Women ready for kick off

Expectations are high when the Women's Professional Soccer league kicks off in USA on Sunday.

The seven-team league starts its five-month season this weekend as Marta and the Los Angeles Sol host the Washington Freedom at the Home Depot Center. And Marta is looking forward to the match after playing five years in the Swedish league.

”I had been thinking about going to the United States for quite a long time, and now the timing was right. Umea was a good place, but here they offered me more. I'm a professional and has to look at the possibilities, Marta says.

Along with Marta is U.S. National team standout Shannon Boxx as well as Stephanie Cox and Aly Wagner, Boxx's U.S. teammates on the gold medal-winning side at the Beijing Olympics, plus Canadian goalkeeper Karnia leBlanc, Japanese International Aya Miyama, Chinese dynamo Han Duan and France's Camile Abily.

But there is some skepticism as the previous attempt to develop a professional soccer league for women in USA failed in 2003 after just three seasons. But organizers say that this time it will be different.

Club owners are committed for a long term, games will be at smaller, soccer-specific stadiums, partnerships has been developed at the local level and clubs has been reaching out to the community on a grass-roots level.

The goal is four to six thousand people at each match and the clubs have reported season tickets sales of between 1,000 to 2,000 sold.