“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.

For me, the real issue is, who cares? I don’t want to fuck him, I just want to see him play football. But, the Brazilians seem to be taking the whole thing as a slur on the game of football, in fact their entire nation. If one footballer is gay, does that make the rest of the country gay too? Methinks the lady does protest too much, but he is a pretty boy.

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.