First Person Singular: Kelly Smith hopes Philadelphia’s ready for late charge

Kelly Smith’s England team tied one and lost two games at Euro 2001. She returned to Philadelphia to find her Charge likewise in a downward spiral. Smith hopes her return and that of Germany’s Doris Fitschen will help change Philly’s fortunes. BY KELLY SMITH I’m excited to be back! England didn’t win the European Championship, but I’m glad we ended the tournament with our best performance. I left the Charge to join my national team before the June 17 New York game, which the club lost, 2-1. We got to England probably about a week and a half before the first game. We trained in England for four days and just got a feel for the ball. The English season had been finished for three weeks. Our coach, Hope Powell, wanted to give us as much time as possible together on the field before the tournament began. We flew out to Germany five days before tournament and started to prep for the first game vs. Russia. The day before the game, we trained at the field where we would be playing at, and I rolled my left ankle. That’s why I didn’t start. I was just mad, because my other ankle was giving me problems. Hope didn’t want me to play vs. Russia but wanted me available for the rest of the tournament. They thought they could win without me against Russia. I ended up entering as a sub. We tied that game, 1-1. Russia played really well that day. Most of our girls were really nervous — it was their first time at a major championship. But we really needed that game to settle our nerves. Against Sweden, I didn’t start again. We thought we’d soaked up the pressure in the first half, but they scored within the first few minutes. Soon after I got on the field in the second half, they scored again. They were good, and we just did not play well. Although we lost, 4-0, I was glad to get more playing time — I played 28 minutes against Russia and 39 against Sweden. The two Swedish players — Ulrika Karlsson and Kristin Bengtsson — now on Carolina’s team, I saw them a lot in the hotel. I saw them on the Internet one time checking scores for San Diego, their old team — there was a computer in the hotel lobby. We chatted briefly about that. Rising to the occasion against Germany. We lost two games and didn’t look good to go through to the semifinals. We had to beat Germany and Russia had to beat Sweden in our last group games, so we still had a chance to go through. But it was very slim. We had nothing to lose against Germany. We were just confident going into the game. No one had any expectations going into the game. We were expected to lose. That was the best game we played against Germany, even though it was 3-0. We held them 0-0 at halftime. I might have been different, but I hit the post and I missed a penalty. They are a quality side. International soccer is so much different from club stuff. You have to keep concentration all the time. There was a 10-minute period when our players switched off, and they scored all their goals in that 10-15 minute period. On the penalty, the ball was played down the left-hand side for forward Karen Walker. German defender Steffi Jones brought her down in the box. The ref ordered the penalty. It was already 3-0. I had hit the post previous to that. On the PK, I shot the ball to the keepers’ right-hand corner. The keeper guessed the right way, and she saved it. Definitely the game against Germany we played outstanding. The two previous games had let us down. We always rise to the occasion when we play a big team, but you have to do that every game. You can’t have five people play hard in the game and the rest not. It wasn’t there for the games against Russia and Sweden, but everyone was so on for the Germany game. It’s frustrating. Me and Doris Fitschen, my German teammate with the Charge, swapped shirts after the game back in the hotel. We went at each other the whole 90 minutes. I won some battles, she won some battles. She was kind of torturing me the whole game. We made some comments here and there. It was nice to play such a quality side in Germany and play well. I’m glad Germany won the championship. They were by far the better team than any of the eight teams there. I just Norway play one game on TV, against Italy, I think. But right from the beginning, when I saw Germany play Sweden in the opening game, I thought Germany would win the whole tournament. They have so much talent at all areas and so much experience. We left the morning after the Germany game. I went to my parents’ home in Watford, and I stayed with them for two days before heading back here. Back in Philly. Now both ankles hurt. My left one, that I injured while in England, is still painful at times. It was weird — Tuesday it felt really good and Monday it felt really good. The day before that it was really painful. I had waves of pain I didn’t understand. The trainer began wrapping it with extra moleskin tape. I really want to play these last eight regular-season games with the Charge without injury. I want to finish the season. I haven’t had the chance to prove myself yet, but that’s what I aim to do. I feel good in training. We had a scrimmage the other day against Villanova just to get the players who haven’t been playing — like the subs and injured people — to get a game in. That helped me out, I think. I think I have a good chance to play a full 90 minutes on Friday against San Diego. Erin Martin has been out with a hip pointer. That’s very painful. She looked sharp and good against Villanova. Laurie Schwoy didn’t play. He rested seven players. Michelle Demko, who hasn’t been playing that much lately, she got a good 90 minutes in. Deidre Enos, who has coming on as a sub and doing very well, she got 90 minutes. Lorrie Fair played in half of that. We played three 30 minute halves. He mixed everybody around. I played up front the first 30 minutes, then in midfield the remaining 60. The Carolina game. I was excited to get back knowing that my playing time was increasing in the European Championship. I couldn’t wait to get back and train with the team and get my starting position back, which I did. I didn’t play as well as I know I can in the 2-0 loss to Carolina last Saturday, but it was good to be playing with the Charge and try to get them out of this slump. On Coach Mark Krikorian’s ejection against Carolina, I was right by the sideline when he shouted what he did. I guess he had been shouting, not at the ref, but making comments and thinking something was a foul. The ref, I think, was tired of hearing his voice. I don’t think it was a fair decision. It would have been if he swore or something else, but he didn’t say anything out of character. Losing is annoying. When I was in England and then in Germany, I had loads of hope when I clicked on our Charge Web site, hoping we would’ve won, and then see we lost or tied. I can’t wait to help the team out. It was frustrating seeing we weren’t doing so well without me and Doris on the team. We’re happy now we’re back to full strength, and me and Doris and Erin are fit again. I think having people out caught up to us, and it’s the reason we’ve been tying and losing. It hit us hard. Now we’re back, and this team definitely is stronger. I think we should finish strong. (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 her and Doris Fitschen with the second pick in the WUSA’s foreign draft. Kelly’s column appears monthly on SoccerAmerica.com.)