Minor League Soccer, World Cup Onion-style,

Reshaping US Minor League Soccer

Brian Quarstad from Inside Minnesota Soccer has posted a four-part series on the future of minor league soccer in the USA.  The story focuses mostly on second division professional soccer which is currently in turmoil with two ownership groups, USL and NASL, competing for legitimacy off the field while competing on the field in a interim league being run by the US Soccer Federation, but it also questions how the overall structure of the lower divisions of soccer in the US (including the NPSL in which Rocket City United plays).  

If you are a soccer fan in the USA, this series is well worth the read.  The timing is right for a reshaping of the soccer infrastructure in the USA to get control of player development away from the youth club focus and into a professionalized structure, but before that can happen the professional structure itself needs stability.

Part of the solution to provide stability seems to be an effort to keep travel costs down by regionalizing the lower professional leagues.   This would to take a page from the NPSL who currently have 4 regions and intends to expand into more regions in the future.  The regions are comprised of teams who are geographically proximate enough to allow them to travel without a tremendous cost associated.  The author provides a list of cities that may support the hypothetical regions, including Huntsville.


The Onion's Highlights of the World Cup

The humor news organization, the Onion, has released their list of highlights of the World Cup.  My favorite:

"Portugal scores 7 goals against North Korea after the goalkeeper makes a break for it, dashes into the crowd, runs up the stairs, and jumps over the side of the stadium."

Atlanta Still Being Considered For MLS Expansion

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes to say that an unnamed EPL team is currently looking to invest in an expansion MLS team and is considering Atlanta as one of the markets for the team.  Ho-hum... I wouldn't get too excited about this.  This rumor seems to crops up every summer when an EPL club comes to the States to play an exhibition match.  And guess what?  Manchester City will play Club America in Atlanta in a few weeks at the Georgia Dome. 

Old Guys, US D2 Pro League, and Nice Bike Goal

Let's Hear It for the Old Guys!

Did you know that there are 144 players in the EPL that are 30 years or older? MLS has its share of players in their 30s, too. In fact, Climbing the Ladder has named an MLS Old Player of the Year award for each season. As we know, our local league has an appreciation for old guys as HASL has announced that it will start an Over-35 division this fall. And there is also a US cup tournament for old guys with the very PC name of the Veteran's Cup.


Division 2 Preview
MLS began its season this past weekend. Now, the new USSF Divsion 2 Pro League will begin on April 10th. Brian Quarstad of Inside Minnesota Soccer has a complete preview of the league that consists of 12 teams from both the USL and the NASL, including two teams (Portland and Vancouver) who will be joining MLS next year.

Get on Your Bike

Nice overhead kick goal from the Turkish league.

On his bike

More Pro Soccer Coming Soon

Local League sells NASL.com Domain Name To New Pro League, Secures Exhibitions

As I speculated in November, the North Alabama Soccer League has sold the NASL.com domain name to the new North American Soccer League. The Alabama youth league president Kevin Parker has confirmed that the sale has been made and there is a splash screen for the new division 2 professional league at the NASL.com address.

When asked about the compensation the league received for the domain name Parker said, "There was some monetary compensation, but that was not very important to us. The main goal was to grow the sport of soccer in North Alabama." Parker said that in addition to money, the new Pro League has agreed to hold several exhibition matches featuring several of the Pro league teams and low-cost clinics given by the professional coaches in Northern Alabama in the near future. "We didn't have to give them the domain name [NASL.com], but this wasn't an opportunity that we wanted to give up. You just don't see this type of high level soccer in this area very often."


As for the teams playing in the exhibitions, those details will be released in the coming months, but Parker said the agreement includes multiple exhibitions spanning at least the next two years.

This is great news for the sport in Northern Alabama. More high quality soccer the better, I say.

Tuesday Tweets And More

NPSL Tweets

Ryan Knapp will be live tweeting the NPSL league meetings at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention this week in Philadelphia. Check it out on the NPSLInsider twitter feed.


Short-Shorts, Uh-oh!

The new NASL and USL have settled their differences for the time being. Hooray! Now, Brian Wellman, the owner of the NASL club Carolina Railhawks, has this to say according to Inside Minnesota Soccer:

Brian Wellman jokingly says NASL unanimously approved shorts from 1977 NASL. Trunks can't go 1" past groin. LOL Euwwwww!

Bundesliga BreakfastCan't go a half hour without sporting your team's colors or badge? Have I got the thing for you. A Budesliga Bread Toaster. The toaster brands your favorite Bundesliga team's logo on your toast. These are some of the silliest bits of team merchandise that I've ever seen.

Remembering 2002 and Other Stuff

Remembering the US run in the 2002 World Cup

2002 was a special year for the US in the World Cup in South Korea. The team was packed with exciting players who may not have been superstars, but were a special group of players. After squeaking through the group stage, they posted the first of the many "Dos a Cero" victories over Mexico in the round of 16. Then, they took on the mighty, mighty Germans, who they outplayed. Here's recently fount these highlights of that match.

USA outplays Germany, but still comes up short

I watched the match with several thousands of my fellow soccer fanatics at RFK Stadium's big screen TV. And I remember thousands going nuts when Tony Sanneh's header hit the net. We all thought it went in, but it wasn't and the US were suddenly out.

I still get miffed about the Tortsten "Fingers" Fring's no-call handball. After the Hand of Gaul, the Irish now know how we feel.


USSF Deny USL and NASL


The USSF has refused to sanction either the USL or the upstart NASL as a legitimate Division 2 league. Instead they have been given a week to work out their differences. What isn't clear is what will happens when they do or do not work out those differences? Here's a pretty good podcast discussing the situation.


US Soccer Dissing About The South

With the possibility that there will be no second division soccer in the US this year, the folks at MLSTalk have written about US Soccer's forgotten land; the south.


PDL More Important Than Given Credit

Here is an article that discusses the importance of the USL's Premier Developement League. A mostly amature league that has quietly developed players for years to prepare them for the big time leagues, including a large amount MLS current crop of players. The NPSL is a direct competitor with the PDL and is trying to duplicate some of its success developing players for the higher level of professional soccer.

Local vs National: NASL League Website

For a few weeks now, I've been posting some news on the dust up between the two minor league soccer circuits, the USL and the TOA which is now called the North American Soccer League. And I've been doing some poking around the Internet to get some more info on the NASL. Today, I was curious whether anyone was smart enough to do some domain name speculation on the soon to be coveted NASL.com. Guess what I found when I typed the now valuable address into my browser? The North Alabama Soccer League!!!


Bravo! You guys might be getting a phone call with a big offer soon!

Tuesday Nuggets

Technology Debate Continues

Do you see a foul? Of course not!

The Hand of Henry fall-out continues, fresh with an illustration of what the referees saw, or more correctly, what they did not see. FIFA has scheduled a special meeting prior to the World Cup Draw to address the situation while more big names call for instant replay.


Things Are Getting Interesting


So, the new TOA league will be called the NASL. And I've read more than once that the USL will drop its second tier USL-1 league to consolidate its third tier USL-2 league. This is in the midst of the USL issuing a press release threatening legal action against the TOA. Here is an article with plenty of nuggets from Inside Minnesota Soccer, which has been at the forefront of this whole debacle.


Wynalda Admits Mistake In Coming Back To US

Former US International Eric Wynalda

Eric Wynalda is the best entertainer in American soccer. He's never been one to check with his head before his mouth runs down a dangerous path. And that's what makes him blog gold. Here, in an interview for Yanks Abroad, he admits that he made a mistake in returning to the US to play for the upstart MLS in 1996. Aside from whining about his missed opportunities, Wynalda is championing the plight of the underpaid MLS player. There is no doubt that players in MLS are undervalued, and Wynalda feels that some of the cause for this is MLS tight-fistedness.

MLS and NASL (Really NASL!) Stuff

Stats of MLS Cup Final

The "heat map" shows where the action is taking place.

ESPN is throwing out all the stops for the MLS Cup broadcast. The newest innovation is the introduction of something called optical tracking data which will show "the distance and average speed players travel during the game, the number of sprints taken, and the amount of time spent in various parts of the field."

New League Rumored To Be Called NASL; Adds Two More Teams


Looks like this new US division two league is starting to take shape. USL News, an independent site covering all minor league soccer in North America, is reporting that the new league started by the TOA may be called the "North American Soccer League". Yep, just like the one that went under in the mid-80s. Apparently, they've filed patents with the US Patent and Trademark Office on the name.

Also, the league announced the addition of Crystal Palace USA and the Tampa Bay Rowdies, bringing their numbers up to 9 teams.