Teams & Games To Watch
The favorite and No. 1 seed in the championships is Azusa Pacific (Calif.). The Cougars held down the No. 1 spot in the NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 poll for the final two weeks of the regular season.

Defending national champion Graceland University out of Iowa won the Region V Championship for the first time in school history and were awarded a No. 11-seed. The YellowJackets will face No. 6-seed Concordia (Calif.) who was ranked #1 in the country for 5 weeks consecutively.

The perennial power Lindsey Wilson (Ky) is typically one of the favorites every time they reach the national tournament and this year is no different as they come in as a 2 seed.

The toughest game in the second round after the byes promises to be Auburn Montgomery (7) vs Southern Nazarene(10) on Friday at 1 pm.

Tournament Field
• Simon Fraser (B.C.) (Region I)
• Fresno Pacific (Calif.) (Region II)
• Northwestern (Iowa) (Region III)
• Park (Mo.) (Region IV)
• Graceland (Iowa) (Region V)
• Southern Nazarene (Okla.) (Region VI)
• Judson (Ill.) (Region VII)
• Madonna (Mich.) (Region VIII)
• Rio Grande (Ohio) (Region IX)
• Maine-Fort Kent (Region X)
• Mid-Continent (Ky.) (Region XI)
• Covenant (Ga.) (Region XII)
• Auburn-Montgomery (Region XIII)
• Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (Region XIV)
• MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (automatic)
• Mobile (Ala.) (at-large)
• Azusa Pacific (Calif.) (at-large)
• Ohio Dominican (at-large)
• Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) (at-large)
• Concordia (Calif.) (at-large)

You can see the tournament bracket here. All games will be available live through video stream at www.watchNAIA.com.  Two different subscription plans will be available, an all-tournament pass for $24.95 or any single game for $9.95.

The defending national champions, Lindsey Wilson, enter the tournament as a two seed and last year’s runner up, Asuza Pacific, comes in with a three seed.  This year’s top seeded team in the tournament is Lee College from Tennessee.

You can view the brackets here and can keep track of the game on the web at www.naiasoccer.org. Two different subscription plans will be available for tournament coverage, an all-tournament pass for $24.95 or any single game for $9.95.

Men’s Division I

Men’s Division II

Men’s Division III

Men’s NAIA

After Brazil shocked the world by beating the US 4-0 it came up short in front of the German team. Germany made history by completing the first successful title defence in the tournament’s history.

Marta, the #10 for Brazil and the media darling of the World Cup, had the misfortune of missing a very important penalty kick.  The penalty kick would of evened up the score and possibly changed the game. Germany’s goalkeeper became the hero of her country as she guessed correctly and made an outstanding save.

“I watched Brazil’s game against Australia and although that time Marta went for the right corner with her penalty, I had a feeling that this time she would go for the left. So I decided to wait as long as possible - and it was the right decision. –Nadine Angerer, Germany goalkeeper.

In other news, the US won a bittersweet bronze after defeating Norway 4-1 in a game that was surrounded by the controversial interview by Hope Solo, who once again found herself on the bench.  Abbt Wambach was again the hero as she guided her team to a third place finish.

The U.S. learned some lessons after falling to the stellar play of Brazil but despite the blow to their egos they still managed to take home bronze.

Overall, this World Cup was a definite improvement over the last one.  The quality of teams competing was better and the level of interest in the games was up.  Women soccer players everywhere hope the enthusiasm created by this World Cup will continue on:

“With no men’s World Cup or youth World Cup next year, the women’s game has the chance to keep itself in the spotlight and build on the momentum.”

Here are short videos on three of the many different moves you can make in FIFA 2008:

Zidane’s Spin on the Ball

Ronaldo Chop

The Rabona

“The 32 matches of the Women’s World Cup are available in 200 territories on six continents. Broadcasts have increased 25 percent from just four years ago.”

Haven’t had time to watch any of the games?  FIFA is offering highlight videos of each match on their website. Residents of thirty some countries can watch live coverage on the internet via FIFA.com TV and for those that can’t access FIFA.com TV, the MatchCast data feed is also available.

The U.S. women’s national team coach Greg Ryan is ready for a tough World Cup, saying ”We knew this was going to be a very tight World Cup, so many great teams”.  However he is still confident in his team’s ability: 

“Right now we are still the strongest team in the world”

If Brazil has anything to say about it, the U.S. team will have to be at the top of their game to win the cup.  When Brazil soundly defeated the home team they put everyone on notice that they are major contenders for this year’s World Cup.

This match served well as game of the week. Although Lúcio, Ronaldinho, and friends proved to be too much for the US to handle, the men’s national team showed vast improvement since thier losses in Copa America and the Sweden game. Better to see them play a powerhouse like Brazil to a decent loss than a lesser competitor for a win. The US MNT is scheduled to see action again on 10/14 against Catalonia at the Nou Camp in Barcelona, Spain.

Women’s Professional Soccer League
ESPN reported today that a new women’s professional soccer league will begin with seven teams across the country in 2009. The teams will play in
the following cities, some of them in MLS soccer-specific stadiums:

• Boston
• Chicago
• Dallas
• Los Angeles
• New Jersey/New York
• St. Louis
• Washington

Second Time’s the Charm
This isn’t the first attempt at a women’s professional league. According to ESPN, this time around the team owners will try to learn from the mistakes of the Women’s United Soccer Association that shut down after 3 seasons.

ESPN says the new soccer league “intends to partner with Soccer United Marketing, which is affiliated with MLS, for sponsorship and marketing. The league plans to announce a new name in the coming months, and more teams may be added.”

Thanks Phil
The investment in the AEG L.A. Women’s Soccer will make 4 professional U.S. soccer teams that the Anschutz Entertainment Group has an ownership stake in, including the Chicago Fire, Houston Dynamo, and Los Angeles Galaxy. Thanks Phil for investing in U.S. soccer!

Here’s another video that shows footage of FIFA 08 in action on a Playstation 3.  As you watch, the speaker explains how the new game technology allows a wide variety of skill moves, not just canned moves, and “authentic football where every single game you play is unique.”