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...

Monday 21st December 2009 is a date to mark in your calendars. Once again the world's best footballers both male and female will gather at the Zurich Kongresshaus for the 19th FIFA World Player gala.

A total of 33 strong candidates make the list this year and the main focus will no doubt be in the male category where Lionel Messi will face-off with Cristiano Ronaldo.

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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...

But Torrance's Shannon Boxx is not among the 10 female players on the FIFA short list this year.

Marta has won the award three times in succession.

Here's FIFA's list of the male and female nominees as announced today.

And here's the WPS press release heralding the accomplishments of the players nominated who play in the league:

Sonia Bompastor FRA/Washington Freedom - Led the league in assists (6) while tallying four goals and was selected as WPS Player of the Month for May.

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Fresh off her 101st career goal and a U.S. 1-0 win against Germany yesterday, it was announced that Women's National Team and Washington Freedom forward Abby Wambach is the only American nominated for the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Award.

Freedom teammate and French National player Sonia Bompastor is also on the list of ten nominees.

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Fresh off her 101st career goal and a U.S. 1-0 win against Germany yesterday, it was announced that Women's National Team and Washington Freedom forward Abby Wambach is the only American nominated for the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Award.

Freedom teammate and French National player Sonia Bompastor is also on the list of ten nominees.

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This is not the sort of morning that I'd relish watching a soccer game ... but two of my intrepid housemates (applesrisp in hand) will be heading to Lewiston momentarily to watch the Bobcats tangle with the Panthers. Would be so nice if Bates could defeat Middlebury ... and while it's probably in the unlikely category, what I love about sports is that "it could happen.

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Bueno como lo predije, Alemania es la reina del Fútbol Europeo, y no solo de Europa, también del Mundo y lo demostró quedándose con la Eurocopa Femenina al ganarle a Inglaterra de manera contundente por 6 a 2.

El partido desde el inicio fue para las alemanas, en tan solo cuatro minutos en el primer tiempo, Birgit Prinz y Melanie Behringer pusieron por delante a Alemania, aunque poco después la inglesa Karen Carney recortó distancias para Inglaterra.

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Bueno como lo predije, Alemania es la reina del Fútbol Europeo, y no solo de Europa, también del Mundo y lo demostró quedándose con la Eurocopa Femenina al ganarle a Inglaterra de manera contundente por 6 a 2.

El partido estuvo de la siguiente manera:

En tan solo cuatro minutos en la primera mitad, Birgit Prinz y Melanie Behringer pusieron por delante a Alemania, aunque poco después la inglesa Karen Carney recortó distancias para Inglaterra.

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Big Story
It's not often a 6-2 loss is taken to presage a "nation's arrival on the big stage", but that's the reaction today in the Guardian from Anna Kessel on the England's women's team's defeat in the UEFA European Championship final to Germany last night.

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Karen Carney and Kelly Smith got the two against Germany's 6 - the dream of England's women wasn't to be. But the lasses final was England's first final since the year of Hope Powell's birth. She's magic she is. It's just a bit pathetic that it wasn't on live TV here.
Fabio did the business against Slaven. Click to continue reading...

Karen Carney and Kelly Smith got the two against Germany's 6 - the dream of England's women wasn't to be. But the lasses final was England's first final since the year of Hope Powell's birth. She's magic she is. It's just a bit pathetic that it wasn't on live TV here.
Fabio did the business against Slaven. Click to continue reading...

Obama was just great last night, IMHO clear, inspiring, presidential. I am still amazed to hear complex thoughts uttered from that bully pulpit, having (unfortunately) gotten used to the smirking chimp.

Joe Wilson, meanwhile, is an embarrassment. Between Joe and the antics of their Guv, South Carolina definitely needs to hire a PR firm.

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Substitute Jill Scott's header four minutes from the end of extra-time gave England's women a 2-1 victory over Holland Tampere, Finland today to take their place in the final of UEFA Women's Euro 2009 tournament. England opened the scoring against the Dutch with a Kelly Smith goal from Eniola Aluko's pass in the 61st minute. Click to continue reading...

She provides game-winning assist as England tops Netherlands
Through 120 minutes of battle, Chicago Red Stars midfielder Karen Carney and England defeated the Netherlands, 2-1, on Sunday to advance to the championship of the UEFA Women's Euro 2009. It marks the first time England has reached the title game since losing the inaugural European Championships in penalty kicks against Sweden in 1984. Click to continue reading...

England fought their way back - are slugging their way through the tournament. Knowing a little about how shabbily they are treated by the English FA, I'm pulling for them. Kelly Smith has a crazy-good goal here. Enjoy. Commentary is in Russian. Their next game is against Sweden on Monday. Not sure what time yet - looks like 7:00pm in Finland? Click to continue reading...

Yup late again! Some tidbits here ...

First ... ChristopherCornblog's car started smoking en route to the lake last night (and I don't mean that it initiated an unhealthy and expensive nicotine habit). Luckily he wasn't far from Rensselaerville when it happened, so he was able to call HollyCornblog for a ride.

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No actually, I have not been off-line because I am in mourning for the Breakers although I AM quite bummed that they didn't make the play-offs (AND that their season ended with a terrible bit of officiating).

What happened was that we lost our internet this morning. Turns out it was a modem problem and Fairpoint was actually helpful in getting it resolved.

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Your inaugural WPS All-Star Team:
Karina LeBlanc GK - Los Angeles Sol, Canada
Tina Ellertson D - Saint Louis Athletica, United States
Amy LePeilbet D - Boston Breakers, United States
Alex Scott D - Boston Breakers, England
Camille Abily M - Los Angeles Sol, France
Sonia Bompastor M - Washington Freedom, France
Shannon Boxx M - Los Angeles Sol, United States
Lori Chalupny M - Saint Louis Athletica, United States
Kelly Smith M - Boston Breakers, England
Eniola Aluko F - Saint Louis Athletica, England
Marta F - Los Angeles Sol, Brazil
The first order of comedy, of course, is that half of this team won't be available for the All-Star game itself, or for the WPS championship, thanks to the UEFA Women's Championship. Click to continue reading...

The Sol's Brazilian star Marta was the top vote-getter overall, being named on all coaches ballots, 94 percent of media ballots (hello, media types), but finishing second to Boston Breakers defender Amy LePeilbet on players ballots (hmm, guess Marta is not exactly popular among her peers?). And the top three players fans voted for?

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Women's Professional Soccer on Tuesday announced the selection of the league's First XI and the WPS All-Star Team Head Coach in preparation for its 2009 WPS All-Star Game. Each of the players selected are invited to the 2009 WPS All-Star Game. The players were selected based on votes by fans (25%), media (25%), coaches (25%) and players (25%).

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Women's Professional Soccer on Tuesday announced the selection of the league's First XI and the WPS All-Star Team Head Coach in preparation for its 2009 WPS All-Star Game. Each of the players selected are invited to the 2009 WPS All-Star Game. The players were selected based on votes by fans (25%), media (25%), coaches (25%) and players (25%).

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Alex Scott was red carded in the 5th minute and the Breakers played heroically for 88 minutes ... but fell to the Freedom 1-0 ... and fell in the standings to 4th place. With two games remaining, this is getting WAY too interesting for my taste.

Wambach scored the winning goal for the home team .

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As Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation approaches crunch time, some GOPers are lining up in opposition. In an op ed in USA Today Jeff Sessions has written "I don't believe that Judge Sotomayor has the deep-rooted convictions necessary to resist the siren call of judicial activism." Say what? My only comment would be to echo Senator Sessions in explaining why I wouldn't vote for him or others of his ilk .

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A report by the Commission on the Future of Women's Sport which the BBC's Gordon Farquhar blogged about earlier this month points out that just 2% of media coverage on elite sport focuses on women. Now I first got into writing about football by following one of my best friend's journeys through the matches, tournaments and politics of women's football in Oxford.

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Does Liking Women's Soccer Make You Gayer?

I love soccer. And I'm pretty sure I love women. So why don't I love Women's Professional Soccer? Or do I, secretly? These are questions I fear to answer because any serious soul-searching might uncover the misogynistic pig within. That, or I'll end up stripping away a vestigial layer of macho-callous that has kept me straight and largely insensitive to the needs of women through the years.

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                                                                             Photo by ISIphotos.com

By CHRISTA MANN

Week 17 in Women's Pro Soccer began with Wednesday match-ups between the Chicago Red Stars and Boston Breakers along with the Washington Freedom against Sky Blue FC (New Jersey).

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The Breakers won last night scoring in the first half and hanging on for the 1-0 victory over the Red Stars (and sole possession of third place). The goal was a beautiful one-touch effort by Angela Hucles after a perfect feed from Lil. The win is significant for any number of reasons not the least of which is that it was accomplished without the services of Kelly Smith and Alex Scott.

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How appropriate ... how much work we need to do!

Latina Worker

by Doren Robbins

Then I notice through a triple-Americano-awakening moment,

in the mall food court, a young Latina cleaning around by the chrome rail

at Sbarro Pizza. Maybe a Guatemalan, possibly Salvadoran or

Honduran—

could've been Argentinean or Columbian, Chilean, Bolivian,

Panamanian—good chance a Peruvian, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Mayan,

Toltec, Sephardic, Huichol coffee plantation or U.

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                                                                        Photo by ISIphotos.com

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By CHRISTA MANN

Women's Pro Soccer is 14 weeks, 42 games, and just over halfway through its inaugural season.

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                                                                        Photo by ISIphotos.com

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By CHRISTA MANN

Women's Pro Soccer is 14 weeks, 42 games, and just over halfway through its inaugural season.

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It's exactly half way through the inaugural season with 35 of the scheduled 70 games completed.

Player of the Week
It stands to reason that if you score the only goal in three WPS games last weekend that you'd win the Player of the Week award.

Saint Louis forward Eniola Aluko duly took the honor after scoring her third goal of the season to lead Athletica to a 1-0 road triumph over the Boston Breakers.

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Chicago at Los Angeles, of course.
Well, it was bigger before the Red Stars put their freaking mouths on the curb the past three games. They have two games in hand, so it's not like they're out of a playoff spot, but now, like every other team in the league, they'll need the Sol to start churning out some losses. Click to continue reading...

Here's a nice write up of the WPS weekend activity from over in the UK. I love the snippet about how it was really Alex Scott's fear of her housemate Kelly Smith that led to her goal (and an important point for the Boston Breakers). Who knows, maybe I'd have scored as well, if I lived with Kelly Smith!

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Okay so I do, I really do want to be rooting for Obama but what's with this latest appointment? GE's defender on environmental issues, Ignacia Moreno, has been hired to do the legal stuff for EPA? How did Obama explained this decision, I'm wondering. It kind of gives me a weird feeling in my stomach.

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