Two WPS teams in desperate shape

Ilisa Kessler, general manager of the WPS champion FC Gold Pride, says “it’s a do or die week for us,” while Washington Freedom president Mark Washo told the Washington Post, “We’re approaching the 90th [minute], hoping for extra time.”

It does not look good for the two WPS teams, who haveuntil Nov. 15 to commit for the 2011 season and put money in escrow to demonstrate their commitment. Both clubs are looking for new investors. “We’re looking under every rock we can to find somebodywho is interested,” Kessler said, adding “it doesn’t look likely.”

If FC Golf Pride folded, it would mark the second time in less than a year that Brazilian superstar Marta would find herself a free agent after her WPS club collapsed. The Los Angeles Sol folded in January. “We put the best player in the world in our market,”Kessler said of Marta. “And we had a great record, every game was a wonderful show and it still didn’t translate into ticket sales. What does the public want? Or do they want it at all?”

Despite its last-to-first season, FC Gold Pride’s average attendance dropped about 20 percent from 2009.