My recent posts on ESPNChicago.com:
• Oct. 29: Mike Banner's versatility pays off
• Oct. 28: Fire's, Rev's depth put to test this season
Also in the news:
• Cuauhtemoc Blanco: Blanco to leave Fire for Mexico
• U.S WNT: U.S. tops Germany, 1-0 / Local focus: Red Stars forward Ella Masar came into the game in the 73rd minute for Amy Rodriguez. Click to continue reading...

So for the last few weeks while I prepare to nod off to sleep I've had the pleasure of flipping through a few issues of the UK edition of fairgame magazine, a whole magazine devoted to that one thing I am quite partial to - women's football.
Going by its credits page, it's a pretty small team with editor Jen O'Neill and news editor Wilf Fifth, plus a person each in design, advertising and marketing. Click to continue reading...

On Friday, the Chicago Red Stars signed Oswego native and DePaul standout Julianne Sitch. She played this past season for the Women's Professional Soccer champion Sky Blue FC out in New Jersey.
CLICK HERE for the team's release. Click to continue reading...

Defender Brittany Bock, 22, received her first call-up to the U.S. Women's National Team today in the wake of a 12-day camp at Home Depot Center and ahead of the Oct. 29 game against Germany.

She was an integral part of the Sol's defense last season.

Also named to the roster were Torrance's Shannon Boxx of the Sol and USC product Amy Rodriguez.

Click to continue reading...

GOALKEEPERS (2): Nicole Barnhart (FC Gold Pride), Hope Solo (St. Louis Athletica) DEFENDERS (6): Brittany Bock (Los Angeles Sol), Rachel Buehler (FC Gold Pride), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis Athletica), Amy LePeilbet (Boston Breakers), Heather Mitts (Out of Contract), Cat Whitehill (Washington Freedom) MIDFIELDERS (8): Yael Averbuch (Sky Blue FC), Shannon Boxx (Los Angeles Sol), Tobin Heath (North Carolina), Angela Hucles (Boston Breakers), Lori Lindsey (Washington Freedom), Carli Lloyd (Out of Contract), Heather O'Reilly (Sky Blue. Click to continue reading...

Although Sydney FC thoroughly deserved their victory over the Central Coast Mariners this afternoon, the entire press box was in agreement that the man of the match played on the losing side. As the SMH's Sebastian Hassett justly observed, "about the seven next-best" were clad in sky blue, but the star of the day was Michael McGlinchey. Click to continue reading...

Yay, the second season of the Westfield W-League is almost upon us!
First of all, some notes from the weekend's Matildas camp. There was no WA girls as the ones who would have been invited, Collette McCallum and Lisa de Vanna, were on route back from America where they both played in the finals of the American WPS league (McCallum won it with her team Sky Blue FC). Click to continue reading...

My latest blog for my "Tom Talks Soccer" column over at World Soccer Daily:
The Premier League is commonly seen as the most exciting league in the world, but regular viewers of the matches will agree that games like Sunday's Manchester derby do not come around very often.
These are the games that form the cornerstone of football folklore. Click to continue reading...

Less than two weeks out now, and woo hoo, another squad! So with Canberra United (who may still have a few high profile names to come, and one that is very unexpected but exciting), the Central Coast Mariners, Brisbane Roar and now Melbourne, we are at the halfway mark for teams.
So here is Melbourne, most back from last year including international Marlies Oostdam, who is joined by two new international visitors, American Julianne Sitch (from women's pro soccer champions Sky Blue FC) and Canadian Katie Thorlakson. Click to continue reading...

Crunching some numbers and shaking them until they give up some useless information about the 148 players who played in Women's Professional Soccer this season:

• Five players - Kristine Lilly (Boston Breakers), Aya Miyama (Los Angeles Sol), Caroline Jonsson (Chicago Red Stars), Becky Sauerbrunn and Homare Sawa (Washington Freedom) all played every minute of every game.

Click to continue reading...

Running late, but wanted to weigh in on the defense of marriage.

Yup, I'm with John Marcotte if we're going to defend traditional marriage, lets defend it all the way. No more half measures ... after all, this is a sacred institution.

'Til death do us part ... hear that?

Oh, and while we're at it (totally unrelated) the Breakers lost a couple of stalwarts in the expansion draft.

Click to continue reading...

WPS personnel experts surely know more than overworked journalists, but from first glance here, Philadelphia seems to have put together a ferocious backbone in just three picks. Lori Lindsey is a quiet but effective central midfielder, Jen Buczkowski showed plenty of potential in Sky Blue's playoff run, and Nikki Krzysik is a proven young player. Click to continue reading...

* This is the last time I'll write on WPS for a while, I swear. Unless SI hires me to do "The Marta Experiment" or something.

American citizens pay more attention when Lady Gaga burps on television than when New Jersey's Sky Blue FC wins the WPS championship.

Click to continue reading...

Women's Professional Soccer held their 1st Championship Final last Saturday, and it had everything American sports fans love. It had the dominant, fan favorite squad (LA Sol) against the ragtag underdogs (Sky Blue FC), who had heroically beat Saint Louis Athletica in a 1-0 game a week ago today for the right to face Marta and LA for the title.

Click to continue reading...

Great picture find by The Original Winger.
Beauty.
To the links:

• VIDEO: Kenny Cooper scores. [SBI]
  
• Grown man punches a child. [Sports Rubbish]
  
• Tevez thinks Fergie is scared of City. [ESPN]
  
• A soccer brawl in India? [Dirty Tackle]
  
• Veron done with Argentina after W.

Click to continue reading...

"The fibers of this team are so close and so that that nothing was going to break us." Sky Blue FC's Heather O'Reilly (left, with Natasha Kai) on her team's triumph in the inaugural Women's Professional Soccer championship game. O'Reilly scored the game's only goal in the 16th minute and the New York/New Jersey franchise held on to defeat th heavily-favored Los Angeles Sol.

Click to continue reading...

Postcard to the LA Sol: The weather is beautiful. Wish you were here.

Sky Blue FC completed its Manifest Destiny-like run through the Women's Professional Soccer playoffs on Saturday afternoon, beating Los Angeles 1-0 (after wins in Washington and St. Louis earlier in the week) to become the first WPS champions.

Click to continue reading...

Sky Blue FC beat LA Sol 1-0 to win the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) championship game on Saturday, thanks to a goal from Heather O'Reilly (pictured with Natasha Kai and Natasha Kai's tattoos) So WPS has survived its inaugural season (even after launching at the worst possible time, economically speaking) and - crucially -established the [. Click to continue reading...

ASN's Craig Bennett was at Home Depot Center Saturday afternoon gathering photographic evidence of the inaugural Women's Professional Soccer championship match between Sky Blue FC and the Los Angeles Sol (read ASN's match report here).
Click here to visit the photo gallery.
All photos ©ASN/Craig Bennett, 112575 Media Inc. Click to continue reading...

And woulda thunk it, eh? After struggling mightily during the season and only sneaking into the title playoff on the final day, Sky Blue FC made good on a Heather O'Reilly goal to top Los Angeles in the first WPS championship final. Player/coach Christie Rampone helped turn things around as the champs beat the league's top three in order to lift the prize. Click to continue reading...

Sky Blue FC spent its 2009 season embroiled in turmoil, both on and off the pitch. The New York/New Jersey-based franchise waddled near the bottom of the WPS standings for a good part of the season and saw two head coaches leave the organization. But the club clawed its way to two road playoff victories, then pulled off the mother of all upsets, as one strike off the foot of Heather O'Reilly coupled with some gritty defense and some timely breaks enabled Sky Blue FC to claim the inaugural WPS championship over the host Los Angeles Sol 1-0 Saturday afternoon at the Home Depot Center. Click to continue reading...

Sky Blue FC finished off their dramatic run through the Women's Professional Soccer playoffs on Saturday, beating the Los Angeles Sol 1-0 at the Home Depot Center to win the first WPS Championship. Heather O'Reilly was named the game's Most Valuable Player for scoring in the 16th minute. "Natasha Kai is pretty well known for headers in the box so I was kind of hanging back post," O'Reilly said. Click to continue reading...

We were at the first game of the WPS season as well as the last (and many inbetween). And what a season' it's been.

Sky Blue FC completed its storybook rise from bottomfeeder to league champion with a dramatic, 1-0 victory over a valiant, 10-woman Los Angeles Sol side, whose remarkable season ended in bitter disappointment at their home park.

Click to continue reading...

We were at the first game of the WPS season as well as the last (and many inbetween). And what a season' it's been.

Sky Blue FC completed its storybook rise from bottomfeeder to league champion with a dramatic, 1-0 victory over a valiant, 10-woman Los Angeles Sol side, whose remarkable season ended in bitter disappointment at their home park.

Click to continue reading...

New Jersey-based Sky Blue FC completed its Cinderella Story finish to the Women's Professional Soccer season, defeating regular-season champion Los Angeles Sol, 1-0, on Saturday in the WPS Championship. Below are Associated Press photos of the Chicago-area locals who played in the match. (CLICK HERE for the game report)
Elk Grove Village native Jen Buczkowski (4) celebrates the WPS title with her Sky Blue FC teammates Saturday. Click to continue reading...

Walking into Carson stadium for the WPS final, I found myself thinking that a win for Sky Blue would be good for the league, and perhaps even good for the Sol. The WPS needs to get rid of the impression that there is one team that is far and away better than the rest. The playoff structure, which guaranteed a place in the finals for the regular season champs, did that by clearing a path to the final for the Sol, as if they deserved a free pass. Click to continue reading...

By CHRISTA MANN

After a twenty game regular season and two opening rounds of the playoffs, today's Women's Pro Soccer Championship (4:00 PM EST on FSN and Comcast affiliates) features the L.A. Sol against Sky Blue FC (NJ).

One team was always expected to be in the championship game, while the other, well the other wasn't even expected to make the playoffs amid inner turmoil and early-season struggles.

Click to continue reading...

By CHRISTA MANN

After a twenty game regular season and two opening rounds of the playoffs, today's Women's Pro Soccer Championship (4:00 PM EST on FSN and Comcast affiliates) features the L.A. Sol against Sky Blue FC (NJ).

One team was always expected to be in the championship game, while the other, well the other wasn't even expected to make the playoffs amid inner turmoil and early-season struggles.

Click to continue reading...

WPS Final on regional Fox Sports Net at 3:30pm and delayed on Fox Soccer Channel at 10pm: Sol - Sky Blue FC. MLS on Fox Soccer: LA - DC at 7:30pm. EPL on ESPN2: Wigan - Manchester United at 10am. On Fox Soccer: Manchester City - Wolves at 10am and Hull - Bolton at 5pm. On Setanta: Arsenal - Portsmouth at 10am, Sunderland - Blackburn at 6:45pm, and Birmingham - Stoke City at 8:30pm. Click to continue reading...

Okay, well, now Christine Rampone can pack her bags for Los Angeles.
It's going to be tempting, if and when New Jersey wins the WPS title, to roll one's eyes at a fourth place team wearing the crown. Well, it was good enough for the New York Giants a couple of years ago...and the parallels are getting a little frightening. Click to continue reading...

The U.S. Women's National Team plays Germany Oct. 29 in Augsburg, one of the venues for the 2011 Women's World Cup. A top-class match-up between nations that haven't met in nine years - and naturally there's no TV coverage in the U.S.

Ah well, that's not the case for many games this weekend.

Click to continue reading...

It was a close semifinal between Sky Blue FC and St. Louis Athletica. Hope Solo makes some big saves in this game! But was it enough... watch to find out!

The 1st ever WPS Championship game is this Sunday at 4pm Eastern time on FSN. If you get that channel check it out!

JM

Click to continue reading...

By CHRISTA MANN

Sky Blue FC (NJ) will be making an improbable trip to the WPS Championship after pulling off yet another upset when they defeated the St. Louis Athletica 1-0 in the WPS playoff semifinal on Wednesday.  Â

For the first time since July 18, St.

Click to continue reading...

Through two coaching changes, Sky Blue hasn't really changed all that much.
In a preseason game in Washington, they played a high defensive line to compress the field, they showed a tendency to get physical, and they saved Natasha Kai for the second half because she had been traveling with the national team. Click to continue reading...

The WPS Championship match-up between the Sol and Sky Blue gets underway tomorrow at 3:30 PM ET on FSN. Sky Blue will be the improbable champ. Why? Because they are just like the Belmont High School girls' basketball team, circa 2006. They've come through fire, as it were, and dug deep. They are now relying on their bond as teammates and on leadership (STRONG leadership) from within their own ranks.

Click to continue reading...