College Draft: On Friday, U.S. Soccer posted a news item announcing that the new league will hold a four-round draft for college players on Friday, January 18, 2013, during the NSCAA convention in Indianapolis. Players who have been out of college for less than a year and have not yet played professionally are eligible draft. The actual draft will be closed to the media and public, but the draft will be live-tweeted by the league as well as providing live updates on Facebook and the league’s yet-to-be launched website.

Free agent status: If a non-allocated player is playing professionally, or has played professionally, or has been out of college for more than a year, or went undrafted in the College Draft, then they will be considered a free agent. The league’s window for signing free agents will be sometime after the College Draft. (source: the same USSoccer.com news item).

International quota and status: As noted in an earlier post, there will be some sort of a quota for “international” players, namely two per team (Twitter). Players on foreign WNTs, but have U.S. passports, or foreign-born players with permanent residence status (e.g., have a green card, as will be the case with Lianne Sanderson – Tweet #1, #2), will apparently not count against this quota. In other words, if a non-allocated player needs a visa to play in the new league, then they count as an “international” player.

Initial roster structure: Teams are expected to have a roster of at least 18 players, but no more than 20 players. Seven of those players will be allocated from the sponsoring federations’ national teams: 3 from the USWNT player pool, and 2 each from Canada’s and Mexico’s WNTs. As noted above, teams will draft 4 players via the College Draft. The remainder of the roster spots (7 to 9) will be filled by free agents. A post-draft timeline for signing free agents and finalizing rosters (e.g., cutting free agents and drafted players) has not yet been published.

Fig. 1: Bar diagram showing an example roster structure.

~~~

Seattle Reign FC names first head coach: Also on Friday, the Seattle franchise named current Arsenal Ladies manager Laura Harvey as the team’s first head coach (Twitter). Under Harvey, Arsenal have three-peated as league champions (2009-2010, Women’s Premier League; 2011, 2012 FA Women’s Super League), as well as winning one Women’s FA Cup, and making the final four of the UEFA Women’s Champions League twice.  Further reading: Seattle Times blog write-up, ProstAmerika.com interview of Harvey, Arsenal.com write-up on Harvey’s departure,

~~~

Bonus: On Friday, U.S. Soccer also posted a feature about Ali Krieger returning to the USA from Germany.

2013 Algarve Cup matches may be available online:

A new company, “Al Bann Media Limited,” has apparently procured the tape-delay on-demand rights to stream the USWNT’s matches at next year’s Algarve Cup, in March 2013. The matches will be behind a paywall: Viewers can pay to see individual matches or buy a subscription for all four matches, which are said to not “cost any more than ordering a take-out pizza” (Facebook). Commentary for the matches will be provided by two retired Australian internationals, Alicia Ferguson, who was part of ESPN’s coverage of the 2011 Women’s World Cup, and the just-retired Sarah Walsh. Al Bann Media does not apparently have live broadcasting rights (Twitter), so a TV network, for example, may be able to swoop in and provide a live broadcast on television and/or online. The company has a website (www.albannmedia.com), an active Twitter account (@AlBannMedia), and a Facebook page.

About Al Bann Media: The company is a new United Kingdom private limited company registered in Northern Ireland. The company’s original filing date is October 25, 2012 (source: wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk, enter company number NI615169), which is also the date when its primary domain address was registered and when its Facebook page was originally created. “Bann” is the surname of the company’s founders.

Although, this appears to be a positive development for followers of the USWNT, many details and questions remain unsettled, so ‘cautious’ should be the watchword.

~ ~ ~

Nashville to host the USA and Scotland on February 13th:

On Thursday, U.S. Soccer confirmed that Nashville’s LP Field will host the second match of the USWNT’s and Scotland’s two-game series on Wednesday, February 13, 2013. The kick-off time is not yet available. (Quick note: February 13th is a men’s Champions League match date, so FOX Soccer is more than likely out as a TV broadcasting option.) The other match against Scotland is on Saturday, February 9, 2013, at 5:00 p.m. in Jacksonville, Florida. That schedule will allow for three full days between the two matches.

Seattle Team Name Unveiled: The Seattle Reign FC – On Tuesday, the Seattle franchise officially launched their Twitter (@SeattleReignFC) and Facebook page (ReignFC). The team’s website address is www.SeattleReignFC.com (which currently redirects to the Facebook page. The “Reign” moniker was previously used by a now defunct women’s professional basketball team (Wikipedia).and was presumably inspired by one of Seattle nicknames, “Rain City,” which is based on the city’s rainy reputation, as well as the name of the county — King — where Seattle is located. The logo (embedded below) is in the shape of a crown and features the face of a woman wearing a crown. A secondary logo, which is currently used on the team’s Twitter icon, is simply the crown from the primary logo inside a circle (similar to the design on plastic checkers pieces).

Fig. 1: The Seattle Reign FC logo.

Cindy (Parlow) Cone to helm Portland Thorns FC: Also on Tuesday, the Portland franchise announced that United States Women’s National Team alumna Cindy (Parlow) Cone will be the team’s head coach. Cone was a member of the USA’s 1999 Women’s World Cup championship team as well as the 1996 (Gold), 2000 (Silver), and 2004 (Gold) Olympic squads. Her USWNT career spanned 9 years and included 158 caps, 75 goals, plus 35 assists. After the USWNT, she served as an assistant head coach at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina, from 2007 through the just-concluded season.

Ali Krieger returns from Germany: After five-plus years with Frankfurt FFC, the USWNT fullback will return to the USA for the upcoming season, and hopes to play for the Washington Spirit, according to a Washington Post article by Steve Goff.  The 28 year-old, who is recovering from a January ACL injury, is quoted as saying “I want to be here from Day One with the national team and prove myself again,” and “The next four-year cycle is important for me.”

Only a draft for college players: According to multiple sources, once the sponsored national team players are allocated, there will only be a draft for college players. All other players will be considered as free agents and can negotiate with whichever teams they want. The college draft is planned to take place during the NSCAA’s annual convention in mid-January.

Mexico has been asked to up its sponsoring commitment to 16 players: Per K.C.-based sportswriter Thad Bell, the league has asked the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) to up its number of sponsored national team players from 12 to 16 players, in order to have a balanced number of subsidized players across the league’s eight teams. Thad Bell’s article also has some other roster-related tidbits, namely that there will apparently be a league salary cap for non-subsidized players of $200,000.

League Twitter handle changed: The league’s originally Twitter handle (@NWSL_soccer) has been changed to simply @NWSL, which previously belonged to an existing but little used account.

League LLC created and trademarks filed: The league’s legal entity is a Delaware limited liability corporation, simply named “National Women’s Soccer League, LLC.” It was incorporated on December 12th (screenshot), according to Delaware’s online database for corporations. Additionally, the the league’s trademark application for its name and logo was filed the next day, the 13th, (screenshot), according to the TESS database (tess2.uspto.gov).

USWNT defeated China 4:1 in its Final Fan Tribute Series match of 2012: On Saturday. the USA finished their year with a 4:1 victory over China. Abby Wambach had her second-straight brace, extending her international goals tally to 152, just 6 behind Mia Hamm’s record of 158 goals. Other USA scorers on Saturday were Megan Rapinoe and Sydney Leroux. See also: U.S. Soccer match report, U.S. Soccer highlights, U.S. Soccer post-game reaction video.

USWNT versus Scotland in Jacksonville on February 9th: After rumors of the matches leaked out earlier this month, U.S. Soccer confirmed that the USWNT will play Scotland in at least one match — On Saturday, February 9, 2013, at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida, with kick-off at 5:00 p.m. ET. The USSoccer.com news item specifically noted that “broadcast information will be released at a later date.” This will be the first official match for the USWNT under new head coach Tom Sermanni and will be part of the USA’s first camp of 2013. General ticket sales for the match begin December 21st.

The name of the new women’s professional soccer league is… The “National Women’s Soccer League,” or “NWSL.” See this post from earlier on Sunday for more information, including a sample of the new logo. Additionally, Bill Predmore’s POP Agency has been confirmed as the designer of the new league’s logo (Twitter).

Player allocation for new league planned for late December: Thad Bell, writing for Examiner.com, posted an article on Saturday which detailed the allocation process for the national team players from the NWSL’s three sponsoring federations: U.S. Soccer, Canada Soccer, and Mexico’s soccer association (FMF).Those three federations are expected to finalize their lists of subsidized players by the end of next week (e.g., December 21st). After that, the selected players and clubs will have about a week to submit their preferences to the league. The league plans to do the actual allocating in the final few days of the year. “The target date to announce the players is ‘right before New Years,’” which falls on a Tuesday.

Sarah Hagen scores four goals in German Cup quarterfinal: On Saturday, American Sarah Hagen netted four goals as her club team Bayern Munich defeated second division 1899 Hoffenheim 5:1 in the quarterfinals of the Women’s German Cup (DFB-Pokal der Frauen). (DFB box score, in German) Highlights, plus post-match interviews with BM players, including Hagen (in English), can be watched on the club’s website. Those 4 goals raised Hagen’s rookie year tally to 23 goals in all competitions (Bayern Munich statistics page for Hagen, in German).

Mexico falters, Brazil rebounds: Sunday, the final round-robin match day of the City of Sao Paulo International Tournament, saw Brazil defeat Denmark 2:1 off goals by Erika (7′) and Debora (89′), while #24 Mexico, fresh off its historic 2:1 victory over Brazil, fell 1:0 to #46 Portugal. In the Brazil match, FIFA Women’s Player of the Year finalist Marta had to leave the match in the first half due to a muscle strain. The tournament concludes on Wednesday with the placement matches which will see rematches of both Sunday’s matches as Brazil and Denmark finished as the top two teams, while Portugal and Mexico finished third and fourth, respectively. See also: Terra.com.br write-up on the Brazil/Denmark match (in Portuguese), FMF write-up on Mexico/Portugal match (in Spanish).

The Details…
Name: National Women’s Soccer League
Logo: (included after the jump)
Website: NWSLsoccer.com (which currently redirects to the league’s Facebook page)
Twitter: @NWSLsoccer
Facebook: facebook.com/NWSLsoccer

Fig. 1: The new league’s logo and name.

The logo, which is shaped as an upside-down pentagon, features the silhouette of a female soccer player, with red on one side of the player and blue on the other. Whether the logo was based on a specific person or not has yet to be officially confirmed.

The logo’s silhouette and patriotic color scheme has its roots in Major League Baseball’s current logo (Wikipedia), which was designed in 1968, and inspired the National Basketball Association’s logo, designed a year later), as well as other sport leagues’ logos. The new league’s emblem is not much of a departure from the logo of the now-defunct Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), which also had a split-color background — gold and red — with a player silhouette in front.

Fig. 2: Logos of earlier professional women’s soccer leagues,
the WUSA (2001-2003) and the WPS (2009-2011).

The fonts used on the new logo and for the new league’s name appears to be in the Square Slab 711 family (MyFonts.com), although the apostrophe used in the full league name does not match and is likely borrowed from another font or an original creation of the logo’s graphic designer(s). Additionally, there does not seem to be an actual Italic variant of Square Slab 711, however text slanting can be easily done in any capable graphics program.

Regarding the league’s domain names, NWSL.org was also registered by a representative of the new league. The .com version of that domain name, NWSL.com, currently belongs to a model railroad parts supplier (actual website). It is possible that the new league may try to buy the NWSL.com domain name from its current owners in order to use that domain as its primary address for the league’s eventual website.

With the announcements of the D.C. franchise’s name, the Washington Spirit, as well as the Portland franchise’s name, Portland Thorns FC, earlier in the week, the only name-related news left regarding the new league is the moniker of the Seattle franchise.

See also: U.S. Soccer news item on the league’s name and logo.

Final match of the Fan Tribute Series is tonight: The tenth match of the United States Women’s National Team’s post-Olympics celebration series will be played tonight at Florida Atlantic University, versus China.  The match will be televised by both NBC Sports Network and Univision Deportes Network, with coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Name and logo for the new women’s pro league to be revealed tonight: Per U.S. Soccer, at halftime of tonight’s USWNT/China friendly, the league’s name, along with its logo, will be revealed on national television (NBC Sports Network and Univision Deportes Network).

Mexico defeats Brazil in Brazil: Thursday night, the Mexico Women’s National Team (ranked #24) faced Brazil (ranked #4) on the second match day of the City of São Paulo International Tournament, and pulled out a 2:1 victory on an 89th minute goal by its veteran captain, Maribel Dominguez.This is apparently Mexico’s first win against Brazil.

Brazil scored first, in the 14th minute, when Marta crossed the ball in front of goal to Rosana, who was challenged by Under-17 defender Paulina Solis. Mexico’s write-up lists that as an own goal by Solis, while Brazil’s write-up credits Rosana. In the 61st minute, Pepperdine University senior Anisa Guajardo stripped the ball from Brazil’s left fullback, charged toward goal, and coolly sent in an angled shot to the far post, past Brazil’s ‘keeper, Andreia. A few minutes later, Brazil earned a penalty kick after Mexico’s Alina Garciamendez was adjudged to have fouled Marta in the box. Cristiane took the penalty, and aimed for the lower-left corner, but sent her shot scurrying beyond the post. In the minutes after the missed penalty, Brazil had a couple of other good chances, but failed to convert: first  by Marta, charging in on goal, who sent her shot just wide right, and a header on a corner kick that was saved by Mexico’s goalkeeper, Celia Santiago. Mexico’s winning goal came when Dominguez, who did not start the match, latched onto on an errant pass at midfield and raced down the right flank, then sent a hard shot into the upper left corner from outside the box. See also: FMF write-up (in Spanish), CBF write-up (in Portuguese).

In the other match on Thursday, Portugal held Denmark to a scoreless draw. The next match day of the tournament is Sunday, with Brazil facing Denmark and Mexico taking on Portugal in the final matches of the round-robin phase.

Portland’s franchise will be named “Portland Thorns FC” — On Thursday, via the Portland Timbers website, it was revealed that the name of Portland’s professional women’s soccer team will be the “Thorns,” or more completely, “Portland Thorns FC.” The moniker is primarily in reference to one of Portland’s nicknames, “Rose City.” The team’s crest was also revealed (included below). See also: PTFC press release.

2015 Women’s World Cup Canada Official Emblem unveiled: On Friday, in Vancouver, the Canada Soccer Association held a ceremony at BC Place to introduce the official emblem as well as the “official look” (text logo, colors) for the 2015 Women’s World Cup (Canada Soccer, FIFA.com). The emblem features the standard FIFA wave on the right, with a figurative maple leaf on the left. FIFA’s microsite for the 2015 WWC was also updated accordingly with the emblem as well as the text logo and colors.

USWNT to host Scotland in February? On Friday (14-Dec), the Washington Post‘s Steve Goff tweeted that the United States Women’s National Team is “set to play” Scotland twice in February:

#uswnt set to play Scotland twice in February at southeast U.S. venues. Details being finalized

—
Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) December 14, 2012

OMG, just found out we play Americaaaaa in like 2 months #justwee'd

—
Jo Love (@jolove6) December 05, 2012

@RachSmall23 ayeeee! Feb 10th and 13th.... AWAY! Seems I have breaking news eh :) role model stuff pays off! #SWNTontour

—
Jo Love (@jolove6) December 05, 2012

These will likely be the first matches for the USWNT under new head coach Tom Sermanni, who is a native Glaswegian, and will coincide with the team’s first camp of the year as they prepare for the Algarve Cup. January is set to be a month for rejuvenation and — more than likely — collective bargaining negotiation for the USWNT players and U.S. Soccer.

Scotland narrowly failed to qualify for the 2013 Women’s EURO, so their focus has turned to Women’s World Cup qualifying, which, for Scotland and most UEFA teams, begins next September.

2013 Algarve Cup groups: Earlier this week, Iceland’s FA posted a news item (in Icelandic) confirming the top two groups in next year’s Algarve Cup. In Group A, the United States will face Sweden, now helmed by the USA’s former coach, Pia Sundhage, Sweden, plus Iceland and China (yes, again), while Group B will feature Germany, Japan, Norway, and Denmark. Not yet officially confirmed is Group C, however, Portugal (as hosts) and Wales (source: Wales’ FA) are confirmed, while Mexico and Hungary appear to be the final two teams.

Abby Wambach scores her 150th international goal: In last night’s Fan Tribute match against China, Abby Wambach netted her 149th and 150th international goals in a United States Women’s National Team jersey, putting her just 8 goals behind Mia Hamm’s all-time record of 158 career international goals. Wambach’s two goals also upped her calendar year tally to 25 goals. See Also: Highlights from yesterday’s match, U.S. Soccer match report.

Chicago Red Stars announce coaching staff: Yesterday, the Chicago Red Stars, who will be part of the United States’ new women’s professional league, issued a press release announcing their primary coaching staff for next season. Rory Dames, who is also the director of coaching for Eclipse Select youth club, will continue in his third year as head coach of the Red Stars. His first assistant head coach will be Northwestern alumna Stephanie Foster, who was previously the head coach at her alma mater from 2006 to 2011. The second assistant coach is Christian Lavers, who also serves as the director of coaching for Wisconsin Eclipse and is the President of Elite Clubs National League (ECNL). The goalkeeper coach is Louisville alumnus Trae Manny.

Norway’s Hegerberg sisters to Turbine Potsdam?  17 year-old 5’10″ forward Ada Hegerberg (FIFA profile), who scored a hat trick in the recent Norwegian Cup final (NRK.no, video highlights), and her 19 year-old 5’7″ midfielder sister, Andrine (FIFA profile), both appear to be heading to Germany’s Turbine Potsdam, from their current club Staebek (UEFA.com), according to reports out of Norway (NRK.no, in Norwegian). However, their contracts are yet to be finalized. Potsdam is currently second in the Frauen-Bundesliga and has Americans Alyssa Naeher (goalkeeper), Keelin Winters (defender), and Alex Singer (defender), plus international stars Yuki Ogimi (forward, Japan) and Genoveva Anonma (forward, Equatorial Guinea) on its roster (in German).

City of São Paulo Tournament continues today: The Torneio Internacional Cidade de São Paulo de Futebol Feminino begins its second match day this evening with Portugal facing Denmark (4:30 p.m. ET) and Mexico taking on Brazil (6:50 p.m. ET)

First USWNT camp of 2013 not until February? ESPN writer Jeff Carlisle posted an article on Tuesday primarily about defender Whitney Engen, who has signed to play for Liverpool Ladies in England’s Women’s Super League next year. At the end of that article (which is well-worth reading), are some odd-n-end notes on the USWNT, including that “Sermanni…expects to get the team back together in early February in order to begin preparations for the Algarve Cup” after giving the players some time off to “Forget about football for a while, maybe three weeks, just chill out, and then get themselves mentally and physically refreshed to come back again.”

Crystal Dunn wins the 2012 Honda Sports Award for Soccer: NCAA national champion and Under-20 Women’s World Cup champion Crystal Dunn of the University of North Carolina has picked up another honor this year, the 2012 Honda Sports Award for Soccer (goheels.com), which is selected by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards organization. Previous winners for soccer include Teresa Noyola (Stanford, 2011), Melissa Henderson (Notre Dame, 2010), Whitney Engen (UNC, 2009), and Casey Nogueira (UNC, 2008). Dunn is now eligible for the Honda Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. Past soccer award winners who have gone on to win the overall athlete award are Christine Sinclair (Portland, 2005-06), Cindy Daws (Notre Dame, 1996-97), and Mia Hamm (UNC, 1993-94).

USWNT vs. China on TV tonight: The ninth match of the USA’s Fan Tribute Series, against China, will be shown tonight on FOX Soccer, starting at 8:30 p.m. ET, with pre-game coverage beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET.

New league meeting today: Sky Blue FC owner Thomas Hofstetter (in a NJ.com article) and FC Kansas City executive Brian Budzinski (on Twitter) have both mentioned that there will be league meeting today (in Houston, before the USWNT match), so there should be some additional news about the new women’s pro league coming out tonight and in the next few days.

Chicago Red Stars to announce coaching staff this week: On Monday, the Red Stars tweeted that they will be formally announcing their coaching staff sometime this week.

~ ~ ~

Also, for a round-up on more news about the new women’s league, see this post from last night.

“Women’s Professional Soccer Association?” Here’s the relevant quote from Giase’s article: “The new league, likely to be called the Women’s Professional Soccer Association.” Also, the domain name “wpsasoccer.com” was registered on November 25th by Bill Predmore, the lead owner for the new Seattle franchise (Network Solutions whois). A search of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s online trademark database does not bring up any current applications for that name. However, there is a “dead” application for the term “WPSA” by the previous pro league, Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), when it was still in the development phase. (A screenshot of the summary page for that application can be viewed on EqualizerSoccer.com.)

Washington Spirit – The DC’s website is at WashingtonSpirit.com and their completely new Twitter handle is @WashSpirit. (Followers of the old @DCFreedom and @DCUWomen accounts will need to follow the new account.) Also announced on Tuesday is that Mike Jorden, who coached the D.C. United Women last season, will be the team’s head coach. Prior to coaching the DCU Women, Jorden coached a number of youth girls teams, including FC Virginia of the ECNL (FCvirginia.com). Cindi Harkes, wife of former USMNT player John Harkes is expected to be one of Jorden’s lead assistants, according to the Spirit’s announcement about their name. This is not the first time that a professional women’s soccer team has been named the “Spirit.” That moniker was previously used by the WUSA’s San Diego Spirit (Wikipedia).

Other Club Names – As noted above, Portland will reveal their name and logo on Thursday. The only other franchise whose name remains unknown is Seattle.

~ ~ ~

Giase’s article has a couple of interesting new nuggets regarding the league…

Quota limits for foreign players: From the article –

“Foreign players are interested, but salaries will not allow too many to come back,” Hofstetter said. “We are only going to allow five or six foreigners per team — my guess would be five — and since each team will have two Canadians and two Mexicans there are only one or two slots left.

(Note: Hofstetter’s quotes regarding the number of allocated players per pro team from the USA, Canada, and Mexico national teams should be considered maximum, absent confirmed new developments from those three federations.)

It is unclear whether players with dual-citizenship, such as Ali Riley and Rebecca Smith, who play for New Zealand, but also have USA citizenship, would be counted as “foreign” or not.

Two expansion teams in 2014? The article includes the line, “The league, which already has plans to expand to 10 teams in 2014.” As far as expansion candidates go, a pair of teams in California (e.g., Los Angeles plus either San Francisco, San Jose, or San Diego) is likely the preferred option, although reality may dictate other options.

And there was video highlights: Sunday night, U.S. Soccer posted to its YouTube channel highlights of the December 8th match between the United States Women’s National Team and China’s WNT, although the quality is not that great:

Christine Sinclair wins the 2012 Lou Marsh Trophy: On Monday, Canada WNT captain Christine Sinclair was named the winner (Toronto Star) of the 2012 Lou Marsh Trophy (Wikipedia), which is given to Canada’s best athlete, male or female, as voted on by a select group of Canadian sports journalists. This is the first time that the awarded, which has been given to the likes of Wayne Gretsky (hockey, 4-time winner), Mario Lemieux (hockey), and Steve Nash (basketball), has been awarded to a soccer player, male or female. The Marsh Trophy is the latest accolade for the Olympic Bronze Medalist, who was also the top vote-getter is CBCSports.ca’s fan voting for the CBC’s Canadian Athlete of the Year award (cbc.ca) as well as being named Air Canada’s inaugural Athlete of the Year (CanadaSoccer.com).

U.S. Soccer has applied to trademark “USWNT” and “USMNT” – On December 5th, U.S. Soccer filed trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the acronyms “USWNT” and “USMNT” for use on apparel such as T-shirts, jackets, sweaters, and hats. (Combined screenshot of the entries from the USPTO’s online trademark database, TESS).  So, we could see U.S. Soccer selling such items in the next year or so, as well as the federation clamping down on unauthorized uses of the acronym marks.  Edit: U.S. Soccer is already selling some “USWNT” items, such as this hashtag #USWNT T-shirt, so this registration seems to be more for the latter purpose of limiting unauthorized merchandise. — For more on the federal trademark process, see the “Basic Facts” brochure from the USPTO (PDF format).

City of São Paulo International Tournament: Brazil 4, Portugal 0: Brazil, in their first match under new head coach Márcio de Oliveira, cruised past Portugal via a score of 4:0, with goals by Cristiane (8′), Fabiana (36′), Marta (47′), and Giovania (80′). Brazil used a four-back formation that would best be described as a 4-4-2 narrow diamond. Brazil’s starting line-up was Andreia in goal; with Fabiana, Aline, Daiane, and Andressa Silva on the back line; then Erika as the volante (defensive midfielder), with Rosana, Francielle, and Marta in the midfield; plus Cristiane and Debora up top as forwards. (CBF.com.br match report in English).

Prior to the tournament’s start, centerback Gislaine and goalkeeper Danielle had to pull out due to injuries. They were replaced by Andreia Rosa (Centro Olympico) and Thais Helena (São José EC), respectively (CBF.com.br, in Portuguese).

City of São Paulo International Tournament: Denmark 5, Mexico 0: Mexico, who has not played any friendlies since February, gave up a penalty in the fifth minute when defender Kenti Robles was called for handling when blocking a shot on goal with her upper arm. That penalty was converted and Mexico conceded another goal less than two minutes later. Denmark added two more goals in the first half, at the 20′ and 31′ mark, and then scored their final goal in the second half at the 63′ mark. This was apparently the first senior Mexico WNT cap for Santa Clara sophmore Sofia Huerta. Mexico went with their traditional 4-4-2 formation, starting Santiago in goal; Robles, Ruiz, Garciamendez, and Solis in defense; Garza, Rangel, Perez, and Ocampo in the midfield, and Dominguez plus  Huerta as forwards. See Also: FMF write-up (in Spanish), DBU write-up (in Danish), DBU box-score (in Danish).