Whether you’re a fan who has waited six years for professional women’s soccer to return to the U.S. or a participant who has waited a lifetime to call herself a professional soccer player, you’re going to remember Sunday’s WPS Inaugural Match between the Washington Freedom and Los Angeles Sol at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California (5:30pm ET/2:30pm PT, FSC).

The day will be equal parts soccer and circumstance.  The Freedom and Sol will be starting a 20-game journey they hope will end at the top of the standings.  Women’s Professional Soccer will be starting a journey it hopes will culminate in the consciousness of mainstream America.

A parade of nations, during which every country represented by the inaugural WPS rosters will be represented, will precede the opening kickoff.  Mia Hamm, the iconic American goal scorer whose silhouette graces the league logo, will be at midfield to hand off the official match ball to the referees.  The match will feature the domestic debut of Marta, the return to competitive action by Abby Wambach, and a unique opportunity for fans to gain instant insight from players as the Sol’s Aly Wagner and the Freedom’s Kati Jo Spisak will be tweeting throughout the afternoon.

“This is an exciting time for all of us,” said WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci, who will also be tweeting from the Inaugural Match.  “It’s time to show the fans what they want to see, which is world class soccer played by the world’s best players.”

Washington Freedom head coach Jim Gabarra has called the WUSA inaugural game one of his best days in soccer, and Gabarra has worked tirelessly over the last six years to keep the Freedom operating.  His toil has been geared to bringing the club back to full professional status, a goal which will be realized Sunday in Southern California.  But it doesn’t mean the 49-year-old coach has forgotten that at its core, the Inaugural Match is a soccer game.

“We’ll treat it as a game we have to win,” Gabarra said.  “All the other stuff, you just make the adjustments and really have to focus on the game.”

Gabarra’s coaching counterpart concurs.  “There’s a lot of hoopla, but the players are very focused,” Sol coach Abner Rogers said.  “They don’t get caught up in whoever’s out there filming or watching.  They’re focused on what they do and they’re making very good professionals.”

“We’ve been putting in a lot of work,” Sol forward Marta said through an interpreter.  “Everyone is very concentrated and focused on doing what we need to do to earn three points in our first game.”

The Freedom and Sol did not compete against each other in preseason this Spring so they will have very little baseline from which to develop a game-plan for the match.  All they will have to rely on is the history of each individual player, and maybe a little hearsay.

“You have to look into the coaching style and what system they’re comfortable in,” Gabarra said, “what system you might use if you had those players at your disposal.  A little bit is guesswork and assumption.  You just try to get the best scouting report you can get until we get into regular season games where we’ll actually get tape of teams playing.”

Based on the way both coaches are talking, the key to a positive result will be in owning the play.

“We’re going to have to keep possession of the ball,” Gabarra said.  “The longer we keep the ball, the less chance we have of their top players having the ball and causing us problems.  Obviously the less time Marta and (Aya) Miyama have the ball, the less times they’re going to create dangerous scoring chances.”

And for the Sol, Rogers was asked how fans will know his side is fulfilling his vision.  “A possession game,” he responded.  “They’ll see a game where we try to keep the ball, play to feet, make short, quick passes; a little bit more dynamic when we get into the opponent’s half.  We have to work to adapt to any type of team and any type of system.  But our priority is to keep the ball.”

Keeping the ball will not guarantee a result.  Both teams field dangerous attackers who can change the course of a match in an instant.  For the Freedom, Wambach will start and is expected to be a 90-minute player.  Wambach has not played a competitive match since shattering her leg playing for the U.S. National Team last July 16.  Australian Lisa De Vanna, the leading candidate to team with Wambach up top, has a groin injury and may not start.

Still Rogers is wary that the Freedom, who boast a number of players from Gabarra’s W-League version of the club, could have a slight edge in continuity.

“They’ve got several players who have played the last few summers together,” Rogers said.  “And we know all about Abby.”

On the other side, Marta has won the last three FIFA World Player of the Year trophies and American soccer fans are painfully familiar with her brilliance from exploits playing with the Brazilian National Team.

“I’m not the first one that’s been presented with this issue and I’m certainly not going to be the last,” Gabarra said when asked about Marta.  “I haven’t really completely decided if we’ll treat her as a player we’ll play special attention to.  Certainly everyone needs to know where she is, and what she’s capable of, and we certainly have that understanding.”

FREEDOM NOTES:  Cat Whitehill, recovering from ACL knee surgery, will start and is expected to go the full 90… …GK Erin McLoud continues to be held up by Visa issues and Gabarra is “pretty sure” Briana Scurry will be starting in goal Sunday.  Spisak will back up Scurry… …Allie Long trained this week after hurting her knee in a friendly against Sky Blue FC… …Sarah Huffman hurt her knee during training camp and is not expected to play this season.

SOL NOTES:  Dynamic midfielder Aly Wagner has been battling a sore hip and on Thursday was termed “doubtful” by Rogers… …Wagner’s absence could alter what formation the Sol line up in.  The two choices are 4-4-2 and 4-3-3… …Canadian Karina LeBlanc will start in goal for the Sol… …The club is hoping to have Camille Abily’s contract status cleared up in time to be in the starting lineup… …Sol GM Charlie Naimo will also tweet throughout the Inaugural Match.

Dan Lauletta is a freelance writer and can be reached at thirtymtp@aol.com. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Women’s Professional Soccer or womensprosoccer.com.