FIFA announced the 10 finalists for its 2009 Women's World Player of the Year Award last week and half of them—Marta, Cristiane, Sonia Bompastor, Kelly Smith and Abby Wambach—played last season in Women's Professional Soccer. In spite of her accolades, however, only one of these WPS players, Cristiane, did not have her WPS option picked up for next season and still remains out of contract. Click to continue reading...

I've got this weird mental block - I always have to remind myself whether it's CHRISTIE Rampone, or CHRISTINE Rampone. (It's Christie.)
Embarrassing, right? I wonder how people like, say, FIFA deal with it. Turns out they have a very simple way of making sure they don't make that mistake. Click to continue reading...

[video sent to us from See the Cup] Brazilian team Santos won the inaugural ladies Copa Liberatadores on Sunday, or to give the tournament its full and excellent sounding Spanish language title: Copa Libertadores de Fútbol Femenino. A healthy crowd of 14,000 were in attendance at the Estádio Urbano Caldeira to see Santos beat Paraguay's Universidad Autónoma [. Click to continue reading...

If Santos' fans are not so happy with the men's team in the Brasileirão, the Santos' ladies are giving fans total happiness: the team took home today the title for the women's Libertadores Cup. This is the first edition of the tournament and Santos brought in big names such and Marta and Cristiane to help win the title.

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Sorry folks, no Sunday Senor today because none of them made quite an impact as the Santos female squad last night. And with Marta and Cristiane in the same team, uma vitória é garantida! Our favorite mulher in futbol, Cristiane, struck twice in Santos' Copa Libertadores opening game to earn a 3-1 win over White Star for her side.

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Red Stars hoping to bring back team's scoring leader for 2010
The first day of Women's Professional Soccer's free agency had some pretty big names on the list, including Brazilian forward Cristiane (pictured right) and U.S. Women's National Team midfielder Carli Lloyd (pictured left) from the Chicago Red Stars' 2009 roster. Click to continue reading...

via Reuters

Ok, Marta throwing a baseball at a LA Dodgers game is pretty random. They should've included a bonus round with Mickey Mouse Beckham as he elegantly manhandles a Javelin. What a spectacle that would've been.

On a more serious note, Pele will officially announce Marta as a Santos player in the squad's attempt to win the first ever female edition of the Libertadores Cup on October 4th.

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The Chicago Red Stars' Cristiane, Brittany Klein and Megan Rapinoe are participating in Sunday's first-ever Women's Professional Soccer All-Star Game at The Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park in Fenton, Mo. I'm on the road covering the festivities. Check out these links to my Chicago Sports Examiner page at Examiner. Click to continue reading...

Cristiane, Rapinoe, Klein join lineup for Aug. 30 festivities in St. Louis
Three Chicago Red Stars players will represent the organization during the first-ever Women's Professional Soccer All-Star Game on Aug. 30.
Brazilian forward Cristiane and midfielders Brittany Klein and Megan Rapinoe will be part of the match, which features a collection of WPS All-Stars against Swedish champions Umea IK. Click to continue reading...

Chicago Red Stars player Cristiane battles 9 year old soccer player Renae Blevins to see who is the ultimate soccer juggler. This is simply too amazing not to post.... Seriously Peter Wilt: Where did you find this girl?

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Chicago tries to finish the way it started, with a win vs. St. Louis
For many, it is difficult to imagine that the Chicago Red Stars' inaugural Women's Professional Soccer season is just about to come to a close.
The Red Stars wrap up their regular season against the team they first faced, St. Click to continue reading...

Chicago forces Sol to allow season-high goal total
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - Heading into the 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season, the Los Angeles Sol and Chicago Red Stars were thought to be two of the better organizations to take home the inaugural title.
The Sol have lived up to their billing, securing a place in the title game. Click to continue reading...

Check out my Examiner.com feature highlighting this Sunday's anticipated Brazilian showdown: the Chicago Red Stars' Cristiane and the Los Angeles Sol's Marta. This is the last home game of the Red Stars' inaugural Women's Professional Soccer season. The Red Stars are expecting one of their biggest crowds of the season for this clash against the first-place Sol. Click to continue reading...

Chicago, Washington fight to stay in WPS playoff picture
So many elements have to work in the Chicago Red Stars' favor. One thing they can control is their finish during their three remaining regular-season games - the next two at home.
The Red Stars (4-8-5) host the Washington Freedom (5-6-5) at 3 p. Click to continue reading...

Cristiane and Rosane enjoy the sights and sounds at Times Square!

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The regular-season countdown is now at four games. This is not a bad time to regularly repeat the "must-win" motto as the Chicago Red Stars stand on the outside of the Women's Professional Soccer playoff race.
Chicago (4-7-5) stays out on the road to take on Sky Blue FC (5-6-4) at 3:30 p.m. Click to continue reading...

Congrats to the Chicago Red Stars' Cristiane for scoring the 1st WPS hat trick in history! Must be a cool record to have, no one can ever beat that one!

JM

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By CHRISTA MANN

Week 16 in Women's Pro Soccer featured a midweek upset, an East Coast rivalry, and a Brazilian hat trick. Â

On Wednesday the St. Louis Athletica defeated the L.A. Sol 1-0 with an early goal by Athletica midfielder Amanda Cinalli.

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Chicago vying for third straight victory
With Brazilian Cristiane heating up, so are the Chicago Red Stars. They hope to ride the momentum of her recent hat trick when they take on the host Boston Breakers for a 6 p.m. (CST) Women's Professional Soccer match Wednesday at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, Mass. Click to continue reading...

Chicago tries to continue climb in WPS standings
Just getting a victory was the hardest part, putting an end to a month-long drought for the Chicago Red Stars. Now that they have a well-played game to latch onto, they head into Sunday's match against FC Gold Pride with some confidence.
Chicago's Women's Professional Soccer game starts at 7 p. Click to continue reading...

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                                                     Photo by ISIphotos.com

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By CHRISTA MANN

In Week 15 of Women's Pro Soccer, the Chicago Red Stars finally posted something new in the win column.

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The Red Stars returned to the win column on Wednesday night, beating Washington 2-1 at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL. Abby Wambach put the Freedom up 1-0 in the 34th, but the second-half belonged to Chicago. Cristiane scored in the 48th and Lindsay Tarpley got the game winner in the 61st. "The first half we could have been up 2-0 but had a couple of bad breaks," Freedom coach Jim Gabarra said. Click to continue reading...

Last-place Chicago should utilize three attackers the rest of the way
I have never been a fan of a one-person attacking formation at the start of a soccer game. Nursing a one-goal lead or holding out for a road draw, those are different stories.
Unless you have Marta as that one attacker, you are setting yourself up for a midfield/defensive battle, with your main weapon being some quick counterattacks. Click to continue reading...

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By CHRISTA MANN

Week 11 in Women's Pro Soccer began with a meeting between the L.A. Sol and Chicago Red Stars on Wednesday in the first WPS midweek match of the season. Late goals by Chicago's Cristiane in the 88th and the Sol's Camile Abily in the 90th opened this week of play with 1-1 tie.

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By CHRISTA MANN

Week 11 in Women's Pro Soccer began with a meeting between the L.A. Sol and Chicago Red Stars on Wednesday in the first WPS midweek match of the season. Late goals by Chicago's Cristiane in the 88th and the Sol's Camile Abily in the 90th opened this week of play with 1-1 tie.

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Chicago's late lead short-lived; team settles for draw in L.A.
The Chicago Red Stars rode a tidal wave of swings during Wednesday's Women's Professional Soccer match against the league-leading Los Angeles Sol. It went from survival on the defensive side, to a clutch goal and lead with several minutes remaining, to allowing a heartbreaking equalizer. Click to continue reading...

Chicago drops 2nd straight home match
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - Both the Chicago Red Stars and FC Gold Pride were coming off of disappointing shutout losses last week in Women's Professional Soccer play. The Bay Area turned the tide, but Chicago could not break through with a goal.
The Gold Pride topped the Red Stars, 1-0, on Saturday night at Toyota Park, and Chicago (2-2-2) dropped its second straight during a five-game home stand. Click to continue reading...

Chicago leapfrogs Boston for 2nd in WPS standings
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - Chicago Red Stars fans were waiting for their home team to light up the scoreboard. The offense was in full effect Saturday night at Toyota Park with the most dominating offensive display so far in Women's Professional Soccer. Click to continue reading...

Brazilian not available following Wednesday's international friendly
The Chicago Red Stars' defense is back to full strength, but Chicago (1-0-2) will be without Brazilian striker Cristiane when it hosts the Boston Breakers (2-1-0) in Women's Professional Soccer action this Saturday at Toyota Park (7:30 p. Click to continue reading...

One of the more vocal Red Stars fans is Pott Rodriguez (to the left with Megan Rapinoe). Pott can pack a punch and she took issue with this week's SBI Power Rankings and decided to write her own. SBI's Christi Mann ranked the undefeated Red Stars 5th in the 7 team WPS, while Pott has the undefeated Red Stars 3rd. Click to continue reading...

i'm not sure what the Red Stars top international draft pick is saying in this video, but she sure has a nice smile and there are some gorgeous goals by her and Marta on the video below...i sure hope we sign her!!

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FIFA just announced the winner of the award for female footballer of the year: Marta. Again. Now, I am a fan. I love Marta, and am thrilled she'll be playing for the LA Sol. (I am learning to embrace the fact that the team is named after mediocre beer.)But since 2001, this award has been given to exactly three women: Marta (three times), Birgit Prinz (three times), and Mia Hamm (twice). Click to continue reading...

Finalmente no hubo sorpresa en la gala anual de la FIFA, celebrada en la Ópera de Zúrich, y Cristiano Ronaldo terminó imponiéndose, con 935 votos, al barcelonista Leo Messi (678), Fernando Torres (203), Kaká (183) y Xavi Hernández (155). El FIFA World Player conseguido por el jugador del Manchester es el primero que logra un [. Click to continue reading...

As the Senate gets ready to vote on a new bill to stave off economic disaster, and Sarah prepares (feverishly) to debate, and George Will joins the ranks of those who see her as unqualified to serve ... and some (unfortunately) find themselves feeling sorry for the lipsticked pitbull ... my thoughts turn (feverishly) to [. Click to continue reading...

The Final and a tournament wrap up by du Nord's Women's Soccer Major Tournament Correspondent Adam.
In a fairytale ending to their Olympic tournament, the underdog US team saved its gutsiest performance for last, beating Brazil 1-0 to win its second straight gold medal.
Here are some final thoughts about the tournament. Click to continue reading...