6 September 1978 - There's No Player Like Homare

On 6 September 1978, former Japan national team captain and FIFA World Player of the Year Homare Sawa was born in Tokyo.

She started her footballing career at the age of thirteen with L.League champions Yomiuri Beleza, making thirteen appearances for them in 1991. She remained there for a total of ten seasons, scoring 79 goals in 136 appearances while winning league titles (1991-93). She spent two more spells with Beleza from 2004 to 2009 then again in 2011, winning another six league titles.

In between, she played in the United States for the Denver Diamonds (1999), Atlanta Beat (2001-03), and Washington Freedom (2009-10). 

Sawa received her first call-up to the Japanese national team in 1993 and played a key role in their run to the quarterfinals in the 1995 Women's World Cup. She starred for them in the next four World Cups, and eventually captained them to the trophy in 2011 with a win over the United States on penalties in the final. That performance helped her win the 2011 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Award.

She won silver with Japan at the 2012 Summer Olympics, then announced her immediate retirement from international football. She played club football in Japan for Kobe Leonessa from 2010 until 2015, when she retired completely.

29 March 2009 - The Sun Rises On WPS

On 29 March 2009, the Los Angeles Sol hosted the first WPS match, beating the Washington Freedom 2-0. L.A. went on to finish as regular season champions.

The new league brought professional women's soccer back to the United States for the first time since the collapse of the Women's United Soccer Association in 2003. It started with seven teams, including Saint Louis Athletica, Sky Blue FC, Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, and FC Gold Pride in addition to L.A. and D.C.

For the league's first match, Washington traveled to the Home Depot Center in Carson, California to face Los Angeles. There, playing in front of a crowd of 14,832, Sol defender Allison Falk scored the league's first goal in the sixth minute from a header off a free kick. Freedom goalkeeper Brianna Scurry protested the goal, claiming she had been fouled, but the referee allowed it to stand.

Despite the presence of star forward Abby Wambach, DC failed to create much of a challenge. Their best chance came in the 64th minute, when Lori Lindsey hit the left post. L.A. then extended their lead with an 87th-minute strike from midfielder Camile Abily.

Los Angeles went on to top the table at the end of the season. That earned them a direct pass into the playoff final, where they lost to Sky Blue.

30 January 2012 - That's One Way To Resolve A Dispute

On 30 January 2012, three-year old women's league WPS announced the suspension of its fourth season, which, as it turned out, was never played.

The USA's second attempt at a top-flight women's league, Women's Professional Soccer started play in 2009 with seven teams, including the Washington Freedom, the lone holdover from the previous league, WUSA. But financial problems plagued them, including the folding of 2009 champions Los Angeles after the end of the season.

Although two new teams joined for 2010, another team folded after only six games, followed at the end of the season by newly-crowned champions FC Gold Pride. Still another team left for a lower league, while Washington was bought by Dan Borislow and relocated to Florida as magicJack.

Borislow and the league clashed several times, with WPS alleging that his "unprofessional and disparaging treatment of his players to failure to pay his bills" was damaging to the league, then voting to terminate the franchise in October 2011. Borislow won reinstatement in a January 2012 court ruling, but rather than readmit him, WPS decided to suspend the season.

In May, the league officially ceased operations.

2 June 1980 - The USA's Heiress Apparent

On 2 June 1980, forward Abby Wambach was born in Rochester, New York. She is poised to become the USWNT's all-time leading scorer, currently sitting three goals behind Mia Hamm.

After playing for the University of Florida from 1998 to 2001, she began her professional career in 2002 with the Washington Freedom, who selected her as the second overall pick in the WUSA draft (the Carolina Courage chose defender Danielle Slaton with the first pick). She rewarded their faith by scoring 10 goals and providing 9 assists in her first season and was named the league's Rookie of the Year.

Wambach won the Founders Cup with Washington the following year, but the league folded soon after. She returned to Washington with a new league, WPS, in 2009, and remained with them when they relocated to Florida and rebranded as MagicJack. During the WPS's final season in 2011, she served as the team's player-manager. She currently plays for the Western New York Flash in the new NWSL.

Since earning her first cap for the United States in 2003, she has gone on to make a total of 204 appearances and has won a gold medal at the 2004 and 2012 Olympics, missing the 2008 tournament due to injury. Her current total of 155 goals is the team's second-highest, behind Mia Hamm's 158 (though Hamm made a total of 275 appearances, giving Wambach a better goals-per-game average of 0.76 to Hamm's 0.57).

[Update: Wambach scored her 159th international goal on 20 June 2013 to become the all-time leading scorer for the US women.]

29 March 2009 - The Sun Rises On WPS

On 29 March 2009, the Los Angeles Sol hosted the first WPS match, beating the Washington Freedom 2-0. L.A. went on to finish as regular season champions.

The new league brought professional women's soccer back to the United States for the first time since the collapse of the Women's United Soccer Association in 2003. It started with seven teams, including Saint Louis Athletica, Sky Blue FC, Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, and FC Gold Pride in addition to L.A. and D.C.

For the league's first match, Washington traveled to the Home Depot Center in Carson, California to face Los Angeles. There, playing in front of a crowd of 14,832, Sol defender Allison Falk scored the league's first goal in the sixth minute from a header off a free kick. Freedom goalkeeper Brianna Scurry protested the goal, claiming she had been fouled, but the referee allowed it to stand.

Despite the presence of star forward Abby Wambach, DC failed to create much of a challenge. Their best chance came in the 64th minute, when Lori Lindsey hit the left post. L.A. then extended their lead with an 87th-minute strike from midfielder Camile Abily.

Los Angeles went on to top the table at the end of the season. That earned them a direct pass into the playoff final, where they lost to Sky Blue.

6 September 1978 - There's No Player Like Homare

On 6 September 1978, former Japan national team captain and FIFA World Player of the Year Homare Sawa was born in Tokyo.

She started her footballing career at the age of thirteen with L.League champions Yomiuri Beleza, making thirteen appearances for them in 1991. She remained there for a total of ten seasons, scoring 79 goals in 136 appearances while winning league titles (1991-93). She spent two more spells with Beleza from 2004 to 2009 then again in 2011, winning another six league titles.

In between, she played in the United States for the Denver Diamonds (1999), Atlanta Beat (2001-03), and Washington Freedom (2009-10).

Sawa received her first call-up to the Japanese national team in 1993 and played a key role in their run to the quarterfinals in the 1995 Women's World Cup. She starred for them in the next four World Cups, and eventually captained them to the trophy in 2011 with a win over the United States on penalties in the final. That performance helped her win the 2011 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Award.

She won silver with Japan at the 2012 Summer Olympics, then announced her immediate retirement from international football. She continues to play club football in Japan for Kobe Leonessa, whom she joined in 2010.