News of Note: Brazil has a new head coach… Women’s FIFA Ballon d’Or Finalists are Alex Morgan, Abby Wambach, and Marta… FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football Finalists are Pia Sundhage, Norio Sasaki, and Bruno Bini… Thursday’s Germany-France Friendly Ends In a 1:1 Draw… Former General Manager of the USWNT, Cheryl Bailey, was named Executive Director of the new women’s pro league… Portland’s Franchise intends to play most of its home matches at JELD-WEN Field… Women’s Champions League quarterfinal match-Ups set… MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalists Named… The NCAA College Cup continues Friday night.
Missed This Over the Thanksgiving Holiday – Brazil Has A New Head Coach: On Friday, November 23rd, the CBF summarily fired Jorge Barcellos and brought in club coach Márcio de Oliveira as the new head coach of Brazil’s WNT. This is Brazil’s third official head coach in just over a year. For more details, see a separate post.
Women’s FIFA Ballon d’Or Finalists Are Alex Morgan, Abby Wambach, and Marta? On Thursday, FIFA released the names of the top three vote-getters for the 2012 Women’s FIFA Ballon d’Or award, which is suppose to recognize the year’s best female player. Among North American fans, the exclusion of Canadian international Christine Sinclair, who even Marta thinks should be the winner, has caused some outrage on the Interwebs. The winner of this year’s award will be announced on January 7th.
FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football Finalists Also Announced: On Thursday, FIFA also released the three top vote-getters in the women’s head coaching category: Pia Sundhage (USWNT), Norio Sasaki (Japan WNT), and Bruno Bini (France WNT).
Germany-France Friendly Ends In a 1:1 Draw: On Thursday, Germany hosted France in a friendly and got out to an early 1:0 lead in the 2nd minute when a Celia Okoyino da Mbabi cross in front of goal was sent home by Verena Faisst for her first international goal. In the 24th minute, France equalized off a volley by Corinne Franco after a Louisa Necib corner kick was partially cleared by Germany’s goalkeeper Nadine Angerer. This game was forward Martina Müller’s farewell international match. Müller (Wikipedia) was a veteran of Germany’s 2003 and 2007 Women’s World Cup champion squads. See Also: Official FFF YouTube Highlights, FFF.fr match tracker, DFB.de box score, DFB.de write-up (in German).
Former General Manager of the USWNT, Cheryl Bailey, Named Executive Director of the New Women’s Pro League: Bailey served as the General Manager of the USWNT from 2007 to 2011. Prior to working for U.S. Soccer, she was the Senior Associate Athletic Director and the Senior Woman Administrator at the University of Wisconsin for 15 years from 1990 to 2005. And before that, from 1978 to 1990, she was the Athletic Director at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. See also: U.S. Soccer news item.
Portland’s Franchise Intends To Play Most Home Matches At JELD-WEN: During Wednesday’s USWNT match, Portland Timbers owner and owner of the new women’s franchise in Portland, Merritt Paulson, held a brief Q&A with the media. That Q&A was transcribed and posted by Liviu Bird up on EqualizerSoccer.com. One of the more notable tidbits in the transcription is that Paulson intends to have his team play most of its home matches at the 20,400 capacity JELD-WEN Field (Wikipedia), which is just west of Downtown, rather than a smaller, less expensive venue. Although, since the Paulson majority-owned Peregrine Sports, LLC operates JELD-WEN Field — along with being the entity that owns the Timbers, and presumably the new women’s franchise as well — the financial situation for the franchise is a bit different from WPS and WUSA teams that rented out MLS-size stadiums (e.g., the WPS Chicago Red Stars and the WUSA Washington Freedom). Also, some matches may be played at the University of Portland’s Merlo Field.
Women’s Champions League Quarterfinal Match-Ups Set: On Tuesday, the quarterfinal draw for UEFA’s 2012-2013 Women’s Champions League was conducted (UEFA.com). The quarterfinal match-ups, which will be played in March 2013, are: FCF Juvisy Essonne (FRA) vs. K/Göteborg FC (SWE); Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) vs. LdB Malmö (SWE); Arsenal LFC (ENG) vs. ASD Torres CF (ITA); and VfL Wolfsburg (GER) vs WFC Rossiyanka (RUS). The winners of the first two quarterfinals will meet in one semifinal, with the winners of the latter two quarterfinals meeting in the other semifinal.
MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalists Named: Earlier this week, the fifteen semifinalists for the 2012 MMissouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy were announced by the NSCAA: Natasha Anasi (Duke), Zakiya Bywaters (UCLA), Daphne Corboz (Georgetown), Crystal Dunn (North Carolina), Alina Garciamendez (Stanford), Maya Hayes (Penn State), Ines Jaurena (Florida State), Julie Johnston (Santa Clara), Lindsi Lisonbee Cutshall (Brigham Young), Kristen Mewis (Boston College), Caroline Miller (Virginia), Christine Nairn (Penn State), Kealia Ohai (North Carolina), Rachel Quon (Stanford), and Erika Tymrak (U. of Florida). This year, there is online fan-voting component (voting page on LockerDome.com), however it is unclear how much, if any, weight the fan voting is given.
NCAA College Cup Begins Friday Night: On Friday, the semifinals of the Division I tournament will be held at the University of San Diego. At 8:30 p.m. ET, Penn State takes on Florida State, which will be streamed live on ESPN3.com. (And, also rebroadcast on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. ET on ESPNU, ahead of the title match.) At 11:00 p.m., Stanford plays the University of North Carolina. Then, on Sunday, at 4:00 p.m. ET, the title match will be shown live on ESPNU. For official news and details, see NCAA.com. And, for extensive previews and analysis, check out AllWhiteKit.com.
Bonus: UEFA.com reported this week that the first parent-child duo to play together in international soccer happened in a friendly on Wednesday night when 39 year-old Bára Skaale Klakstein started for the Faroes Island and was joined in the 61st minute by her 17 year-old daughter, Eydvør.
Women's Soccer Express 