Beijing Soccer Team Plays Here Friday

Pali Blues Team Debuts on PaliHi

International soccer comes to town Friday night, January 4, when the Beijing women’s team plays the Pali Blues in a friendly competition at Palisades High. This will be the first chance for Palisadians to see their ‘home team’ in its inaugural match on the new all-weather turf field. The match starts at 7 p.m., rain or shine, and admission is free. The Palisades women’s team faces stiff competition against a tough Chinese team, which has won 12 championships since its debut in 1985. Beijing won the National Sports Tournament in 2005 and the Chinese National Championship in 2006. Since the club’s formation, more than 20 players have graduated to the Chinese National team. ‘We are honored for this opportunity to play such a great team from the Chinese professional league,’ Pali Blues head coach Charlie Naimo stated. ‘It will also be great for the community to get a taste of what the Blues are bringing to the Palisades in the future.’ Last season, Naimo coached the Jersey Sky Blue in its first year in the United Soccer League for women (a premiere developmental league). His team finished 12-2-0 in the regular season before losing to the Ottawa Fury in the conference championship semifinal. After being successfully wooed to coach the Pali Blues, Naimo, a New Jersey native, is relocating to the Palisades this month. He feels the game against Beijing will also present an opportunity to analyze some of the players who are pursuing roster spots. ‘This team is going to be exciting,’ said Kenzo Bergeron, Pali Blues director of operations. Kendall Fletcher, a former University of North Carolina standout and member of the FIFA World Youth championship team, was the first player signed. Her team won the 2003 NCAA national championship and she is considered one of America’s top defenders. ‘Fletcher is extremely versatile, and plays with tremendous passion,’ said Naimo, who predicts she will make the national team. The USL-W League had its inaugural season in 1995 and is recognized as the premiere development league for female players. The league is split into three conferences (West, Central and Eastern) and consists of 40 teams that play throughout the United States and Canada from May through August. ‘This league features some of the best women soccer players today,’ Bergeron told the Palisadian-Post on Monday. Love of soccer brought Bergeron and co-owners Rudi Bianchi and Marion Mansouri together. Bergeron grew up in West Los Angeles and coaches the girls’ soccer team at Crossroads High School, where Bianchi is the boys’ soccer coach. Bianchi introduced him to fellow Palisadians Al and Marion Mansouri, who have lived in the Palisades since 1999. Al serves as the president and executive director of the Los Angeles Blues Soccer Club, Inc., but Marion was the key to bringing high-caliber women’s soccer to the Palisades. ‘She believed that woman’s soccer would be well received,’ Bergeron said. Bianchi was born in Milan, Italy and has lived in the community since 1985. He has been successful as a player and as a coach, and his son, Federico, played Division I soccer at Boston University. Bianchi has also served in many soccer organizational and management positions, including the organizing committee for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.