A knee injury and then a broken foot derailed Diana Matheson’s preparations for the Women’s World Cup — her participation at the tourney was reduced to a single sub appearance, in Canada’s quarter-final loss to England. But, now back to full health, the midfield magician has made a major impact on her NWSL club, the Washington Spirit

But, coming out of her Portland Thorns’ 2-0 win in this past weekend’s NWSL championship, in which Sinclair scored the stoppage-time icing-on-the-cake goal, the question: Is it enough to keep her in the lead for the 2013 award? Sure, there’s still a lot of soccer to be played. Sinclair could score three or four vs. South Korea on a late October night and make this column moot.

And, the Spirit has scored just 15 goals as a team this season. Matheson has eight goals and three assists. Work out the math: Matheson has been involved in 73 per cent of her team’s goals so far this season.

The Canadian Soccer Association is now working with FIFA to ensure that Quon is eligible to play. Herdman said that a national coach needs to invite a player to camp before the FIFA process can begin.

And that opinion? That "minor league" would be overstating just how poor the league’s efforts were in communicating its product to its fans and, more importantly, to its potential fans.