_Vic_

I checked and the awards are definitely for player of the year, it's not like other awards where what someone has achieved in the past means something. If you think Endler had a better year than Labbe, I'm not going to change your mind and won't even try. I'm on the other side of the fence this year though. As a few people have mentioned though, the awards are just a popularity contest. I did review the votes for coach and MVP in detail and it was pretty depressing. You can tell right away there is a very large portion of the voting pool who have never seen any of these players even play during the year. And considering one of the best 11 they voted for didn't even play last year, that's about all that needs to be said on that topic.

Pretty sure the award was for 2021 only. I've seen both live a couple times. Endler is a great keeper but her 2021 was winning the French League where there is only one other team in the running. And they only beat one team of any merit in the Champions League - the same French team. She lost every game in the Olympics. Labbe backstopped Canada to an Olympic gold medal where they were underdogs in almost every single game they played. I don't believe that's ever been done before in either gender. I saw the voting by country for the MVP and coach was published. Is keeper the same? Or is it determined another way?

If she played for Cromwell in UCLA for years she probably just wanted a new challenge. And you would think if they knew each other that well they wouldn't have completely wasted the #5 overall pick. Makes them look bad.

Good find. Most Europeans with any semblance of hand/eye coordination play handball (which is insanely fun to watch). North America has long been overproductive in keepers on the men's side, so it's natural for it to happen next on the women's. The next progression in women's goalkeeping will be height, but we're a long way from there yet.

I think the first thing that will come to my mind whenever anyone mentions her decades from now is that she is the polar opposite of a quitter. She took the hand she was dealt and went through hell and came out not just on the other side but on top of the world. And is immortalized as a lead in of one of the greatest Canadian fairy tales of all time.

March 30th - sold out already - in under a week (the men haven't sold a game out this season). Almost certain to set the world record for a women's game. This is just a dream.

Had to urbandictionary it but bingo

Just saw the women's 11 and garbage isn't exaggerating. There are a couple there I wouldn't start on their club team and a few who weren't even recognized in their own leagues. And the three candidates for best player aren't even on it. I don't even know if the English language had the right word for this.

I think Steph Labbe calling them out on their biased shortlists probably cost her. She may not win anything by not kissing ass but it just makes her more of a hero. She laid down a master class in mental skills in a shoot-out and added a new chapter to the goalkeeping handbook. The French-league-champion-only-because-Ada-Hegerberg-was-injured sounds more deserving though. <= [if it wasn't obvious that was tongue in cheek]

Just glad they are not the kind of club to invent an excuse for not releasing him.

Really impressed by the club and it's supporters for giving the women this amazing evening. So positive and cool and progressive. I watched some of that RM/PSG too and was hopeful for better but thought the same. It won't take Real long to get there though and a crowd like this will go a long way to improving them, getting handed your hat publicly by your neighbour is a strong motivator. The upside of a 6:45pm kickoff is you're not late for dinner

Pretty jealous. You get to see Nahikari Garcia and Esther too. Hope Real can make a game of it for the fans but even if Barcelona run away with it that will be entertaining for them as well. Thrilled for the players too, what a moment.

Yeah in looking at it now it's perhaps not so bad. When I first looked and saw all the voting for a lot of random players (some of whom never got on the field much at all) the chaos of the whole exercise struck me. The right players were in the lead pack and the winner is worthy, just perhaps some question about the order. So many awards - Ballon d'Or, FIFA Player of the Year, etc. To each his own. I imagine one day the random factor will produce a strange winner but until then no harm, no foul.

If you're using her to make a point about respect and integrity you've already lost.

Current case counts are throught the roof and many areas have unseen hospitalization levels. Do we really need a U20 camp right now? And if 24/25 players come from U.S. colleges would it not be a lot simpler and warmer to hold it there? A CONCACAF U20 would be a covid field day.