Marta’s three year deal in WPS, which saw her play for three different clubs amidst uncertainty and folded teams, ended following the 2011 season and she has since been exploring her options. With tears in her eyes as she spoke at her introductory press conference on Wednesday, Marta officially signed with Tyresö, joining the likes of Caroline Seger and Veronica Boquete, to name just two of the club’s top-notch players.

Marta previously played in Sweden with Umeå IK, winning four Swedish Damallsvenskan titles and one UEFA Champions League crown.

Reports on what her salary fluctuate wildly, with some Brazilian press outlets suggesting she will earn over $1.3 million (Portuguese). It will require some time to delve into a more accurate report on what Marta stands to make from the deal. Over time, WPS team officials slowly revealed details of Marta’s three-year, $500,000 annual contract with WPS as time passed.

Sweden is where Marta – still just 26 years old – burst onto the scene from 2004 to 2008. She moved to the Los Angeles Sol in 2009, but the team folded and she moved up the California coast to FC Gold Pride. Marta led that team to a WPS title before it folded in the offseason. She moved to Rochester, N.Y., where she led the Western New York Flash to a 2011 championship, but WPS suspended play for 2012.

It never seemed likely that Marta would return to WPS this season anyway. Several factors played into her decision to return to Sweden, but the volatile nature of WPS – a league that shipped her around to three different markets in a country where she could not move the needle on women’s soccer – only further pushed her away. Following Western New York’s championship victory in August, the goodbyes seemed to be genuine from Marta, as if she would not return to WPS (little did we know then that nobody would).

Now it’s back to Sweden. And for American fans? No Marta. No WPS.

ELSEWHERE:

Ali Riley and Rebecca Moros are training in Duisburg currently. It’s too late for them to sign this season, but the team is hopeful they can sign the pair for the 2012-13 season (German). Before she hopped onto her plane to Germany on Tuesday, Riley chatted with me on “This Week in Women’s Soccer” and discussed future playing option.

With Flash players essentially being loaned out to Sky Blue FC for a tournament, it yet again raises the issue of whether or not women’s soccer players will need to be freelance contractors.

From the countdown at the top of the Western New York Flash’s website: Over 1,100 days to….what, exactly? Hopefully that isn’t how long it takes WPS to return, or women’s soccer to find some guidance.

As you may (hopefully) know, I host a weekly show called “This Week in Women’s Soccer” over at North American Soccer Network. This week’s episode features chats with New Zealand defender Ali Riley, named to the WPS Best XI team both years she played in the league, and U.S. women’s national team legend Julie Foudy. We talk WPS, the future of women’s soccer and the Olympics, among other things. Listen to the show here and check out the full archive here.

Elsewhere on the podcast front, Ryan Knapp talks to W-League Commissioner Amanda Duffy on the NSCAA podcast here.

And this video below, titled “Sh*t Soccer Girls Say,” is going somewhat viral in the women’s soccer world (I know, that’s a bit of a paradox). Are you laughing at this or shaking your head?

Amanda DaCosta (right) laughing with teammates at a recent USWNT U-23 camp.

Whoever said chasing their dreams was easy either didn’t dream big enough or didn’t try hard enough. Playing professional soccer has been my dream since I was a little girl. Could you guess that it started with watching Mia Hamm and her teammates in the 1999 World Cup? Watching such strong women defy everyone’s expectations of them was so empowering. Even at a young age, I couldn’t help but know exactly where I wanted to go with soccer because of those females I grew up watching.

My rookie season in the WPS didn’t exactly go according to my dreams, but since when do plans ever work out anyway? Last year I was put in an environment that was completely out of my comfort zone, and I’ll be the first to tell you that it is hard to get me out of my comfort zone. When faced with hardships, the first thing I turn to is usually soccer. Between those white lines are my safety net, my peace, and my home. Soccer was not going well for me in South Florida. The environment I was in was not a healthy one, and it was really starting to take a toll on me both physically and mentally. Aside from all that, I wasn’t being exposed to the playing opportunities and coaching that I was initially hoping for, and I was frustrated beyond belief. For the first time in my life that summer, I was at a point where I could no longer turn to the one thing that had been my escape for so long. Where do you go when your escape becomes your troubles?

Soccer has been a big part of my identity my whole life. When I thought it could be lost, I started to lose myself. After finding comfort with a group of my teammates, I decided to work on my relationship with God. Our relationship is still a work in progress, but He helped guide me to finally finding peace within myself. It is amazing how empowering it is to be at peace with who you are: when you are finally at a point in your life where the uncontrollable events surrounding you can’t shake you, no matter how monumental.

This whole “inner peace” concept was put to the test shortly after I had it figured out. After being released, I came back with a completely new focus and even more drive than before. I returned to Florida State University to finish my last semester of school so I could graduate in December, and while I was there I re-evaluated my goals and trained harder than ever. With my faith resting in God and an incredible support system with my family and agent, I signed with Sky Blue FC for the 2012 season. I could not have been more excited to not only be playing near my home in New York, but to be in a healthy playing environment with an amazing coaching staff who I believed could make me a better player. When the league announced its suspension for the 2012 season, I was naturally heart broken. I couldn’t understand how things could be going so well and then go wrong so quickly. What would I do? Where would I play? Overseas is the obvious option, but with so many players flooding the international market, where would that leave me? Should I apply for a job at Starbucks? I bet I could get great employee discounts there…So many questions took over my mind quicker than I had time to have them answered.

Then, as I thought I couldn’t receive any more bad news, I was diagnosed with Bells Palsy. For those of you who are unaware, Bells Palsy is a temporary neurological disorder that paralyzes one side of your face. It is completely spontaneous and occurs without much notice. One day I woke up, walked to my bathroom, splashed some water over my tired eyes, looked into the mirror and….WHOA, WHO IS THAT? I swear I thought someone was peering over my shoulder, because the person I saw in the mirror was not myself. Having to deal with Bells Palsy was a definite struggle. My eye couldn’t close on its own, I couldn’t chew food or drink without spilling it on myself, I spoke out of the side of my mouth which was hard to comprehend, and I couldn’t even move my mouth enough to smile (and I smile A LOT). Each day of Bells Palsy taught me something different about my life. Soccer is so important to me, but what about everything else? Here I am sitting in the dark because my right eye can’t blink on its own (and wearing sunglasses indoors is frowned upon), the WPS has just been suspended, I have nowhere to play soccer, and I can’t move my face. Wow. That was a lot to take in!

However, what about the bigger problems in the world? I have been so consumed and preoccupied with my own soccer woes that I had been blind to the world surrounding me. I thought every day about the people who wake up with so much worse news than the news I had been given. My palsy would go away with time, yet I was the one feeling sorry for myself. Who was I to be sitting around feeling sorry for myself at a time like this?

So where am I going with this…

Even though things have not gone according to my “plan”, I sit here today wanting to make my soccer dreams become a reality more than ever before. It appears to be an easy time to just throw in the towel and hang up my boots, right? Ha! Never! Not only is my desire to make soccer work out even stronger, but my desire to be a better person is stronger as well. It has been my dream to play soccer professionally and continue playing it for as long as I can. When your dreams and your passions are tested and you still can’t give them up; that is just an added reminder of how badly you want them.

Inner peace. There are so many components to it! It is empowering, liberating, and it allows you to be genuinely happy in your own skin, (even when you wake up and your skin doesn’t look like your own). I challenge you all to find it within yourselves. I am not saying I have solved world hunger or that I even have this crazy thing called life figured out; but I am figuring myself out, which has been quite the journey so far. So please, while en route to your big dreams, don’t forget about all the little things along the way. It’s easy to have such tunnel vision that you let life lessons and opportunities pass you by, and then it takes a punch in the face (or paralysis of the face), to put things in perspective. Don’t worry, I am still chasing my soccer dream in full force: I just have some other ones now too!

In Brief:

• Solo and Leroux are expected to be available for approximately three, maybe four home games and possibly one on the road. There will also be an exhibition game against a team that Solo is pretty familiar with…
• In order to try to get Solo and Leroux playing in a game against one of Seattle’s biggest rivals, Carnell is working on trying to change the date of one home game…
• Carnell said the Sounders Women ownership group is yet to see WPS or anyone present them an appealing professional model, but they are open to playing at the highest level…

For that and much more, check out my full chat with the insightful Carnell here on North American Soccer Network. Subscribe on iTunes by going to the “Podcasts” section and clicking on North American Soccer Network.

Ashleigh Gunning knows life as a women's soccer player is not about the glamour. Why does she do it? Check out her answers below.

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But, I can’t accept not trying.”

Going off of my last blog and inspired by some of the incredible feedback I’ve gotten I want to dig a little deeper into why anyone chooses to put themselves through the rigors of highly competitive athletics. I’m not talking about the EPL, NFL, NBA kind of competitive athletics that also come with paychecks with more 0’s than I’ve seen in my life combined.

I’m talking about the kind of athletics where you’re basically an athletic trainer by the end of the season because you have to tape your own ankle or the kind where you’ve seen every episode of Glee three times and you’re a professional catch phrase player because you spend so much time on a bus—yeah I’m talking about that kind.

It may be amateur, semi-professional, collegiate, or even professional but there’s something that ties all of us together. I realize that a lot of male athletes are in similar situations but I want to talk to my sisters out there who might be struggling with the hardest question: WHY?

WHY would you go through so much physical pain?

WHY would you put so much heart, effort, sweat, and tears into it?

WHY is it worth it?

WHY in the world are you going into debt while playing this game?

WHY don’t you just get a real job?

I think you get the point… there are a lot of questions, and really good questions. But, I think they can all be answered with the same theory. I would like to reference (and wish happy birthday to) #23, MJ – Michael Jordan – for a little help answering this one:

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But, I can’t accept not trying.”

As a female athlete your failures are often noticed more than your accomplishments and your sacrifices may be more memorable than your victories but you don’t do it for the victories.

Sure they are awesome!! I mean winning is important, and anyone who tells you it isn’t, is missing something in their head and heart. It’s about trying and fighting and pushing yourself to be better. Better than whom, you ask? Better than YOU. Better than you were yesterday. Better than you were last year. Definitely better than you were the last time you doubted yourself.

You can’t judge yourself based on your performance against your opponents in a 22 game season because then you’d only have 22 opportunities to get better. It’s got to be a daily fight and accomplishment. It should also be a daily opportunity to be happy with yourself because you are reaching your goals and progressing towards the future you’ve always wanted, a future where you are happy and doing what you love, and of course you’re given the opportunity to impact others along the way! You’re achieving this by TRYING.

TRYING to overcome yourself mentally, day in and day out in training, is the real reason that athletes are…athletes!

So, I want to encourage each and every one of you to keep getting better, keep learning the little lessons because they add up to the big important stuff. And keep trying; don’t give up now!!

Special thanks to S. Rodriguez for help with this one.

Lauren Cheney graces the cover of the February issue, which has everything from cleats, to training gear, to off the field gear. Check out the latest in women’s soccer gear here in the online magazine.

I’ve got a confession to make: No woman footballer plays because of the large paycheck they receive. It’s not about the glamor or the celebrity of it. We play because there is something deep inside us that drives us. It’s what enables us to rationalize missing family holidays, getting paid in peanuts, missing your best friend’s wedding and living out of a suitcase. For any young girls who are dreaming of playing professional one day I want to encourage you to pursue the dream because it really is #thegoodlife!!

So, here you go. I’m going to let the truth out and share with you my two cents, for whatever it’s worth. This is the letter I wish I would have received when I was 16 and dreaming of being a professional football player:

I’ll let you in on a little secret that it took me a long time to figure out… everything you do, every training session, every game, every extra run– there’s got to be a bigger reason that you do it. It’s about the people you meet, and the impact that you can have on their lives. If the only reason that you play is to score goals or to start a game then you are going to be disappointed because you can’t always start or win. But, you can always make someone else feel better. It’s about taking the time to lighten the load for someone else. Sometimes that means communicating really well on the pitch so the person next to you can perform better. Sometimes that means picking up a teammate when they’re having a nightmare of a game. It can mean making a 90 meter recovery run for someone else or it can even be as simple as smiling at those around or telling someone what they mean to you and how they’ve helped you. Football is just the means to an end.

You’ll be given the opportunities to walk out on contracts, to throw others under the bus, or choose money over individuals– don’t do it. Always stand up for someone (especially if they can’t do it for themselves). If someone asks you about a teammate or a coach, even if you don’t like them– only answer with a positive (even if it’s something small) and leave out the negatives. Being a good teammate is just as important as being a good footballer because it liberates those around you to also be their best.

I’ve got a feeling that you will be playing for years and years to come. You’ve got such great talent, abilities and the drive and willingness to improve. But, more important than any of that, you’ve got character and no one can ever take that from you. Have confidence that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. The Lord is protecting you, even when it seems that you are stuck somewhere—it’s going to work out, keeping doing what you know is right. One day it’s all going to make sense.

—

Previous Ashleigh Gunning blogs:

Live #thegoodlife

Hope Solo was honored for her 100th cap in Portland. Now she'll be playing for the Seattle Sounders Women in 2012. (Photo Credit: Patricia Giobetti | http://www.printroom.com/pro/psgiobetti)

U.S. women’s soccer team stars Hope Solo and Sydney Leroux will play for the Seattle Sounders Women in 2012, the club announced Tuesday.

Solo is an adamant self-proclaimed Seattle Sounders MLS, went to school at the University of Washington and grew up in Richland, Wash. Her signing with the Sounders Women is one of the biggest moves in the history of the USL W-League. The W-League has seen many now big names (and national team stars) play in the league in the past, but the timing of this – with Solo at an all-time high in fame and peaking on the field, not to mention a busy Olympic year – makes this signing an unexpected coup.

This should also put a lot of butts in the seats in Seattle (presumably still at Starfire Sports Complex).

Leroux is a Vancouver native and an ex-Vancouver Whitecap. If the rivalry between those two teams on the men’s side even remotely carries over to their women’s teams, this should certainly make for a fun season out west.

Of course, it remains to be seen how often the two will be around. Surely they will wear the rave green kits at least a few times this year, but they will certainly have their hands full with U.S. commitments.

Bravo to the Sounders Women for putting this together. It’s a great way to market women’s soccer in a geographic market that has long been targeted as an expansion candidate by the currently suspended Women’s Professional Soccer. For the first time, there is actually a sign that the Sounders Women may actually be bringing things to the next level.

The LA Vikings, along with Paul Riley's "Women's Professional SUPERGROUP" plans, could lead to women's soccer players living the freelance lifestyle for the immediate future.

Some women’s soccer players may soon follow the path of journalists: Freelancing. The suspension of Women’s Professional Soccer for 2012 has left many players without teams at a time when rosters abroad are already well filled-out.

The only remaining domestic options are the amateur W-League or WPSL, as well as the newly formed pro-am WPSL Elite League. Details of that league are still to be worked out, leaving further uncertainty for players who have for the past three years lived on a day-to-day, ‘will I have a job tomorrow?’ basis.

Thus, some see other options. As Michael Lewis wrote this morning, Paul Riley has some ideas about how to help displaced WPS players train. He calls it the “Women’s Professional SUPERGROUP training program,” and he explained things to me on Monday night.

Top players with WPS experience have been informed of the group and the first 28 to accept the invite will be taken into this elite group of players for seven or eight days of training per month. Each will feature two-a-days and Riley said there will be games mixed in throughout the training weeks.

Housing is fully funded, as is training gear, and the only player expenses are transportation and food. The initial training group is in Downington, Penn., home of the Philadelphia Independence, with plans to rotate training centers around the country to accommodate player needs.

Riley added that he has thought about making adding a Saturday night event to the training weeks, pitting two teams against each other for match play.

So why do this?

Riley said he is not convinced about how beneficial the WPSL Elite League will be, at least not with this little information and this quick of a turnaround. He doesn’t expect much parity in the league and he said top players need more than three-times per week nighttime training sessions, as some WPSL Elite League teams might offer.

I also spoke with Los Angeles Vikings President Robert P. Kleinberger last night, who further explained some of the plans the Vikings have for the next year. The biggest plan is putting together the LA Viking Cup in October, which would see a Vikings professional team (players TBD) take on top national teams. Canada is already committed, Kleinberger said, and invites have been sent to top teams including Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Mexico and Denmark, to name a few. Kleinberger said getting between four and eight teams would be ideal. And yes, Pia Sundhage and the USSF did receive a formal invite to the competition.

The Vikings will need to bring in top players to match that international quality and they proved capable of doing that this winter with the likes of Ali Riley, Christen Press and Britney Bock on their all-star squad. Kleinberger said if things work out, they could turn the Vikings into a tournament team with top players who play exhibitions both domestically and abroad. Plans for 2013 are still very much up in the air, he said. A lot will depend on the future of WPS and how the WPSL Elite League works out.

If there is one key connection between these two plans, it is that players could be looking at the life of freelancing for the immediate future. And as journalists know, it may be an ideal lifestyle with certain freedoms, but it certainly won’t pay the bills for most.

Here are details of Riley’s plans, as per the email sent to WPS players:

1. 7/8 Days of training at a top facility EVERY month: April thru December

2. 28 professional players: first come first serve basis

3. Free hotel accommodation

4. Philadelphia Independence training staff:

Head Coach Paul Riley

Assistant Coach Skip Thorpe

Strength/Conditioning Coach Mike Demakis

GK Coach Paul Royal

5. Two high level sessions per day PLUS games

6. Complete training program for rest of month once you leave the facility

7. Only cost to players is getting to the facility and food when at training camp

8. Three shirts, three shorts, three socks, training top supplied

9.  Full time athletic trainer on-site

10. Several social/fan fest events during the seven/eight days

My goal eventually is to get enough sponsors that we can help players with travel and food costs.

Right now everything is complimentary but travel and food.

Event Dates:

April 16th-22nd

May 14th-20th

June 11th-17th

July 9th-15th

Aug. 26th-Sept 2nd

Sept 24th-30th

Oct. 15th-21st

Nov. 12th-18th

Dec. TBA

Location will be USTC in Downingtown, Penn., hopefully shifting locations once things get going.

Morgan is used to scoring dramatic late goals in the final minutes of a game, she just usually does it off of the bench. On Saturday she went the full 90 minutes and then some in her most complete performance to date.

Morgan headed the ball into the goal twice in five minutes late in the match, erasing what would have been an improbable New Zealand victory. Her first goal somewhat controversially came in the 88th minute when she out-jumped her defender on Megan Rapinoe’s cross to nod the ball off the inside of the post an into the goal. There was some debate about whether New Zealand goalkeeper Jenny Bindon saved the ball in time, but American referee Moo Hackett ruled it a goal.

With New Zealand shaken, the Americans pounced on their opportunity to go for the victory. Three minutes into stoppage time, Abby Wambach flicked a ball into the path of Morgan and the young star headed the ball into the far side netting to give the U.S. a 2-1 victory.

The goals seemed to be in the making all evening for Morgan, who outran the entire New Zealand defense on a sprint from midfield just 10 minutes into the game, earning a penalty kick. Wambach would strike the penalty kick off the post, leaving the game scoreless, but it was clear early on that Morgan was ready for a strong performance.

New Zealand was up for the task as well, however. Just one minute after Wambach missed the kick from the spot, forward Hannah Wilkinson got in behind the U.S. defense and sent her shot from six yards out, on an angle, just over the crossbar.

But Wilkinson, who dramatically scored the stoppage time equalizer in a 2-2 draw against Mexico in group play of the 2011 World Cup, was persistent. In the 49th minute she intercepted an awful back pass from U.S. defender Kelley O’Hara that was intended for U.S. substitute goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart, who had just entered the match at halftime. Wilkinson’s half-volley chipped Barnhart and hit the back of the net, stunning the biggest domestic crowd for a U.S. women’s game since Nov. 2, 2003 (also in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl – a 3-1 win over Mexico).

Morgan had the last laugh, however. It’s been a big week for arguably the most popular active American soccer player. On Friday it was revealed that she will appear in this year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue wearing nothing but body paint. The issue hits newsstands Tuesday. Share your thoughts on that move here.

Video and a still shot of Morgan’s first goal (the only vantage point that can really give a definitive answer is that of the assistant referee on the goal line):

In or not? This angle won't tell us.