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It’s impossible to ignore all the stuff that happened this weekend, so here’s a rundown. Also check out Chris’ post below for all the recent goings on in the land of college soccer.

• Jacqueline Purdy spotlights Christine Sinclair in this piece for espnW. Beau Dure looks at what made the WNY Flash champions.

• A Tweet of hope from Sky Blue FC owner Thomas Hofstetter.

• Inka Grings has landed at a club and at it’s…FC Zürich. Sonja Fuss has also transferred to the team. FC Zürich are currently joint top of the Swiss league alongside Basel after three games played. Other than Grings and Fuss, there are just two other international players at the club. As statistics go, the 32-year-old is still in her prime years. She was tied for second most goals scored in the Frauen-Bundesliga last year with 23. She has averaged 26.6 goals over the past three seasons.

• Kerstin Garefrekes has retired from the German Women’s National Team. The retirements of Birgit Prinz, Ariane Hingst, reserve goalkeeper Ursula Holl, and now Garefrekes marks a true changing of the guard for the national team. Garefrekes will continue play for FFC Frankfurt this season.

• Whitney Engen is on the move to Swedish club Tyresö. Beverly Goebel is headed to reigning Finnish champions PK-35.

• In more news of WPS players jumping to Europe this offseason, Joanna Lohman and Lianne Sanderson will be playing for Spanish team Espanyol. To recap the list of players now in the Damallsvenskan, Becky Edwards is going to Hammerby, Karen Bardsley is off to Linköpings, Val Henderson will be at Örebro, Caroline Seger is on the books at LdB Malmö, and India Trotter is currently at Dalsjöfors, along with Alex Singer, Emily Zurrer, and Erin McLeod. Angela Salem is in Finland at Aland United.

• More transfer news: Australians Elise Kellond-Knight and Lenna Khamis will make the move to Danish side Fortune Hjorring following Olympic Qualifiers.

• The European transfer window closes on August 31 so additional moves must be made in haste.

• Malmö has a three-point cushion at the top of the Damallsvenskan. The team earned a 2-0 win over Dalsjöfors on Saturday after a rough patch of form saw the leaders drop points in five consecutive games. Umea has a tenuous hold of second place, as the team have won one game out of their last five. Tyresö continues to gun for a Champions League place and are currently one point behind Umea on 30 points. Örebro is right behind Tyresö on 29 points. Hammarby and Dalsjöfors look primed for relegation. Hammarby were the subjects of an 8-1 battering by Tyresö on Sunday. Dalsjöfors has only taken two points from 15 games this season.

• Brief Frauen-Bundesliga wrap-up today. Turbine Potsdam, Frankfurt, and Duisburg remain atop of the league after round two. Each team kept a clean sheet in their respective victories. Potsdam blanked Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 and Genoveva Anonma recorded her third goal in two games. Frankfurt defeated newly promoted Lokomotive Leipzig 4-0 (highlights here). Duisburg shut out Hamburg 2-0 thanks to goals from Simone Laudehr and Luisa Wensing (her second in two games). In the most evenly-matched game of the round, Wolfsburg drew with Bad Neuenahr 1-1. New signing Conny Pohlers salvaged a point for the Wolves with her 78th minute goal. Essen-Schonebeck needed a 90th minute goal to see off USV Jena 1-0. And in the shock result of the weekend, debutantes Freiburg edged out Bayern Munich 3-1. Freiburg look to be the surprise team this year as they earned a head turning draw against Bad Neuenahr last weekend. 17-year-old Melanie Leupolz had a brace on the day and, along with Anonma and Pohlers, leads the league in goals.

More after the jump.

• Sam Kerr will miss out on 2012 London Olympics Asian Qualifying due to a “serious knee injury”. Australia will kick off the tournament against North Korea this Thursday.

• Albertin Montoya oversaw his first couple of games in charge of the USWNT U-17′s. On Thursday, the U.S. earned two comeback goals from Morgan Reid and Emily Bruder to draw Japan 2-2. On Sunday the U.S. lost 2-1 against the same opponents. Summer Green had a penalty goal and the U.S. had a goal called back.

• This no longer qualifies as breaking news, but North Korea has been disqualified from the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The team violated FIFA’s Anti-Doping Regulations and will also be ordered to pay $400,000 in fines.

• North Korea has qualified for every Women’s World Cup since 1999 – the first edition that featured 12 teams instead of 16. North Korea made it to the quarterfinals of the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup and were considered rising powers, especially after the team’s win at the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and second place finish at the 2008 tournament. The team’s ban (presuming inevitable appeal requests are unsuccessful) has major ramifications. The World Cup field will be increased from 16 to 24 teams in 2015. Here’s a guess at the new allocations per confederation, which is obviously up to debate and conjecture until they’re made official:

2.5 CONCACAF

8.5 UEFA

5 AFC

4 CONMEBOL

3 CAF

1 OFC

• This is guesswork, but it’s difficult seeing FIFA give three full spots to CONCACAF given that Canada is hosting. It’s also hard to imagine FIFA doling out the same amount of berths to the AFC, CONMEBOL, and CAF – three confederations that are in very different stages of development. After Japan, Australia, South Korea, and China, who will be the fifth team that qualifies from Asia?

• With an attendance of 10,461, the 2011 WPS Championship game was the best attended final in league history. The 2009 Championship match between the L.A. Sol and Sky Blue FC attracted 7,218 people while the 2010 final between FC Gold Pride and the Philadelphia Independence drew 5,228 fans. The WPS season may now be over, but click here to check out soccer tickets online.

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