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After a record breaking year, FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi won his fourth FIFA Ballon d'Or award today recognizing him as the best player on the planet. 

But how did he get so good?

The venerable icon of broadcast television, CBS' 60 Minutes, takes a close look at the phenomena that is Barcelona and, in particular, they examine the strength of the legendary La Masia football academy that produced Messi. A rigorous institution, La Masia also produced Timbers midfielder Franck Songo'o who came up through the ranks with the likes of Messi, Gerard Pique, and others.

While the 60 Minutes treatment can be a bit simplistic to the experienced soccer-phile, there's no denying that is a unique look into one of the best soccer factories in the world. 

Also of note is 60 Minutes' Overtime section where they talk about how they put this particular episode together. It gets a bit deeper into the how they brought it all together as well as how La Masia works and a bit on how MLS is developing their own academies:

Another exciting development at the FIFA award ceremony was U.S. national team women's striker Abby Wambach winning the Women's Ballon d'Or. It is the first time the award has been won by an American since Mia Hamm received it in 2002. Wambach was recently in Portland in November as the USWNT crushed the Republic of Ireland 5-0 in a friendly at JELD-WEN Field.

Followers of City Hall may remember that a friendly Twitter wager was placed last season between the three Cascadia Cup mayors of Portland's Sam Adams, Seattle's Mike McGinn, and Vancouver's Gregor Robertson. The stakes were simple: the mayors of the two losing MLS teams had to wear the Cascadia Cup victor's team jersey.

While the jury is still out on Vancouver, Seattle's Mayor McGinn fulfilled his end of the bargin over the holiday break:

Here's hoping that Cascadia Cup stays right here in the Rose City in 2013.

Dike, moments before flipping - Photo: Getty Images

After a 2012 season that saw Bright Dike score 16 goals across all competitions--5 in the regular season, 5 in the MLS Reserve League, and 6 in the USL Pro while on loan to the LA Blues--the Timbers forward added one more tally to his growing goalscoring exploits as he scored the equalizer for Nigeria in a friendly against Catalonia on Wednesday.

Dike started the match in Barcelona as Nigeria faced the unique autonomous region of northeastern Spain known as Catalonia. Though not recognized by FIFA or UEFA, Catalonia has fielded a national team since the early 20th century often with numerous stars from FC Barcelona in their starting XI. Wednesday's match was no different as the Johan Cruyff-coached side featured Barca legends Carles Puyol, Xavi, and Gerard Pique.

For Dike, it didn't matter. After battling all game--including a nasty elbow to Puyol in the first half that left the centerback temporarily bloodied--Dike broke through in the 55th minute with a nifty cutback and lashed a shot with his left foot into the upper left corner of the net. Notice the trademark cartwheel backflip celebration.
 

Congratulations to Dike. Here's to getting 2013 started off on the (left) foot and to making your case for inclusion in Nigeria's squad for this January's Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

Photo: Jeffrey A. Camarati, UNC Athletic Comm.

Liviu Bird of EqualizerSoccer.com--one of the best sources for women's soccer news and content that you should now bookmark--tracked down U.S. women's national team coaching legend Tony DiCicco to ask him a few questions about his former player and now new Thorns FC head coach Cindy Parlow Cone.

“She was a student of the game as a player,” former national team head coach Tony DiCicco said in a phone interview. “It’s awesome to have her get this chance. I think she’ll learn a lot, and I think she’ll be really good.”

DiCicco expects Parlow Cone’s learning curve to be short in the new league.

“I think you’ll find that she’ll play a possession style,” he said. “I think you’ll see some of the UNC aggressiveness in her coaching.”

DiCicco is a pretty good authority having led the USWNT to their famous World Cup triumph in 1999--a team Parlow was a key member of.

The article goes on to talk about some of the challenges DiCicco sees Parlow Cone may face in her first season but he remains confident that she is more than up for the challenge.

Bonus tidbit: DiCicco described the first time he and his assistant, and UNC legend Anson Dorrance brought Parlow into national team camp, in 1994. She was training with the U16 national team, and the coaches thought, “Hey, let’s bring that tall, red-headed kid in here. She looks like a player,” DiCicco recalled.