Sports Then and Now

In the wake of a rather gray day in the brief history of the WPS, following yesterday’s announcement of the league’s decision to discontinue operation of the Los Angeles Sol, Atlanta Beat General Manager Shawn McGee was quick to remind fans of the WPS a few very important lessons.

Lessons like ‘When you fall down you need to brush yourself off and get back up’ and ‘Every problem has a soft spot’ and everyone’s favorite, ‘What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger’ resonated from McGee’s message during a phone interview this afternoon. Read the rest of this entry →

Forward Michelle Enyeart grew up in a small town that isn’t exactly known to be a soccer hotbed.

In fact, Hemet, CA is hardly known at all.

But this small “city” located roughly between Palm Springs and San Diego has produced a name that is known to soccer experts and soccer fans across the country.

Enyeart has a soccer resume that is both extensive and impressive.

Some of the major points in her career include playing with the nationally-ranked Laguna Hills Eclipse Soccer Club, competing with the youth national teams (U-23, U-20, U-19, U-16), and participating in a full national team training camp. Read the rest of this entry →

Players from Brazil's National Team including Marta, Cristiane and Fabiana have impacted WPS play.

With the announcement by FIFA naming Brazil’s Marta as their Women’s World Player of the Year for the fourth consecutive year, I hurried to my virtual Rolo-dex in an attempt to try to score a Brazilian perspective on the award.

Amongst the thousands of names which have found their way into my growing list of connections, I didn’t expect to find too many who make the land of Carnival their home since the Brazilian population in my rural town of Winchendon, MA can probably be counted on one hand.

Then I remembered a gentleman I had met at my first WPS Breaker’s game last spring. I tried desperately to jump start my memory to recall his name. After scurrying through every letter from A to R, I came upon the name “Marcus Santos” and knew I had struck pay dirt.

Santos and his band Bloco Afro-Brazil, had entertained the crowd of Breakers fans playing their Brazilian styled beat from the end zone of historic Harvard Stadium. They added a Brazilian flare to the game reminiscent of the World Cup and created an excitement which would become synonymous with Breaker brand soccer as the season went on. Read the rest of this entry →

Marta starred for the Los Angeles Sol in the first year of WPS play.

One year ago, Marta made history at the FIFA World Player Gala by publicly announcing her signing with the Los Angeles Sol of the new Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league which kicked off in March 2009.

One year later, the Brazilian arrived at the very same gala with her first season of WPS behind her and made history once again: this time by becoming the first player ever – male or female – to win the award for a record fourth-time as she was announced as the 2009 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year at a gala in Zurich, Switzerland on Monday evening.

“I want to thank God for everything that is happening to me in my life,” Marta said after winning the award. “I also want to thank my football colleagues in Los Angeles Sol, Santos and Brazil.” Read the rest of this entry →

FIFA announced its short list for the 2009 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year Award from its headquarters in Zurich on Friday with five of the 10 players in contention for the award having played in WPS during the Inaugural Season. Nominees who played in WPS, all of them selected as WPS All-Stars, include (country/2009 team):

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. Her slashing, exciting play at defensive midfield helped the Freedom bounce back from a slow start to finish third in the 2009 WPS Regular Season.

Cristiane BRA/Chicago Red Stars – The only player in WPS to notch a hat trick this season, her incredible long-range strike against FC Gold Pride in early July was one of the goals of the year this season in WPS. Finished with seven goals, fourth-best in WPS. Read the rest of this entry →