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Much like the rest of the world, there are lower soccer leagues in Canada and the United States. Much like Major League Soccer, however, none of the clubs have any history predating the 1990's (although three professional teams predate MLS). While these leagues are dwarfed by comparable leagues around the world in all facets, there still exists the draw in smaller towns across North America of hosting a soccer team. Who knows, one of these teams may end up being the new Seattle and get promoted*! This thread will give some background information on the leagues and even more brief notes about the teams. Tier 2: North American Soccer League  Created after a settled lawsuit (true story), the North American Soccer League of 2011 is the claimed descendent of the NASL of the '70s. Despite having teams named Rowdies, Strikers, and Cosmos, and having the Grand Final being called the Soccer Bowl, do not get confused: on average, just under 5,000 people attend on average per game (much higher in New York). Also, they use the split season format, which everyone agrees is a stupid thing. TEAMS Atlanta Silverbacks - last year's Spring Champion; considering that ownership has no interest of being promoted* to MLS, don't get too attached to the Silverbacks name Carolina RailHawks FC - a team whose rights were LITERALLY sold on eBay FC Edmonton - no one goes to these games Fort Lauderdale Strikers - South Beach is a bad sports area in general Indy Eleven - a new team Minnesota United FC - new team name pending New York Cosmos - six-time NASL champions!!!! Ottawa Fury FC - another new team San Antonio Scorpions FC - actual success story Tampa Bay Rowdies - beat Bolton Wanderers once Tier 3 (US only): United Soccer Leagues Professional Division  After the previously mentioned lawsuit, the United Soccer Leagues, once having two separate leagues, folded into one league. When they lose Orlando City, expect the average attendance to drop dramatically. Regularly plays MLS Reserve teams. TEAMS Arizona United SC - second year, second name Charleston Battery - founded in 1993, mostly known for hosting a pre-season tournament Charlotte Eagles - oldest existing pro soccer team in the United States (1991) Dayton Dutch Lions - promotion* success story! Harrisburg City Islanders - I don't think Harrisburg is actually an island, but whatever LA Galaxy II - at least try, Galaxy Oklahoma City Energy - soon to be replaced by an NASL team Orange County Blues - my local semi-pro team plays in a bigger stadium Orlando City SC - defending champion; soon to join MLS Pittsburgh Riverhounds - terrible logo Richmond Kickers - founded in 1993, the first pro team to win the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Rochester Rhinos - the only non-MLS side to win the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup since 1996 Sacramento Republic FC - wants to join MLS (we'll see how that goes) Wilmington Hammerheads - I literally thought this team played in Delaware (they play in North Carolina) Other leagues Canada's third tier is in chaos after a match fixing scandal brought down the semi-pro Canadian Soccer League. In its place is League1 Ontario and the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec. The PLSQ has seven teams, all located in Quebec, and nobody knows anything about League1 Ontario. Go look up their website when they make one. Tiers 4 and 5 are a bit complicated. The United States Soccer Federation and the Canadian Soccer Association do not give specific levels of play for semi-pro and amateur clubs, which leads to some confusion. The generally accepted tier system is: Tier 4: National Premier Soccer League (USA)/Pacific Coast Soccer League (Canada)/USL Premier Development League (USA & Canada) Tier 5: everyone else *Promotion in name only
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Mar 20, 2014 08:15
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| # ? May 7, 2024 20:41 |
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Mods rename me Charleston Battery
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Mar 20, 2014 09:12
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The FC Edmonton situation is kind of funny. When they moved to Clarke Stadium in 2012, it was with the understanding that the team would pay for a new seating expansion and there would be new turf (it's a multipurpose place). For more than a year, the Edmonton City Council decided that Edmonton couldn't build a seating expansion, that they were paying for, onto a stadium with a capacity of two thousand people for...reasons. Then, at the start of the 2013 season, the city council claimed they needed to do some more final approval stuff on what amounted to a bunch of metal bleacher seating, which somehow took four more months. FC Edmonton finally got to start using the full seating that they paid for in August, and what do you know by the end of the season they finally managed to get four thousand people in for a game because they actually had four thousand seats available. Then for the turf, it's nearly 15 years old and covered in Canadian Football lines. It's also in such bad shape due to age that it's basically like playing on concrete. However, that didn't stop the city council from farting around for so long replacing the lovely turf that new stuff can't be installed until the summer now. They also told FC Edmonton that even though they're the primary tenant there would still have to be permanent Canadian Football lines all over the turf for the amateur-level Canadian Football games there. The solution: make FC Edmonton pay for painting and removal of temporary Canadian Football lines each week even though they're supposed to have the run of the place and there's supposed to be enough other venues for Canadian Football teams to play in that this wouldn't be a problem. Crazy Ted fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Mar 20, 2014 |
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Mar 20, 2014 14:19
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CaptainYesterday posted:nobody knows anything about League1 Ontario I can confirm this.
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Mar 20, 2014 15:27
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I hope to make it out to a few MN United games this year. I just wish they didn't play out in loving Blaine.
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Mar 20, 2014 16:53
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The Scorpions have pretty much gutted their roster and started over. Apparently more than a few players from last year hadn't bought into the concept of the team existing as a vehicle for charity, and thought the money should go into things for the team instead. The Scorpions raised over $600,000 dollars to go to Morgan's Wonderland and its related charities last year. Hopefully we can do better this year; both on and off the field.
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Mar 20, 2014 16:58
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Expectations are high for Orlando City. Got season tickets this year, looking forward to whatever they've done to the ESPN soccer complex. I'm not really worried about the venue change. Although we'll be capped at ~5,000, that pretty much ensures every game will sell out. It was cool seeing the 10,000+ crowds at the Citrus Bowl but good riddance to mud parking and trough toilets. Really interested to see who makes the cut in the transition from USL to MLS. We unfortunately lost Jamie Watson to Minnesota, but there's been a lot of buzz about Darwin Ceren. We also just signed a local kid which is nice to see. I'm curious to see what happens if/when we host the playoffs/final since the Citrus Bowl is currently in ruins.
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Mar 20, 2014 17:10
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CaptainYesterday posted:
What? How does this even work?
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Mar 20, 2014 17:51
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pik_d posted:What? How does this even work? An organization that owned the Fort Lauderdale Strikers took over control and saved the club. The RailHawks were bought by local businessmen over the winter.
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Mar 20, 2014 19:09
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The CSA is supposedly still going through the motions of setting up a CHL-style regional D3 league but who even knows anymore
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Mar 20, 2014 20:15
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Really looking forward to the USL Pro season starting. The Riverhounds might be pretty terrible in both the logo and on-field departments, but the Highmark Stadium is a really nice place to see a game, the tickets and beer are both really cheap, and the crowds seem to be improving.
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Mar 20, 2014 20:50
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We scrimmaged the Dyamo today, and won 2-0  Also we resigned Josue Soto, I always liked him and am happy about that.
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Mar 20, 2014 22:11
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CaptainYesterday posted:
Beat the New York Cosmos a few times too - just not in this century. I misread this headline (below) the first time I saw it, heh.... quote:http://www.tampabaynewswire.com/201...ning-game-21026
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Mar 21, 2014 04:12
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I'll be driving to a few Indy Eleven games this year; some fellow Chicago Fire fans and I are coming down for the inaugural game. Also former Fire striker Collins John just signed for the Riverhounds. He was probably one of the worst players Chicago has ever had.
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Mar 21, 2014 04:41
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 toronto je srbija
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Mar 21, 2014 05:09
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Jermaine Dildoe posted:The CSA is supposedly still going through the motions of setting up a CHL-style regional D3 league but who even knows anymore  Gee you really think there was a little bit of match fixing going on there?
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Mar 21, 2014 16:30
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Fat Lowtax posted:toronto je srbija Put Serbian White Eagles and Toronto Croatia in a mini-two team league and let them kill each other, forever.
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Mar 21, 2014 16:36
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Do over Ham posted:Beat the New York Cosmos a few times too - just not in this century. We also beat the Sounders in the Open Cup last season!
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Mar 31, 2014 03:59
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King of False Promises posted:We also beat the Sounders in the Open Cup last season! Oh yeah, I forgot about that! 
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Mar 31, 2014 07:25
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dxt posted:I hope to make it out to a few MN United games this year. I just wish they didn't play out in loving Blaine. The Dark Clouds supporters group has a bus that runs from the Nomad and back. Its $10 and you get two free Surleys with your ticket which we usually drink before the bus arrives in Blaine. I didn't drive once last year and it was amazing. Follow the Dark Clouds on Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. I also send out a newsletter fairly regularly with info about what the DCs are doing.
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Mar 31, 2014 13:13
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I'd also suggest that MN United is a pretty big success story considering we've had 20 unbroken years of professional outdoor soccer at the brink of (and literal) insolvency and managed to get the richest man in Minnesota to purchase the team in Nov 2012 and invest real money into the organization largely due to the supporters culture the DCs formed around the team.
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Mar 31, 2014 13:31
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c0ldfuse posted:The Dark Clouds supporters group has a bus that runs from the Nomad and back. That is good to know, I might have to check that out.
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Mar 31, 2014 14:14
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c0ldfuse posted:I'd also suggest that MN United is a pretty big success story considering we've had 20 unbroken years of professional outdoor soccer at the brink of (and literal) insolvency and managed to get the richest man in Minnesota to purchase the team in Nov 2012 and invest real money into the organization largely due to the supporters culture the DCs formed around the team.
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Mar 31, 2014 18:33
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Crossposting from the 2013 NASL thread! I'll be sitting in the supporter's section (Brickyard Battalion!), and I'm way more excited than I planned on being, especially since the team just announced a dedicated supporter's tailgate area. When I lived in DC I went to United games all the time, and the tailgates were phenomenal. I dunno what they'll be like here, but I'm pretty stoked. Any other Brickers postin' here? Wanna meet up and get drunk at the IU game?
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Mar 31, 2014 23:44
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I am waiting for my Cosmos pack to come in. Supposed to have a baseball cap in it this year. I did ask the guy what they planned on doing with my "special game with a European team" ticket that never materialized. I'm surprised some NY lawyer hasn't already started a class action lawsuit over it.
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Apr 1, 2014 00:14
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A couple of recognizable names signed with NASL teams today. And Edmonton signed Tomi Ameobi, who has bounced around Icelandic/Finnish clubs the past few years, but has a recognizable name since his two brothers are Newcastle United players.
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Apr 1, 2014 01:43
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camoseven posted:Crossposting from the 2013 NASL thread! I'll be sitting in the supporter's section (Brickyard Battalion!), and I'm way more excited than I planned on being, especially since the team just announced a dedicated supporter's tailgate area. When I lived in DC I went to United games all the time, and the tailgates were phenomenal. I dunno what they'll be like here, but I'm pretty stoked. Any other Brickers postin' here? Wanna meet up and get drunk at the IU game? I'm a Fire fan but I'm in Bloomington so I'm going to try to go to as many Indy games as I can. Hello Towel fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Apr 1, 2014 |
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Apr 1, 2014 02:54
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Hello Towel posted:I'm a Fire fan but I'm in Bloomington so I'm going to try to go to as many Indy games as I can. Sweet, shoot me a PM whenever you get tix. They still haven't posted the tailgating details, but I'm sure it'll be a blast. Are you goin to the 11 vs Fire game in Lafayette tonight?!
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Apr 1, 2014 15:35
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camoseven posted:Sweet, shoot me a PM whenever you get tix. They still haven't posted the tailgating details, but I'm sure it'll be a blast. Are you goin to the 11 vs Fire game in Lafayette tonight?! No, I unfortunately can't make it up to WL tonight. Just didn't work out timing-wise. But I'll be at the April 12th game along with other Fire supporters.
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Apr 1, 2014 16:16
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Looks like the free streams on UStream for NASL must be over, they now have a pay service package: http://www.nasllive.com/ It looks like it's the same infrastructure/provider as foxsoccer2go, which I've had no problems with, and $30 for the whole year isn't unreasonable. Still, free was nice.
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Apr 5, 2014 00:50
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I'm really hopeful that the new streaming service will be much better feeds. We struggled regularly at our away watch parties last year with the stream cutting out.
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Apr 5, 2014 19:35
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I went to the Indy Eleven vs Indiana University match last night. The atmosphere was great, and the team looks pretty decent. Everyone looks good individually, but you can definitely tell that they've only played together a few times. Kleberson looked way better than I expected him to, and it seems like he's going to be the key player in the midfield. The stadium isn't perfect, but all the improvements they've done have really helped. The supporters' section is only like 4 feet from the backside of the goal, so we're gonna have a lot of fun yelling at opposing keepers! The tailgate was a blast, and I ended up drinking more last night than I have in a loooong time. I also had my first Jagerbomb in probably ten years. At least my hangover is subsiding... slowly. I'm really excited for the opening game next weekend!
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Apr 5, 2014 20:30
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We had our season ticket pickup party on Thursday at Morgan's Wonderland. All the players were there and they fed us and gave us jerseys and a gift card but the tickets weren't ready yet. 
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Apr 5, 2014 21:32
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Our GM taking a few swipes at Minnesota. I like it. Wonder who he is referencing leaving for money and begging to come back?
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Apr 8, 2014 04:58
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AZTEX ARE BACK AND WE ARE GOING TO loving TEAR IT UP AGAIN ILL DO A WRITE UP LATER UNITED SOCCER LEAGUE PREMIER DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE gently caress orlando
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Apr 8, 2014 07:28
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Suqit posted:Our GM taking a few swipes at Minnesota. I like it. "Our rivalry is so real I have to tell you it's real."
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Apr 8, 2014 07:56
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Suqit posted:Our GM taking a few swipes at Minnesota. I like it. That was a pretty dumb article. I don't know anyone who has said anything poor about the Scorpions organization outside of how the team is run (IE rebuilding every year) which is a pretty legit complaint and comes from Scorpions fans more than anyone else. Also why would the GM of an organization write something like this? EDIT: Nick responds in Star Tribune. http://m.startribune.com/?id=254285221 quote:San Antonio Scorpions president and general manager Howard Cornfieldappears to have a bone to pick with Minnesota United team president Nick Rogers - and he's not willing to settle things privately.In a letter to San Antonio fans that was posted on the team website and promoted on the team social media accounts, Cornfield accuses Rogers of making what he calls "uncalled for [sic] comments by the Minnesota team president over the course of the past year about our fans and organization," which the Scorpions executive claims are the source of an organization-wide hatred for the United organization.Later in the letter, Cornfield went after United's president personally, noting in an unflattering aside that Rogers is "the son-in-law of the team owner and has no prior experience or track record in the sports industry."Rogers reacted with bewilderment, offering a signed United jersey via Twitter for anyone who could find a recorded negative quote from him about either the Scorpions organization or its fans. (The closest I could come from the SoccerCentric archives wasan interview in which Rogers referred to San Antonio's ticket sales as "incredible.")"I have no idea what comments he's referring to," said Rogers, via text. "I don't think I've ever made any negative comments about the organization, and I'm sure I've never bad-mouthed their fans."On Twitter, Rogers wrote, "I have nothing but respect for the Scorpions organization and their fans. I'm sorry Mr. Cornfield felt it necessary to write that letter. If someone on my staff wrote this, I'd make them take it down and apologize. We'll have a further response on the field on Saturday."Cornfield's letter appears to be the latest in a line of pro wrestling-style attempts to drum up interest in the Scorpions, which include a mysterious egg appearing at San Antonio's stadium. (This may well be a homage to one of the single silliest moments in pro wrestling history, which is of course a "sport" that has been fairly littered with silly moments.) c0ldfuse fucked around with this message at 13:34 on Apr 8, 2014 |
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Apr 8, 2014 12:46
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LEAGUE 1 ONTARIO BITCH artifacts because who the gently caress cares it's province-level clogball WHO THE gently caress ARE THESE TEAMS ANB Futbol Durham Power FC Internacional de Toronto Kingston Cataraqui Clippers Masters FA Sigma FC Toronto FC Academy Vaughan Azzurri Windsor Stars Woodbridge Strikers DO YOU CARE EVEN A LITTLE hahaha no
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Apr 9, 2014 19:33
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Reek posted:AZTEX ARE BACK AND WE ARE GOING TO loving TEAR IT UP AGAIN #builtnotbought!!!!!
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Apr 10, 2014 00:00
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| # ? May 7, 2024 20:41 |
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So the Cosmos apologized for not getting my tickets out to me. So they reprinted them all by hand and included an extra baseball cap. It may have my letter carrier who just recently got arrested for throwing away peoples mail because he didn't feel like delivering it.
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Apr 10, 2014 20:32
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