Not exactly sleepy. WPS is hiring which is pretty impressive considering THIS ECONOMY.

FIFA recently did a women’s football roundup which is worth a read. In short…

* Brazil’s Santos FC – featuring Marta and Cristiane – won the inaugural Copa Libertadores 9-0 over Paraguay’s Universidad Autonoma.

* FFC Frankfurt aren’t doing so well in the Bundesliga this year so they fired their coach! Except the new temp coach isn’t doing much better, apparently.

* Arsenal head coach, Vic Akers, stepped down as head coach this summer to become their General Manager. And Arsenal are on a Champions League tear – the quarterfinals draw was today (anyone notice?) with the tourney resuming in March.

* The Australian W-League regular season is over and one of the worst names in football, the Brisbane Roar, sit on top for the second year in a row (the name always reminds me of that awful Heath Ledger tv show – no, not that one). The semi-final and finals are set for December and I can’t really find info on who is playing who but then again I’m not looking very hard right now.

* World Cup Qualifying is underway in Europe. Little Miss Soccer has the updates. So many countries playing over there just go click the link. I’m not even gonna try to recap that mess.

* And, in the US of Haaay what’s up, the NCAA College Cup third round starts up tonight and the games are on tv! Or rather, on ESPNU. Is that a real tv channel or do you only get that in community college cafeterias? So if you are not an extra on Community (the jury’s still out – good show or bad?), try the online link here. Oh, and Pia called up players for a camp then replaced one and I think I read on twitter somewhere she added a few more. But that info is really a World Cup Blog type post that I’ll get to at some point before the end of time I think.

The silhouette above is not Mia Hamm

My college experience was basically a four year drug binge of various quantities and varieties resulting in some sort of humanities degree that has nothing to do with my career. So I’m not exactly jumping up and down with excitement over today’s news that the 2009 NCAA College Cup participants were revealed. And if I’m following correctly, to qualify, each regional conference (and there are many) had to battle it out with the winner or winners getting an automatic in to the Cup (or something like that). Then, the remaining slots were filled by a selection process of some sort. So all of that mess was announced today. Curious who got in? Check this ginormous diagram of the bracket. So that all starts this weekend and since the MLS playoffs are turning into a total snoozefest and the Liverpool implosion is getting old, I’m just sayin’ it’s another footy option out there. Also, you can turn yourself into an amateur WPS scout during this thing or better yet, use your newly acquired knowledge to weasel your way into a real WPS scouting job. OR perhaps use those skills to get yourself a WPS beat writer job cause the league could use the help (but it’s not clear if there’s any money in it). Either way, for those young college hopefuls who may actually have a chance, this is their last hurrah to impress the pros before trying their luck in Januarys’ WPS draft.

p.s. for better coverage of this trending topic from hell, ignore the Foudy above and instead click on Fake Sigi’s rant.

Peace out!

Dear England: so far so good! (video spotted over at Girls in Football).

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Did you catch the post-game quote sheet? Normally those things are totally booooring but this little gem came from from Hope Solo:

I can’t wait for the World Cup. This crowd was amazing. I actually got excited when I got booed and whistled because that never happens. This was great. It’s what it should be like.

Hello open invitation! If during the 2010 season you just so happen to be standing next to her goal and you just so happen to toss a bunch of streamers into her goal and then you just so happen to inform her she is not in her parent’s basement and she needs to clean that mess up RIGHT NOW – yeah, it’s totally cool. You should do that.

* FC Gold Member did something and by doing something, they beefed up their defense by signing Niki Cross. And then they beefed down the depth in their defense by trading Allison Whitworth to the Atlanta Beat. In return, they got the 3rd and the 10th picks from the first round of the draft and are apparently now the owners of most of the picks. Honestly, I am not paying enough attention to this stuff to make any predictions on who will be entering January’s draft. But I will say this – if that Alex Morgan shows up, the Yay team should totally nab her not just because she’s a really good offensive player, but also because the entire male heterosexual population of Chile is in love with her.

* The Boston Breakers filed discovery claims on Kozue Ando and Shinobu Ohno who they are hoping will be the big-guns forwards coach Tony is looking for.

* The Chicago Red Stars signed midfielder Julianne Sitch. The big story here is that she’s from the Chicago area. This is Chicago’s first move since free agency began and honestly, I couldn’t even begin to speculate on it. Patience grasshoppers.

* La Sol signed Czech forward Pavlina Scasna which is apparently one little piece of some sort of crazy multi-part trade that may only make sense to a select few people at the moment. And LA have no more international slots now.

* Lots of stuff happened in the UK which, lucky for us, the excellent site Girls in Football covers with waaay more depth than any news source I’ve encountered so far. If you care about that region, you should just go there.

* FC Indiana coach Shek Borkowski is now the new head coach (with some other guy) of WFC Zvezda-2005 of the Russian Premiere League. I’m guessing that might mean he is not longer coaching the Lionesses, but with women’s soccer, it seems everybody has like five jobs so I’m not so sure about that one.

* The W-League is adding another team which seems a bit crazy to me considering the fact that all the Canadian teams just dropped out of the USL. I think the W-League may want to start thinking “backup plan” in case the USL completely falls apart. Sooner rather than later, ladies.

* According to a post over at the Fan Corner, there wil be a “six continental confederations linked to the FIFA (Concacaf – North America Soccer Confederation, Central and Caribbean; Conmebol- South american Confederation of Soccer; Soccer confederation of Oceania-OFC; Soccer-CAF Africa confederation; Asian confederation of Soccer- AFC; And European Confederation of Soccer- UEFA)”. Oh hey, great idea! I hope it happens and that the fans get to watch it… somehow.

* AND FINALLY! Team on 3 is dead set on proving the USWNT are funny by posting a bunch of videos of them… being funny. Nice selection but missing one of my faves: Natasha Kai singing karaoke. The post also reminds me of those hilarious US Soccer podcasts Sacha Kljestan and Benny Feilhaber used to do – before they turned all douchey. I miss those podcasts. It was a simpler time back then.

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Buuuuuut, today we get the announcement for FIFA’s Player of the Year shortlist and we’ve got 5 WPS players out of the 10 nominated. Woo Hoo!

* “No Neck” Nadine Angerer (Germany)

* Sonia Bompastor (France) – Frenchie extraordinaire! Washington Freedom

* Cristiane (Brazil) – former Red Star, now free agent – not entirely sure why she’s nominated again cause didn’t she spent much of 2009 injured?

* Inka Grings (Germany) – meh

* Mana Iwabuchi (Japan) – double meh

* Simone Laudehr (Germany) – more meh

* Marta (Brazil) – La Sol! Three time winner! It’s like the place falls apart if she’s not on the list!

* Birgit Prinz (Germany) – nemesis

* Kelly Smith (England) – Not a German! Arsenal & Boston Breakers!

* Abby Wambach (USA) – woo hoo! scores hella goals! Washington Freedom

Missing from the list are Hope Solo and Karina LeBlanc who, after their seasons with WPS, totally shoulda got the nod. It’s a conspiracy I tell ya.

The list gets narrowed down to five sometime in December I think. Last year when that happened, all the US players on the shortlist were eliminated. So for this year’s elimination, I say let’s drop all the Germans!

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So what else is going on in the world of women’s soccer?

Tiffany Weimer is excited to start playing for the Breakers this season. Also excited is Kelly Smith. She says: “Watching her play is an absolute pleasure, I’m really excited.” *GULP*

According to her club in the Netherlands Daphne Koster signed with Sky Who Blue. As the captain of the Danish National team, she took them all the way to the Euro semi-finals.

Did you miss the audio interview with Abby Wambach and Cat Whitehill this week? That’s ok. The Freedom Insider took notes for us.

Goal.com checks in over at the Australian W-League where Sydney FC will play the Brisbane Roar this weekend. Seems the two teams are developing a bit of a rivalry. Says WPS free agent Sarah Walsh: “It will probably be Sydney’s toughest game… It’ll come down to – to borrow the old cliché – of who wants it most.” Both teams contain the highest number of Matildas (national team players) in the league. Should be a bloodbath.

Over in the UK, there are apparently some rumors that Grimsby Town may ask Hope Powell to be their new head coach which would make her the first first team female coach of a UK men’s team. Likely just rumors but it seems folks agree that she certainly is qualified to do it.

Also in the UK comes a story from the Guardian – John Terry put his pants back on long enough to realize the Chelsea Ladies were in all sorts of financial trouble and he bailed them out, found them a new head coach, became the club’s president, and started attending their games. no word on whether he chased down Lorrie Fair for an autograph.

On a similar note, WPSL finalists Ajax America are officially broke and need everyone’s financial help to keep on playing. Also revealed in that link is the news that LA Sol lost $2 million dollars in 2009 but AEG do promise to remain partners through 2010. After that? Well, let’s hope Anthony LaPaglia doesn’t bail too.

The Soccer Science blog asked Emma Hayes 10 questions in a segment that really should be renamed Get To Know Me!

AND FINALLY, Match Fit USA is conducting a contest to determine who will be the winner of the Twitterverse Players League. Simply put, readers get to vote on their absolute favorite US men’s soccer player on twitter. This contest got me wondering – if there was a women’s version, would there even be enough interesting tweeters to have a proper contest? Seriously ladies, it’s time to step it up.

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(Spotted over at ONTD football)

Angela Hucles retired from professional soccer effective immediately. Coach Tony loses yet another player from his 2009 roster, Pia loses a midfielder for the upcoming friendly against Germany, and Hucles thinks maybe now she’ll try real estate. Of course. Makes perfect sense.

Speaking of, Megan Rapinoe had knee surgery on Thursday sidelining her for a few weeks and forcing her to miss the upcoming USWNT game. Pia replaces the two open spots with newbies Ella Masar and Kacey White.

And since we’re still talking about Germany, Laura “the one that got away” Del Rio is tearing it up in the Bundesliga right now. She scored her 4th goal in 4 games during Frankfurt’s 4-0 win against SC 07 yesterday. Game highlights are here and include Steffi Jones saying a bunch of stuff in German.

I’m pretty sure Jones was not talking about a CONCACAF World Cup qualifying schedule in the above link, since Little Miss Soccer is keeping tabs on the upcoming games and… well… nothing but Europe and two friendlies. To be fair, there are a lot of countries in Europe to get through.

BBC Sport has a league update and check it, Watford is kicking ass and taking names and now sitting at the top of the table. Love it when the womens team does better than the mens. Oh and Kim Little scored her fourth hat trick of the season. If WPS teams aren’t already wooing this girl with promises of unlimited cell phone plans, meet and greets with Zach Effron, and pirated copies of Blue Moon (the girl is 19 years old – just sayin’), they need to start NOW.

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Could it be? No more stanky leg? WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Was the torch just passed? While the former Arsenal Ladies in WPS are back in their home country (and some on loan to their former team), the hype machine has moved onto new striker Kim Little who took Kelly Smith’s position after she joined the Breakers. Little scored a whopping 13 goals in her first six appearances of the season – including a brace during Arsenal’s 8-1 pounding of Doncaster. Recent English league updates can be found here.

WPS posted a what the hell are they up to in the offseason report and the Woman’s Soccer Insider blog gave us updates of the off-season players and their leagues. Well, updates as of Octber 9th. I’m afraid I missed this link last week when it perhaps would have been a bit more relevant.

Jill Oakes blogs about being a girl and a guy. No, I mean she blogs about having personality traits traditionally considered both masculine and feminine. While the stuff she writes about in her post isn’t new or groundbreaking, this quote of hers caught my attention: “Personally, I made my first conscious statement to the world challenging a stereotype, when I became a high school cheerleader. Yes, it’s 100% true. I was telling the world that cheerleaders deserve athletic respect, and that athletes are beautiful and feminine too.” Now, I’ve read a few complaints on the internets this week regarding the recent ESPN body issue and the question of female athletes and their bodies (do they or don’t they?) and I must say it’s refreshing to read what the athletes themselves have to say on the topic (and not just people like me who wank off online – metaphorically of course).

WPS interviews Jorge Barcellos which isn’t too terribly interesting but that dreaded word “family” pops up again and this time it’s said by the interviewer. Although his response somehow translated to “familiar” which maybe really meant “intimate.” I will of course be following this important lead as it develops.

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