China’s coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors of Sweden (C) comforts her player Han Duan after their loss to Norway at the quarterfinal match of the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer tournament in Wuhan, China Sunday Sept. 23, 2007. Norway defeated China 1-0. [Xinhua]

Though Domanski-Lyfors failed to meet her own pre-tournament target of leading the hosts into the top four of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, she won universal approval with the local press and fans. The Chinese Football Association (CFA) had expressed their wish to keep everything stay put and the Swede could remain with the Chinese side in preparation for next year’s Olympic Games.

But Domanski-Lyfors thought otherwise and chose to stay with her family.

“I am happy in China and like the job, but my family comes first,” Domanski-Lyfors was quoted as telling Swedish media.

With the Olympics less than 300 days away, the Chinese football governing body has to set off a frantic hunt for a new coach for the “Steel Roses”. They have fixed their target on three candidates with Loisel tipped as the best-equipped one.

“We have to fast-track our selection process as there is not so much time left. We hope the new coach would be in position by the end of this month,” said a CFA insider.

Loisel’s contenders are April Heinrich, former head coach of the United States, and the incumbent Brazil manager Jorge Barcellos, and with a similar background in European football to Domanski-Lyfors, the former France coach is reckoned as the ideal successor to ensure a troubleless transition ahead of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

“We have sounded some revered experts on Domanski-Lyfors replacement, and most of them also prefer Loisel,” said the CFA source.

“If we chose her, the upside for her is that she shares the rather similar style with Domanski-Lyfors and that can ensure she could fit into the team soon, and the downside is she has no experience of managing a team in any major tournaments like World Cup and Olympic Games,” he said.

The quit of Domanski-Lyfors left the Chinese team agitated and unsettled.

“She is an unpretentious and jovial character, and often treated us as her daughters,” said midfielder Bi Yan.

“We sincerely hope she could continue to coach us as she has raised the team’s overall strength up a notch. A new coach is now coming and we have to cotton on to each other, and sometimes it is very painful.

“We hope the new coach could be very much like Marika,” she said.

The CFA has entered into talks with Loisel, and the French lady didn’t conceal her excitement at the prospect of taking charge of the talented but unpredictable Chinese.

“I am very interested in the job and it will come as an extraordinary challenge in my coaching career,” she told local press this week. “But negotiations are ongoing and nothing can be taken for granted for the time being.”

This follows the announcement by Botswana Football Association (BFA) that the newly formed national team will play in the African Women Football Championship qualifiers.

Botswana meets Namibia in the first leg of the qualifiers on the weekend of November 1-3 in Gaborone with the return scheduled for December. The winner of the tie is likely to meet the formidable Falcons of Nigeria.

The announcement of the Botswana team sounded like a joke to some soccer pundits.

Others say they have never heard of the Botswana national women team before the announcement. Women football in Botswana is at an infancy stage hence many believe BFA should be focusing on development before international competitions. It does not help that the national team was assembled last week, with about a fortnight to go before the tournament.

Some stakeholders have questioned the quality of players in the team, as they are not regular faces at their clubs. Though the team boasts of some good players like Prisons’ Tshepo Nkonyane and forward Thuto Ramafifi of Double Action, there is still a lot that needs to be done to nurture the youngsters and build their confidence.

Untouchable coach Bonny Mametse labelled BFA as the clown of the year for thinking the team can compete with the kind of players in it. Mametse is also the chairperson of Women Football Commission. He wondered how the team was selected since club coaches were not involved. He believes good players have been left out and wondered why BFA had to wait until the last minute to form the national team. “How do they expect players to understand each other in just two weeks? Why did they not form a team in time when they knew all this time that there is a tournament?” he asked.

Khanti Piet of Meat Girls also think it is too early for the team to compete. He wondered who was responsible for selecting players as club coaches were not consulted. He added that the focus should be on building the team.

Manana’s Katamelo Masilonyane shares Piet’s sentiments that it is too early to compete.

He said that even the quality of players is very questionable. He lamented that they have not been engaged in the selection of the team and wondered who the coach is. Just like Mametse, Masilonyane believes good players have been left out of the team. He said the naming of the team is a good development but it came at the wrong time.

However, Phenyo Maitshotlo of Kanye Swallows believes Botswana women are ready to compete at international level. He said the women soccer team has a number of good players who can handle tough opponents. He pleaded with those who have doubts to give the team a chance. “How are we going to judge ourselves if we do not compete?

You will never know you are ready until you try,” he said. Maitshotlo believes that to improve, the women should be allowed to compete to identify their mistakes. He lamented that BFA does not give the women football the recognition it deserves since it is developing at a snail’s pace.

He said it was not the players’ mistake that the women football is not growing at the desired pace hence they should not be punished for others’ sins. He called on the BFA to act fast to put more effort on women football development.

Tshepo Mphukuthi of BFA said Batswana should not fear anything as they have assembled a strong team. He has no doubt that the team will do Batswana proud.

He said they assembled the team at the last minute because they had anticipated that the tournament would be held next year. He said they could not engage coaches in the selection of the team because this is not the procedure.

He explained that the team coach is responsible for selecting the players that he wants. The team is under the guidance of Kagiso Gabasiane, Re Ba Bona Ha coach based in Francistown.

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

There are more here.

“The referee looked at me and said, ‘You can’t play in that,’” the 15-year-old told The Tampa Tribune. “This isn’t headgear or anything. It’s part of the faith. I don’t think it should be a problem that I wear it.”

A league official overruled referee Steve Richardson during half-time, but he still refused to let the Muslim girl play in the second half of the game.

“At first I was extremely upset,” she said. “I got very emotional. I kept my cool. I wiped my face because I was crying. But then everyone rallied around us. All the team. All the parents. Even the other team. It was just phenomenal.”

The league later apologized to Iman and reminded referees that players are allowed to wear religious articles as long they don’t pose a threat of injury.

Her team, the Hernando Heat, won the game. A different referee allowed to her play in Sunday’s game, which her team lost 1-0.

“There was nothing we could do,” said Frank Villaizan. “Once the referee steps on the field, he is the governing body of that field. He runs the game, and we respect that.”

Richardson, the referee, couldn’t be reached for comment, according to the local newspaper.

Khalil said the white-and-blue head scarf has never been an issue in the two years she has played competitively across the state for the Hernando Heat, an under-16 girls squad.

Her teammates, parents, even members of the opposing Zephyrhills Bulldogs, all urged the referee, Steve Richardson, to let Khalil play, to no avail.

Richardson stood by his decision even after the United Soccer Association’s referee assignor for Pinellas County, Demetrios Papas, checked with the league at halftime and was told Khalil could play the second half, said Mike Duke, an assistant coach for the Heat.

Papas initially backed Richardson before checking with the league at halftime, Duke said.

“That’s the really disappointing thing,” Duke said. “He had an opportunity to make it right at that point, and he chose not to. Both teams were screaming for him to let her play. Still, he wouldn’t do it.”

Richardson could not be reached for comment.

Duke was at a loss to understand the decision.

“The intent of the rule is to make sure you don’t gain a competitive advantage,” Duke said. “How does she gain an advantage?”

Frank Villaizan, president of the USA’s executive board, said Saturday night he did not know much about the incident but expressed regret.

“It’s a shame,” he said. “I don’t like politics in sports.”

Villaizan said the center referee makes the ultimate decision on how the game is run. Asked if Richardson exceeded his authority by refusing to allow Khalil to play the second half, Villaizan said, “That you would have to ask the Florida State Referees Association.”

“If I’m not mistaken, on our end it was, ‘Yeah, play her,’” he said. “I’m sorry this happened.”

One parent, Angela Dombkowski of Pasco County, whose 15-year-old daughter is a right forward on the Heat, called the incident “heartbreaking.”

“All she’s doing is standing up for what she believes,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with that. She does get ridiculed when she’s out there playing. Somebody always makes a comment to her because of her head scarf. It’s just kids being rude, you know.”

Khalil’s benching brought her and her mother, Hernando County physician Lisa Allen-Khalil, to tears. Yet they were heartened by the show of support they received.

“At first I was extremely upset,” Allen-Khalil said. “I got very emotional. I kept my cool. I wiped my face because I was crying. But then everyone rallied around us. All the team. All the parents. Even the other team. It was just phenomenal.”

Her daughter’s head scarf might draw a look or a comment while she is out with friends at a mall, her mother said, “but nothing on this scale before at all. This is really very new to us.”

The Heat, which won Saturday’s game 4-0, plays at 1:30 p.m. today against the South Hillsborough Soccer Celtics at Putnam Park, 799 Riviere Road in Palm Harbor.

Khalil hopes to be in the lineup and allowed to play.

A not dissimilar tale is told here.

The aim of afc teams is to get top position in the next championship; super bowl. The championship already got sponsors for next tournament because of increasing popularity of american football, not only in America but also in other parts of world, especially in Europe.

First, the ref bows:

The game begins:

Is it cold, or is it me?

Injury!

Foul!

Argument:

Penalty:

Play on!

Good ball control:

Another foul. These girls play dirty!

Another injury!

All tuckered out, poor things:

Tell me these are not the sexiest footie fotos you have ever seen.

I know, not quite as sexy as the Playboy layout, but these are “real ” women.

I wouldn’t mind being in the shower afterwards though. I’m sure they wash up good.

The official FIFA site is here.

Abby Wambach was once again USA’s heroine as Greg Ryan’s side put their on-and-off-field troubles behind them to take bronze and deny Norway a place on the China 2007 podium.

Wambach’s opportunistic brace was the highlight of a match dominated by a clinical American side for whom Lori Chalupny and Heather O’Reilly also found the target, with Ragnhild Gulbrandsen’s subsequent header of little consolation to Bjarne Berntsen’s Norwegians.

The US held the upper hand from the outset, with Kristine Lilly – playing her final FIFA Women’s World Cup match – providing a touch of class during some fast and furious early exchanges with a curling left-foot shot that fizzed just over. Yet, just as Lilly and Co appeared to be taking a grip on proceedings, Solveig Gulbrandsen carved out the best chance of the opening half, crossing for 22-year-old Melissa Wiik to head wide on her first China 2007 start.

Wambach was to prove considerably more clinical at the other end with 30 minutes played, applying the deftest of touches to flick the ball past the wrong-footed Bente Nordby after Chalupny had returned a half-cleared corner towards goal. The striker’s ecstatic celebration betrayed the Americans’ relief at putting a week of in-fighting behind them, and Wambach again showed that her predatory instincts are as sharp as ever within a minute of the second half kicking off when she prodded home from close range after Cat Whitehill’s initial effort had come back off the post.

The US already had a firm grip on the bronze by this stage and any lingering doubts were removed within two minutes just prior to the hour-mark as Ryan’s side moved three and then four in front. The first of these two goals arrived in somewhat fortuitous fashion, Ingvild Stensland’s attempted clearance rebounding back into the net off Chalupny, while the fourth was hardly a work of art either, O’Reilly scrambling the ball home from two yards.

Not that any of that mattered to a team who had succeeded in proving a point to the watching world, and though Ragnhild Gulbrandsen provided some comfort for Norway with a superb arching header to reduce arrears on 63 minutes, it is the Americans who maintained their proud record in this competition of never having finished outside the top three.

This extract is taken from the official FIFA site.