RCU's New Home: Madison City Schools Stadium

Of course, the big news at the press conference today was the announcement of former US National Team member Desmond Armstrong as the technical director, but perhaps just as big was the announcement that RCU will be moving their home matches to the Madison City Schools Stadium. This is a major upgrade from John Hunt Soccer Stadium.

Madison City Schools Stadium: The new home of Rocket City United

I stopped by the stadium after the press conference and was impressed with it. Built in 2003, it seats a few thousand and will meet the needs of RCU.

Andy Zorovich on Madison and Madison City Schools Stadium from Ryan Harbaugh on Vimeo.

BTW, since the Stadium is on Celtic Drive, I have to wonder if the builder of the stadium is a Hoops supporter. :)

RCU Press Conference Recap

RCU Technical Director Desmond Armstrong

As I told you earlier this week, Desmond Armstrong was officially announced as the Rocket City United Technical Directory today during a press conference at the Madison City Hall. In addition, the city and the club announced that RCU will be playing their home matches in Madison and the NPSL Final Four will be held aat the Madison City Schools Stadium.After being welcomed by several local dignitaries, Madison Mayor Paul Finley welcomed the team and spoke about some of the benefits the team will bring to the city and vice-versa. "This is an exciting day for Madison... We have 1,500 kids in the city of Madison in AYSO soccer. We have 25 different club teams... and that's not to mention the teams at Liberty, Discovery, and Bob Jones... As a business person, I understand why you are here. Your target market is here. We are the center of this Tennessee Valley. If you go to Decatur, and Athens, and Huntsville, Madison is an ideal location."

Madison Mayor Paul Finley Welcomes Rocket City United

RCU president Andy Zorovich then spoke about his original intention on playing in Madison and his delight that the team is able to call the Madison City School Stadium home after two seasons playing in Huntsville's John Hunt Soccer Stadium.

Zorovich was also proud to announce that Madison would play host the NPSL Final Four at the end of July. "This year the championship for our league will be held here. It's going to be a great opportunity... Hopefully, we'll be playing in that final game on July 31st. That's the goal that we'll have for the team." After setting that lofty expectation, Zorovich gave the floor to Armstrong to address the media.

Desmond Armstrong addresses the media

I'll be posting more footage from the press conference later today.

RCU Getting More Media Love

RCU is getting more love from the local media. In their latest issue, Madison Magazine is running a feature story on the city's new team.

Coverboy: Fernando Sanchez

Madison City Mayor is pumped for the 2010 season, ""We are proud and excited to have the Rocket City United soccer team call Madison "home" for the 2010 season!"

Run out and pick up a copy today. Then, get Fernando to sign it. When he signs for a big club, you can sell it on eBay!!! :)

Thursday Randoms

Huntsville and Soccer Insider

Rocket City United and the Perfectly Weighted Through Blog are getting some love from the national and local media. In his Soccer Insider blog, one of the nation's foremost soccer reporters, Steven Goff of the Washington Post, gives a shout out to RCU's hiring of local DC product, Desmond Armstrong, by posting links to RCU and the PWTBlog.
Not to be outdone, local Huntsville blogger Jean Brandau has also mentioned the Armstrong hire and linked to RCU in her Huntsville Insider blog.


ESPN will focus on World Cup Games

ESPN has vowed to keep to their announcing crews focused on the game they are calling rather than try to educated the soccer unintiated during the game broadcasts. This type of pandering to "Joe Sportsfan" was widely panned during the 2006 World Cup when ESPN brought in baseball announcer Dave O'Brien as the network's primary play by play announcer. This is terrific news to those of us that don't need to have someone explain the offside rules and don't care that Sacha Kljestan's girlfriend is a Victoria Sectret model.


To try help grab the interest of the average sportsfan, ESPN will focus thier human interest stories during thier secondary coverage. Also, ESPN has gained the rights to past matches from previous World Cups and will show many of those matches on ESPN Classic. This summer is going to be awesome!


Refereeing is hard!

The Wall Street Journal has a great article about just how hard it is to ref a soccer game.


USA World Cup Bid Video

In case you haven't seen it. Here is the USA's World Cup bid video delivered to FIFA during the World Cup draw last week.

Former USA World Cup Star Armstrong To Be Named RCU Technical Director

According to a Media Advisory sent by Rocket City United to various media outlets, former US National Team defender Desmond Armstrong will be introduced as the Technical Director of RCU at Friday morning's press conference at the Madison City Hall.

RCU's New Technical Director Desmond Armstrong

Armstrong made 81 appearances for the US National Team including all three matches during the 1990 World Cup in Italy. He was also a member of the CONCACAF Gold Cup winning USA teams in 1991 and 1993 and a member of the 1988 US Olympic team. His club resume includes the Cleveland Force and Baltimore Blast indoor teams as well as the APSL side Maryland Bays and Santos FC of Brazil.
After retiring as a player in 1996, Armstrong was named head coach of NAIA's Montreat College in North Carolina. Armstrong holds a USSF "A" coaching license (the highest possible) and is a founder of Heroes FC, a youth club which he led to the Division I US Club Soccer National Cup III title in 2004.

Armstrong earned 81 caps for the USA

Armstrong will take on a Rocket City United team that won the Southeast Region of the National Premier Soccer League in 2009. RCU finsihed the season with a 5-2-1 league record (8-6-2 overall) on thier way to the NPSL National semifinals.

Sitting Down With The President Part 4

In the final part of my sit down with Rocket City United President Andy Zorovich, he talks about the loss of hi scoring forward Rafa Barbosa, the use of technology to update fans, and the local soccer scene.

RCU President Andy Zorovich Part 4 from Ryan Harbaugh on Vimeo.

Randoms

Another World Cup Ball Post?!

I don't know why, but I find this ball to be fascinating. As I've posted earlier, FIFA's new official World Cup ball is called the Jubalani and is the most technologically advanced ball ever.


The Guardian has a nice info-graphic with some cool tidbits on the ball.


Beer bath?

Normally when the phrase "beer bath" is mentioned in a soccer article, it's in reference to a championship celebration. This post is an exception.

Beer baths, long soaks in a tub filled with beer and other spices, are being used by many South American soccer players as a new remedy for soccer injuries. What's next? Will RCU player's turn to Huntsville's newest brewery, Straight to Ale Brewing, to heal their ails (or should I say ales)? I know that many HASL players already work out their aches and pains after Sunday matches with the help of a lager or two, but bathing in it just seems to be a waste of good beer!

Get Your Official World Cup Gear At Walmart... Wait, Walmart?

You'll soon be able to pick up your official 2010 World Cup gear at Walmart. In a move that is surely designed to raise the international profile of the world's largest retailer rather than promote soccer in the heartland of America, Walmart signed an deal to operate 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Official Event Stores in each of it's 7,800 locations worldwide. So, get used to seeing a Christiano Ronaldo shirts next to that Jimmy Johnson jacket.

RCU News

Press Conference Set For Friday To Announce New Head Coach

I got this email from Andy Zorovich announcing this Friday's RCU press conference. From the whispers I'm hearing, the new head coach will be a pretty big name!!!

Rocket City United will hold a press conference on Friday 12/11/09 at 9:30am at Madison City Hall to announce its 2010 plans and introduce its new Technical Director/Head Coach. We are very excited about 2010 with the World Cup being held right during the middle of our season and also being able to host the 2010 NPSL Final Four.

Rocket City United. Where Soccer's a Kick in the Grass!

Andy Zorovich

President

Rocket City United

Zorovich Talks NPSL Southeast Region

Over on the NPSL Insider, part 2 of my interview with Andy Zorovich covering the NPSL Southeast Region has been posted. Check it out.

Sit Down With Andy Zorovich Part 3

In this part of the sit down from 2 weeks ago, Andy talks about the press conference scheduled for this Friday, December 11th, in which RCU will announce their new technical director (head coach) and the team's plans for the upcoming 2010 season. He also talks about last season, the team's parting with former technical director Greg Petersen, and Andy's expectations for the 2010 season.

RCU President Andy Zorovich Part 3 from Ryan Harbaugh on Vimeo.

Lee Crowned 2009 NAIA Women's National Champions

Lee University repeats as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Women's National Champion with a 2:0 win over Point Loma Nazarene University.
Lee midfielder Lauren Good scored in the 15th minute and Christiane Christensen added one in the 27th minute to power Lee on to its second national championship in as many years. Lee's stellar defense pitched its fourth consecutive shutout over the Cinderella story Point Loma Nazarene as Lee finished the tournament without conceding a goal.

NAIA Womens's Final Set

The NAIA National Women's Soccer Championship Final is set, as unseeded Point Loma University will meet defending champion Lee University.

Semifinal 1
Point Loma Nazerene University 0:0 (3:0) Azusa Pacific University
Carl Spackler's favorite ("Cinderella story; out of nowhere"), Point Loma Nazarene, does it again, surviving 110 of scoreless soccer to win it in PKs.

Semifinal 2
Lee University 1:0 Concordia University
In a tale of two halves, Lee capitalized on one of their opportunities while Concordia was unable to do likewise.

So, the final will take place tomorrow at 7PM at the Jack Allen Soccer Complex in Decatur.

#2 Lee Universityvs

(Unseeded) Point Loma Nazarene

Using "The Force" In The Making Of The Ball

I'm a big fan of the show How It's Made on the Science Channel. So, it's no surprise that I was fascinated by the video on the New York Time's Goal Blog that shows the manufacturing process to create the Jabulani, as the new World Cup ball is known.When the video got to the point where the press was used to shape the ball, I couldn't help but think of the scene from one of the Star Wars movies where Darth Vader has his helmet fitted back onto his head in his hyperbaric meditation chamber.



I know it's geeky, but you have to remember that I was an impressionable youth when these movies came out. :)

World Cup Draw Reaction And Other Stuff

US Draws...

...England, Algeria, and Slovenia in Group C. This is a decent draw for the US!

Group of Death has to be Group G with Brazil, N. Korea, Ivory Coast, and Portugal.

This summer will be a fun one!



Was It Fixed?

The New York Times has a nice little article on the conspiracy theories that consistently arise around this time every four years. Heated/cooled ping pong balls, magnetic rings, or other slight of hand? Are you kidding me!?


World Cup 2010 In 3-D!!!

FIFA has announced that they will broadcast several games from South Africa in 3-D.
What's next, robots replace players?


Group of Death: The Band

Nope, we're not talking about Group G in today's draw. We're talking about the futbol favoring heavy metal band from the USA, Group of Death! They're just getting ready to kick-off their quadrennial world tour "GoD Help Us".

I'm more of a punk rock guy myself, but you gotta love the passion behind the soccer loving metal band. Here's their latest song We All Call It Awesome and a hilarious interview with This Is American Soccer.

World Cup Draw: Where Are You Watching It?

It's time to let your boss know that you've suddenly come down with a sniffle, cough, or stomach flu. The World Cup Draw will be shown on ESPN2 at 11AM today. Where are you watching it? So far, I've heard from of two groups gathering around the Huntsville area. The SouthernSoccer.net crew will be heading over to Buffalo Wild Wings at Madison Square Mall. Some Rocket City United folks will be gathering at Tommy's Pizza to see if the US ends up in the Group of Death.
Any others groups gathering today?

More With Andy Zorovich

Here's part two of talk with Rocket City United President, Andy Zorovich. Andy talks about the best/worst things about being the head of RCU. He also talks about what the club does in the offseason. Enjoy!

RCU President Andy Zorovich Part 2 from Ryan Harbaugh on Vimeo.

You can find part 1 of the interview here.

NAIA Women's Semifinal Set

On a field more suited for a tractor pull than soccer, four squads punched their ticket into the NAIA Women's National Championship semifinals at the Jack Allen Soccer Complex. Hours of driving rain and high winds certainly was not conducive for the beautiful game, and the teams battled the elements as well as their opponents.

Quarterfinal 1
#4 Azusa Pacific 1:0 #12 Graceland
A 40 yard free kick skipped off the slippery turf and into the far side of the net for the only goal of the match for Azusa Pacific as the elements play their first trick of the day.

Quarterfinal 2
#6 Concordia 3:1 #3 California Baptist
In the first upset of the day, Concordia took the momentum of their golden goal winner the previous night to power past California Baptist.

Quarterfinal 3
(Unseeded) Point Loma Nazarene 2:0 #1 Linsey Wilson
In the immortal words of Carl Spackler, Point Loma Nazarene is "a Cinderella story, outta nowhere." While Loma hasn't won the Masters, they did defeat the highly favored Linsey Wilson squad whose possession game was neutralized by the elements and the solid team defense of Loma.

Quarterfinal 4
#2 Lee 3:0 #7 Martin Methodist
The defending national champion Lee scored and early goal and never looked back. A third minute goal and two second half insurance goals saw the Cleveland, TN side into the semis.

The teams will have a rest day tomorrow before meeting in the semis on Friday. Here are the match ups.

Semifinal 1, Friday, 3PM

#4 Azusa Pacific (California)
vs

(unseeded) Point Loma Nazarene (California)

Semifinal 2, Friday, 7PM

#2 Lee (Tennessee)
vs

#6 Concordia (Oregon)

I'll have more from Decatur Friday.

World Cup Stuff

World Cup Draw on FridayESPN2 will broadcast the World Cup Draw on Friday. They'll have three hours of coverage starting at 11 AM. How will the US fare? Climbing the Ladder provides the best analysis I've seen, complete with probabilities of drawing specific outcomes.

History of the World Cup Balls

The new Adidas ball the "Jublani" is set to be the official ball of the 2010 World Cup.

A few weeks back, I did a post on the Adidas World Cup Ball set that is on sale at Eurosport. British newspaper, the Telegraph has a photo essay of all of the balls used during the World Cups dating back to the 1930 Uruguay edition.

NAIA Women's College Championships Day 2

In the second day of round of 16 action, we had a few upsets and a golden goal winner!
Game 5
#12 Graceland 4:1 #5 William Carey
Graceland pleases there traveling contingent down from Iowa with a well earned victory.

Game 6
#6 Concordia 2:1 (OT) #11 McKendree
The most exciting match of the day. McKendree scored with about 10 minutes left only to see their dream die, as Concordia equalized 2 minutes from time and scored the golden goal winner 5 minutes into the first overtime period.

Game 7
Unseeded Point Loma Nazarene 6:1 #8 Vanguard
Two of the lowest scoring teams in the tournament explode for 7 goals between them. Pt. Loma scored 5 in the second half to avenge two regular season losses versus Vanguard and to see their Cinderella story continue as the only unseeded team in the tournament.

Game 8
#5 Martin Methodist 3:0 #10 Norwood
Virtual home team has little trouble advancing.

We had some great action from the Jack Allen Complex yesterday that sets up today's quarterfinals. With my normal broadcast partner, John Moran, out sick, I had to step up to the play by play in the first two matches and color in the third. Then, my voice gave out! Fortunately, we have located two more commentator's in Jeffrey Preston and Zach Folk who are doing a bang up job. I'll take the next two days off to rest the windpipe, and will be back for the semis and finals on Friday and Saturday.

Behind the scenes with the videographer, Juergen (waving), our IT guru, Lisa, and our Press liaison, Steve

Tune into WatchNAIA.com to catch the match-ups for the quarterfinals.

#4 Azusa Pacific (Calif.) (16-3-1) vs. #12 Graceland (Iowa) (19-1-2)
#3 California Baptist (17-4-1) vs. #6 Concordia (Ore.) (20-2-0)
#1 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) (19-2-2) vs. Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) (14-4-3)
#2 Lee (Tenn.) (18-2-1) vs. #7 Martin Methodist (Tenn.) (16-2-2)

Due to the excessive rain on Monday and overnight last night, NAIA officials have decided to move the quarterfinal matches from the main stadium field at the Jack Allen Complex to a secondary field. After the stadium pitch gets some care from the hardworking groundskeepers at Jack Allen and a few days rest, the semifinals and final matches are expected to be back in the main stadium.

NAIA Women's Championship Day 1

At the end of a long day of cold, wet soccer, here are the results.

Game 1
#4 Azusa Pacific 2: 1 #13 Indiana Wesleyan

Game 2
#3 California Baptist 3:2 #14 Auburn Montgomery

Game 3
#1 Lindsey Wilson 4:0 #16 Southern Nazerene

Game 4
#2 Lee University 4:0 #15 Trinity Christian

I'll post some behind the scenes photos tomorrow from the Jack Allen Complex.

Sit Down With Andy Zorovich

NPSL Commish Interview

Last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Andy Zorovich, the President of Rocket City United and the NPSL South Region Commissioner to talk about many topics including some behind the scenes looks at the NPSL and RCU.

As part of my first post for the NPSL Insider website, we talked about what's new in the South Region for 2010 and the process for the acceptance of new teams in the league. Check it out here.

RCU Presidential Interview Part 1

After the NPSL questions, Andy put on his RCU hat and he answered some RCU specific questions. Here's the first part of four RCU specific vids in which Andy discusses how he came to run a soccer team and why he selected the Huntsville/Madison area as the location.

Rocket City United President Andy Zorovich Part 1 from Ryan Harbaugh on Vimeo