Willoughby Off To A Good Start With Brilla

Former Rocket City United winger and Huntsville native, Paul Willoughby has gotten off to a brilliant start for the Mississippi Brilla scoring his second goal of the season in yesterday's 1:1 draw versus the Florida Kraze.


The Brilla sit second in the PDL's Southeast division. Willoughby scored his first goal of the season in a 5:0 romp over the New Orleans Jesters on May 11th.

Willoughby signing falls through for RCU

It appears the Rocket City United's announced signing of 2009 winger and Huntsville native Paul Willoughby has fallen through. The Mississippi Brilla of the USL's PDL has recently announced that Willoughby will join the Clinton, MS team for the 2010 season.

Former RCU winger Paul Willoughby

"I love Andy [Zorovich] and Desmond [Armstrong]", said Willoughby. "I just wanted to try something new. I loved playing in Huntsville, but I've played there for the past two years and I wanted a new experience."

Willoughby in action for RCU

Willoughby is coming off an impressive season with the University of West Florida where he had 8 goals and 4 assists and earned spots on the Gulf South Conference All-Conference team and the Daktronics All-South Region Second team. In his two seasons at RCU, Willoughby compiled 3 goals and eleven assists and helped lead the team to the 2009 NPSL Southeast Region Championship and a place in the NPSL Final Four.


The Brilla are compiling an impressive roster and are defending the PDL South Conference's Southeast Division Champions. So, Willoughby will have some strong competition to find playing time. When asked about playing time with his new team, Willoughby said, "I don't know about that. I'll go and do my best and we'll see."

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.