Silver-medal coach hired for St. Louis soccer team

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The coach who led Brazil’s women’s national team to a silver medal in the Olympics was hired to lead the St. Louis team in the new Women’s Professional Soccer league.

Coach Jorge Barcellos was hired by the WPS on Wednesday. At the Beijing Olympics, the U.S. beat Brazil 1-0 in overtime for the gold.

Barcellos also led Brazil to second place at the Women’s World Cup in 2007.

The league will have teams in St. Louis, Washington, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and New Jersey/New York when its first season begins in April. The St. Louis team will play at Southern Illinois University.