England and Philadelphia star Kelly Smith checks in as the Charge’s preseason winds to a close. In the fifth installment of her column on SoccerAmerica.com, she discusses the Charge, England’s friendly win over Spain and England’s draw in this summer’s European Championship. BY KELLY SMITH Preseason is just about over. In our latest exhibition game, we played the University of Virginia in Delaware and won, 7-1. We actually had to stop in the first half with about eight minutes to go cause of thunder and lightning, but we started playing again later. I played the first half and was subbed at halftime. We went into the half up, 3-0. I’ve missed some playing time for the Charge because I’ve been playing on an ankle injury that I sprained badly playing for Seton Hall. I actually re-injured it recently when I played for England in training before a March 22 friendly with Spain, though I still played. We won 4-2, and I scored one, set one up and had one disallowed. England has another game next month, but I don’t know who it’s against. I won’t be going back for that, since [Philadelphia and England] compromised that I would come back for the Spain game but not the next one. Brr! Playing against Spain at home was fun even though I went from the California weather, which was in the 60s and 70s at the WUSA’s Spring Training, to freezing temperatures. I went from wearing shorts and a T-shirt to sweatpants, a jacket and a bubble hat. The field was atrocious, because there was so much rain in England. The fields are real boggy. But it was good. I always like going back and representing my country. We played at Luton Town, only 20 minutes from my house. It was good to play locally, as a lot of my family and friends were able to go to the game. I played very well in the first half. We were disappointed with Spain, which knocked out us out of the European Championship in 1997. Since then we’ve improved as a team and played well as a team, but Spain didn’t make the European Championship this time. It was good to beat them. When I scored, I got the ball on the left hand side of the field from Sue Smith. I was in the top of the box and chested the ball down, right in front of the box. I hit it first time, and because of the rain it zipped on the grass and went into the right hand corner of the goal. We were 1-nil down, and that tied it. We had a good crowd. The ground belongs to a Second Division men’s club, Luton Town. The stands are near the ground. It’s enclosed, really small, and has a good atmosphere, which made us play a whole lot better. It was good to see all my teammates again. They were all asking me about the WUSA. They had heard I had a Web site and they all go on it to check out what I’m up to. England abuzz about women’s game. After seeing the success of the Women’s World Cup in ’99 and the start of the WUSA in the United States, the English FA have proposed a plan so start its own women’s pro league in 2003. But they’re still doing a lot of research. They definitely do not have the go-ahead yet. They’re just researching how to get the money and the crowds. Women’s soccer has a lot of exposure now since the national team has been doing well and qualified for the European Championship. The women’s game is kind of buzzing at the moment. If they get the league going in England, I think I’d rather stay here, just because of the popularity of the sport here. In England, things are still very male dominated and the women don’t get as much attention. I’d definitely rather stay here till my later days and then go back to England and play. My national teammates are excited about a pro league in England, and some are interested in playing in the United States. They’ve given me their numbers to pass them on to WUSA coaches. There is Pauline Cope, who is a goalkeeper. There are Danielle [Murphy] and Rachel [Brown], who are looking to play in the league after college [at Florida and Pittsburgh, respectively]. There is Karen Burke, who is a right midfielder for England, and, I think, Sue Smith, who plays in left midfield and played in the FIFA All-Star Game in San Jose, Calif., in ’99. Another go at Germany. In other England news, England drew Germany, Sweden and Russia in the European Championship, which will take place in Germany. I get to play against Doris Fitschen, my German teammate here on the Charge. We’ve never beaten Germany. [England has lost all 10 games in its all-time series with Germany.] Any team we would play we want to beat, but especially having Doris on my team…! If I play as a striker, she might be marking me. If I can figure out her game plan here, I can use that to my advantage. We always seem to draw Germany or Norway. I’ve never played Russia or Sweden. I’ll be sure to get some juice off of Pia [Sundhage, Philadelphia’s assistant coach and a former Sweden star] about Sweden. The other group has Norway, Italy, France and Denmark. Both groups are very equal. Germany is way up there, top three or four in the World. Sweden is a very good young up and coming team. I don’t know much about Russia. Both groups are very strong. We always have problems with Italy and Norway, and I haven’t actually played against France. My national team has played against France without me. All the teams that have qualified are very, very good. But obviously I think Germany and Norway are the two favorites. I’m gone June 25 to July 8, and I’ll miss the [June 20] Bay Area, [July 1] Atlanta and [July 7] Carolina games, or more if we advance in the tournament. Missing the Magic Kingdom. It was a hectic five or six days in England [March 18-24] for the Spain game. I was just getting over my jet lag and then had to get back on the plane for an 11-hour flight back to California for the rest of the WUSA’s Spring Training. It was draining. I told myself, Never do that again! I had never been on a plane for 11 hours. Normally from the East Coast, flying to England takes five to six hours. I was mad that I missed about a week with the Charge, because the team went to Disneyland the day after I left. They had a day off and they all decided to go to Disneyland. I’ve never been there. I didn’t have enough time to go there after I came back. I didn’t get to see the San Diego Zoo either, because Mark [Krikorian, Philadelphia’s coach] didn’t want us to walk around the zoo for four or five hours, and tire our legs out, when we had days off. I missed a few days of training with the Charge. I missed their first game, against San Diego, because I was traveling back from England, then I missed the U.S. under-21 game because of my ankle. I played in the Washington game where we lost, 3-1, and played in the Carolina game when we won 4-1. I played in the two games before that, vs. Beijing and the Blues, before I went to England. At the beach. One night in preseason, about 10 or 12 of us went down to the beach one night and made a bonfire, because we were sick of the hotel [in San Juan Capistrano, Calif.]. We pulled some benches around this bonfire and told funny stories and hung out until the cops came. The beach closed at 8 ‘o clock, but the we were told originally, by the hotel, that the beach closed at 10 p.m. It turned out that it closes at 10 only in the only summer time. Michelle Demko and Jenny Benson were sweet talking the cop, and he let us stay. He told us, “Just don’t make a mess.” When we got back to the bonfire, we told funny stories. We were making fun of everyone. Some of the stories I can’t repeat. We were just venting about everything, moaning about the hotel food and being out there for so long, people missing their friends and boyfriends. It was a good venting session. That was fun. I had never done that before. We don’t get to the beach much in England, because they’re all pebbles. Season preview. Despite what some people think, I think we’ve got a very good chance to do well, especially the way we played against Carolina. Having lost to Washington and tied the U-21s [3-3], we had something to prove against Carolina. Overall it was a good performance. We totally dominated major parts of the game. It was a good sign for a young team that we kept possession and didn’t force things, which we did in the early part of preseason. We’re learning with time. We would like to win every game we play in. Winning the preseason tournament would’ve been nice, but that wasn’t the priority. We’re trying to get ready for the season. (England veteran Kelly Smith set NCAA career records with 3.41 points per game and 1.49 goals per game while at Seton Hall, where she also served as assistant coach. Philadelphia chose Kelly and Doris Fitschen with the second pick in the WUSA’s foreign draft. Kelly’s column appears monthly on Socceramerica.com. Kelly also has her own Web site at kellysmithsoccer.com.)