third goal in as many games from Jordan Angeli, had their chances to score in the second half. In the 55th minute, Kelly Smith played a great pass to Kristine Lilly at the edge of the penalty area, but Lilly scuffed her shot right into the hands of Gold Pride keeper Nicole Barnhart.

Five minutes later, after having just come on as a substitute, Lauren Cheney collected and pass from Leslie Osborne and had a go from 10 yards out to Barnhart’s left. The keeper dove to her right to make a great save.

In the 73rd, Lilly’s cross from the right wing found Tiffany Weimer, whose header came back off the near post after beating Barnhart. Cheney had a couple chances in the last 10 minutes, but nothing came of them, and the Breakers (4-6-4, 16 points) were left to rue a missed opportunity.

“It’s the same old story with us. We do ourselves well to get into the game and stay in the game and then we give up a goal just before halftime. That’s hard to take,” said fullback Alex Scott. “We made it hard for ourselves again. We shouldn’t be doing things like that.”

“We worked hard to create chances, but again we gifted a goal, and you can’t do that against the best team in the league,” said head coach Tony DiCicco. “I think this was a game where we could’ve gotten a result, and I’m disappointed that we didn’t.”

The gifted goal DiCicco mentioned was not Marta’s goal, but Christine Sinclair’s equalizer 10 minutes prior. A poor, ill-conceived attempt to play the ball out of the box allowed Ali Riley to play the ball to an unmarked Sinclair just inside the area. With Naeher out of position, Sinclair put the ball in a near-empty net to tie the game.

It was a maddening turn of events for the Breakers, who had weathered an early storm of Gold Pride possession and took a 1-0 lead at the half-hour mark through Angeli, who is now tied with Kelly Smith for the team lead with four goals.

It was a beautifully constructed goal. Lilly clipped a ball over a couple defenders to Scott just outside the right edge of the box. Scott beat Riley off the dribble and fed the ball across the area to Angeli, who ran onto it at the 18 and smashed it past Barnhart for the goal.

Things were looking good for the Breakers at that point, but it took only one mistake and one moment of genius for things to turn around.

“We had chances, so it’s frustrating because we had been hitting the back of the net the last few games,” Lilly said. “For us, it’s a positive that we’re still creating chances. Our momentum is still going forward.”

Boston travels to Chicago for a 4 p.m. kickoff Sunday. The Red Stars are one point ahead of the Breakers in the standings, and as if that’s not enough motivation, Chicago has won twice in Harvard Stadium this year (2-0 on May 1 and 2-1 on June 15).

Breakers notebook
After some question as to whether she would play, LePeilbet played the full 90 minutes in central defense after picking up an ankle injury last week on national team duty. LePeilbet had said Tuesday she’d be ready to go after sitting out that day’s training as a precautionary measure… Also on the injury front, Liz Bogus was substituted in the 36th minute for Laura Del Rio, and Fabiana was unavailable… Marta (league-leading 11 goals) and Sinclair (8 goals) have combined for more goals than four teams in WPS, including the Breakers, who have 15.

Mark Goodman can be reached at newsdesk@soccernewengland.com.