» Women’s Football

Bye bye LA Sol. Hello F.C. Gold Pride

Ana — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:21:29 +0000

The Women’s Professional Soccer League here in the US is going into its second year, and things are not going nicely for some. LA Sol, last season’s most popular team, got shut down because they could not find any owners to… uh… own the team. Yeah, that bad.

The league had to dispense all LA Sol’s players last Thursday, including Brazilian superstar Marta, who now gets to play for F.C. Gold Pride (hey, you lose I win right?).

From NY Times:

Marta is expected to boost the team’s bottom line, too. Nancy NeSmith, a part owner of F.C. Gold Pride, said that Marta, the four-time FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, will help the team sell sponsorships and tickets at its new, smaller stadium at Cal State, East Bay.

“Our plan is to sell out every game,” said NeSmith, who added that the phones started ringing in the team’s ticket offices as soon as Marta’s acquisition was announced. “If we get into a smaller stadium and sell out, the demand grows and the sponsorship grows.”

Sounds reasonable. As long as there is steady growth, the league can survive. There is no way women’s football will grow from night to day in the US or anywhere else on the planet. And we have to agree that this is a great opportunity for Gold Pride. Not so much for Marta.

Santos wins women’s Libertadores.

Bruno Romani — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:38:37 +0000

If Santos’ fans are not so happy with the men’s team in the Brasileirão, the Santos’ ladies are giving fans total happiness: the team took home on Sunday the title for the women’s Libertadores Cup. This is the first edition of the tournament and Santos brought in big names such and Marta and Cristiane to help win the title. It obviously worked. Cristiane won most goals, scoring 15, and Marta was superb as always.

They beat Universidad Autónoma, from Paraguay, 9-0. Yes, you read it right, 9-0. Vila Belmiro was packed and fans could not ask for a better show. 14 thousand people showed up at the legendary stadium, a number higher than the average attendance that the men’s side has in the Brasileiro (about 8 thousand).

Santos finished the competition without losing a single match, scoring 43 goals and only taking 2. Like Pele turned Santos into the first Brazilian club to win the Libertadores in 1962, Marta did the same in the women’s version.

Well done!

Watch the goals:

Girls Can Also Pick Fights on the Pitch

Bruno Romani — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:53:22 +0000

It seems the evolution of women’s football in Brazil reached another stage. Female footballers can also put on a good and old fight on the pitch. It all happened in the match Cesmac 2 – 1 Sóesporte for the Alagoas state championship. The video is below. And no, don’t expect just hairs being pulled or nails turned into weapons.

Video: Marta Debuts at Santos Like a Rockstar

Bruno Romani — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:15:42 +0000

Wednesday night marked the debut of the best woman footballer at Santos. In a friendly match, her club defeated Comercial from Mato Grosso 10-0, and she scored twice. The most remarkable, however, was how she drove fans crazy, as if she belonged to The Beatles. Even the players of Comercial took pictures with her, as you can see it.

Photo: Now, Santos Has the King and the Queen

Bruno Romani — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:51:56 +0000

Marta was introduced to Santos fans today. She will be the main name of the side in the women’s version of Copa do Brasil and Copa Libertadores. She will be on loan for 3 months from Los Angeles Sol. The Copa Libertadores will be from the 4th to the 18th of October. The Copa do Brasil will run from September 15th to December 15th. Her first appearance will be on the 16th in a friendly against Comercial from Campo Grande.

Spain beats South Africa 2 – 0. New Zealand and Iraq are out after a 0 – 0 tie.

Ana — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:09:34 +0000

Today was a great day for South Africans in Confederations Cup. Despite the 2-0 loss to Spain, the team from Joel Santana has qualified to the semi-finals and should face Brazil (give they end first in their group after tomorrow’s match against Italy).

After a scoreless tie, New Zealand and Iraq are out of the competition. Here are the highlights and goals from Spain 2 – 0 South Africa.

Marta going to LA. Hooray!

Ana — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:38:51 +0000

The female version of Pele is joining the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league. Marta is leaving Sweden’s Umea and bringing a lot of good football to America. She’s joining Los Angeles Sol (the female equivalent of LA Galaxy), and will be like the Beckham of women’s football. Her contract is good for 3 years and she’s probably getting a lot of greenies for it. Good for her!

The deal, which is not yet official, should be announced on FIFA’s gala party on January 12th. Day in which, by the way, Marta should take home the award for best player in 2008.

The 22 year old player is unlike any footballer I’ve seen out there. For example, in 35 matches with the Brazilian shirt, Marta scored 37 goals. Not only that, but just seeing her play with such passion and skill inspires the little professional footballer inside of all of us. Hopefully now that she’s moving to LA I’ll get to see her play more often.

And if you haven’t thought of it already, it’s not hard to tell that this will be an amazing move: more publicity, more opportunities for advertisements, better weather and better chance for me to interview her!

Hooray!

A thought on women’s football.

Ana — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:14:34 +0000

I was talking to a friend last week about something that deeply bugs me: Why is women’s football so depreciated? We’ve seen some great matches during the Women’s World Cup in China. Yet, once that was over, the noise was sushed and will only revive in 4 years. That’s bad. It got me thinking into the entire women’s football system and how little attention or money these girls get.

Women’s players are the most committed athletes out there. They play a sport that gives them almost nothing in return. They find happiness simply in the fact that they are playing football. Something way different from some male players who are more interested in their big fat paychecks than actually delivering on the pitch.

Money is a big issue, one cannot ever deny it. What impresses is that a lot of women playing out there (especially in Brazil) take home a paycheck so little that it cannot even be compared to a male player playing for 3rd division (sadly, one of the reasons why I did not want to go professional). It’s a revolting situation! Yet the ladies still deliver amazing football on the pitch even though they cannot, by any means, sustain a family, buy expensive cars, or expensive anything.

Difficult situation.

Let’s just compare for a minute. Kaká was 2007’s best player of the year. So was Marta, for the ladies. Kaká’s salary is around 12 millions Euros per year. Marta’s is around 360 thousand. What a brutal difference!

Women’s football is growing, however, compared to 10 years ago. But at this pace it will take a long, long time until it has an impact even close to that of men’s footy. Clubs need to stop with fake promises and actually work on a plan to boost their women’s teams. The marketing has to be different and the efforts need to stop being just words. Efforts need to turn into actions.

Unfair. Brazil 0 – 1 USA.

Ana — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:38:03 +0000

Marta cries after the final whistle.

It was unfair. Unfair in so many levels. But we all know football is not fair. Brazil lost the Olympic title to the US today, 1 – 0 on overtime. The Brazilian ladies played with heart, passion and skill. A true portrayal of Brazilian football (something yet to be seen from coach Dunga’s team). Marta was spectacular on the pitch and created amazing goal chances up until the last second of the match. But it seemed like the ball refused to go into Hope’s net.

Brazil was better on the pitch, for the entire initial 90 minutes. They tried, and tried and tried. The US kept their plan and defended as well as possible, counting on the miracle saves of goalie Hope. And she did save them, many times. And in one of the few attacking balls the American ladies managed to push one in.

Seconds before the match ended, Marta looks up the sky and asks: “what have I done wrong?” Nothing, you have done absolutely nothing wrong. Football can be cruel and unfair.

These girls remind us how one should play wearing the yellow shirt. They make me proud to be Brazilian, proud to call that team mine. Each hustle, each run, each tear shows the passion and pride these girls have for their team. It is not about money or fame. It’s about winning even though they represent a country which pays nothing in return (for example, our goalie Barbara is currently unemployed and was playing for free for Sport – what a shame CBF!).

Let’s hope this time CBF will really do something to help out these girls, and not just spill out bullshit and fake promises – something they did after Brazil lost the final of Women’s World Cup to Germany.

I am very, very proud of this team.

Brazil women’s beat Germany with beautiful football.

Ana — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:23:36 +0000

Ronaldinho who? I didn’t get to see Pele play. Instead I saw Marta and Cristiane. Today I watched one of the most beautiful football matches of my life. On the pitch were the women’s teams of Brazil and Germany playing for a spot on the Olympic games final. Brazil had never won a single official match against the Germans, and it was also them who took away the dream of a World Cup title for the Brazilian ladies last year. And so the match started, with Brazil extremely nervous. So nervous was the team from Jorge Barcellos, they let Germany score a goal with only 10 minutes into the match.

And that brought Brazil down. A lot.

The entire first half saw Brazil play a style which did not belong to the players: wrong passes and balls in the air. And as the minutes passed I wondered if there was going to be a replay of last year’s World Cup final, where Brazil fell nervous agains a powerful Germany.

I was wrong. Graças a Deus! At the end of the first 90 minutes, the amazing Marta counter attacked and gave Cristiane a sweet pass, leaving her in front of he German goalie. It was the Brazilian revival!

After that it was samba all the way as the Brazilian girls completely dominated die Deutsche Damen.

Second Half kept the same energy. Marta scored one more on a nice individual run through the right, remembering Ronaldo’s good old days.

Cristiane, very inspired, sealed victory with a fourth goal, after dribbling 4 (yes 4, correct 4, that’s it 4) German defenders.

These ladies (the Brazilian ones) deserve many, many kudos for what they have been doing. For those of you who dont know, while men are making millions to play the beautiful game, these ladies make very little money to do what they love most. And still they find motivation to give their lifes inside the pitch.

I truly hope Brazil takes the gold home this Thursday against the US (Last Olympics they lost the final to the Americans). Not only do they deserve the gold medal for the beautiful football they play on the pitch but I also hope the gold will bring more support from clubs and the Brazilian government.