Thursday, August 5, 2010

Torrid Breakers Look to Move into Second Place

Who would have thought back in early June that the Boston Breakers would be making a serious run for second place this weekend? Yet, on Sunday, Boston will travel to Philadelphia with the opportunity to take sole possession of second place behind the untouchable FC Gold Pride.

It's Philly that sits in second now, just two points ahead of the Breakers. It's hard to imagine, though, that the Independence are looking forward to facing a Boston team that is absolutely on fire. In the past week, Boston has racked up two more wins, a 3-1 home victory over Washington and a 2-0 decision at Harvard Stadium over the lowly Atlanta Beat.

Kelly Smith and Jordan Angeli are on fire, and Boston's once-leaky defense is holding steady in the stretch run. It seems as though whispers in the Harvard Stadium press box about the future of Tony DiCicco as Boston coach must have trickled down to the pitch and inspired the team. The Breakers are 6-1 since the beginning of July after winning just one match from April through June. That one loss in July came at home to Gold Pride, the club that has torn through the entire league this season.

Seven regular-season games remain for the Breakers--just one at Harvard Stadium, on August 15 against Sky Blue FC. The team's final "home" game will take place in New Britain, Conn., against Atlanta on August 21. Five away matches plus one displaced match might cause Boston some difficulty, but two of those games are against Atlanta, and only one of the final seven matches involves Gold Pride.

With Philadelphia and Sky Blue FC rounding out the rest of the slate, the Breakers have an excellent opportunity to solidify second place or, at the very least, a playoff spot. At this point, with the club playing its best soccer of the season by far, who would bet against Boston making a playoff run? Anything can happen, but August thus far looks a lot brighter than June did.

For more on the Boston Breakers, check out Boston Breakers Report

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