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War! A soccer war, that is. Over the past few years, the North American Soccer League and the United Soccer League have been at war with one another, jockeying position in the American (and Canadian) Soccer Pyramid. The NASL was ambitious, wanting to be able to compete with MLS. The USL wanted to be MLS2 in all but name, giving MLS clubs feeder teams to fill its ranks. The USSF was faced with a dilemma: who deserves to be the second rung of the ladder (a ladder that you cannot climb, but that's :worms:)? Well, you're not going to believe this. Are you sitting down? Both the NASL and USL were sanctioned as Division 2 leagues. They now have until January 2018 to figure out how they're going to make things work on the pyramid. Essentially, it's the reverse of the Wisdom of Solomon. OH! I guess I should explain what exactly we're talking about here. You know MLS, right? This is one step below that in the US and Canada. There, now that you're caught up, here are the leagues and teams that make up the NASL and the USL: North American Soccer League  Ah, the NASL. Barely alive a few months ago, the league lost five teams (2 to USL, 1 to MLS, 2 to folding) and expanded by one team to have a grand total of eight. Now that they have a new Commissioner without delusions of grandeur, maybe they can avoid the fate of the old NASL...? FC Edmonton - made the playoffs, yet finished next-to-last in attendance, ahead of only Fort Lauderdale (holy gently caress, what happened there?) Indy Eleven - successful on and off the field Jacksonville Armada FC - two seasons, five managers Miami FC - created to poke Beckham in the eye, EXTREMELY Italian New York Cosmos - eight-time NASL Champions! North Carolina FC - formerlly the Railhawks Puerto Rico FC - owned by Carmello Anthony and are bad San Francisco Deltas - a name and logo rivaling Pittsburgh's in terribleness United Soccer League  What was once a fairly stable league in terms of size became partly an MLS reserve league (all MLS clubs have affiliations with USL clubs). A good way to tell if a city is thinking about MLS is seeing if they are affiliated with an MLS club or not - if they're unaffiliated, they're probably trying to join the big boys. NOTE: THIS IS NOT A BLANKET CLAUSE Eastern Conference Bethlehem Steel FC - probably the coolest history for a team founded last year (Philadelphia) Charleston Battery - host a pre-season tournament involving MLS clubs that is well-known (Atlanta United) Charlotte Independence - fighting NCFC for territory in the Tar Heel state (Colorado) FC Cincinnati - will the magic continue? Harrisburg City Islanders - rumors of their demise have been greatly exaggerated Louisville City FC - gently caress these guys by proxy New York Red Bulls II - defending champions, and no one in New Jersey cares (RBNY) Orlando City B - gently caress THESE GUYS (Orlando City) Ottawa Fury FC - NASL refugees #1 (Montreal) Pittsburgh Riverhounds - bad name, worse logo (Columbus) Richmond Kickers - first pro club to win the U.S. Open Cup (D.C. United) Rochester Rhinos - last non-MLS club to win the U.S. Open Cup (New England) Saint Louis FC - probably going to MLS in 2020, if the stadium is built (Chicago) Tampa Bay Rowdies - NASL refugees #2 Toronto FC II - cool modified logo (Toronto) Western Conference Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC - almost forgot about these guys Los Angeles Galaxy II - started the trend of farm teams in backyards, so blame them (Los Angeles Galaxy) Oklahoma City Energy FC - survivors of the OKC soccer war (Dallas) Orange County SC - the most appropriate affiliation (LAFC) Phoenix Rising FC - get it?!?!?!? Portland Timbers 2 - no comment (Portland) Real Monarchs SLC - no comment (Real Salt Lake) Reno 1868 FC - expansion team (San Jose) Rio Grande Valley FC Toros - thank your lucky stars no MLS club uses this form of name (Houston) Sacramento Republic FC - WHELP San Antonio FC - these guys stink (NYCFC) Seattle Sounders FC 2 - no comment (Seattle) Swope Park Rangers KC - no comment (Sporting Kansas City) Tulsa Roughnecks FC - you'd think a team with an NASL name would play in the NASL, but no Whitecaps FC 2 - no comment (Vancouver) COMING IN 2018 (presumably) Austin Aztex (or whatever they'll call them) Nashville SC Below Division II in the US and Canada are the semi-pro leagues, and below that are the amateurs, but no one really talks about those leagues except in rare circumstances, so I'll skip them. If you want to talk about San Diego Zest FC or Toronto Skillz FC and any other Z-based team, be my guest. Edward Mass fucked around with this message at 03:46 on Feb 16, 2017 |
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Feb 1, 2017 23:58
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NYCFC announced an affiliation with San Antonio.
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Feb 10, 2017 01:22
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Do over Ham posted:Happy 42nd birthday Tampa Bay Rowdies (yesterday, Feb. 14th). I'm for that idea. Does the winner get anything, like a trophy?
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Feb 15, 2017 20:34
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I just realized - both 2016 NASL and USL champions claim New York as their home. THAT would be an intense Super Cup if the Baby Bulls had, you know, people showing up to their games.
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Feb 16, 2017 03:44
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A 'big' announcement involving Austin soccer is apparently happening the week of SXSW. It will not involve MLS directly, even though Don Garber is speaking during the conference.
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Feb 18, 2017 23:47
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I don't see a purpose in putting an new NASL team in Atlanta when their MLS club hasn't even taken the field yet. Plus, there's a 0% chance that they use the Chiefs name, so what's the point?
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Feb 25, 2017 02:12
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The USSF announced that the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup will have the USL and NASL teams enter in the second round, and MLS teams will enter in the fourth round.
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Mar 10, 2017 04:21
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That big Austin soccer news that was promised? Well, it was revealed that UT put the kibosh on it. 
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Mar 25, 2017 01:23
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Third division soccer will come back in 2019 with what amounts to USL-2 being revived.
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Mar 31, 2017 05:12
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You know when I told you to sit down? Well, sit the gently caress down again, because the NASL is forming their OWN third tier league.
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Apr 20, 2017 05:06
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A Canadian Premier League is a good idea. The question is, will the Canadian MLS clubs play ball?
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May 8, 2017 17:01
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Dallan Invictus posted:I'd say that depends on what "playing ball" entails. The uncomfortable tension that's always been in my mind about the CPL is that MLS has already planted itself in the three biggest TV (and otherwise) markets in Canada, and while it's not clear how well a national league would do financially and mindshare-wise without a presence there, it's also not clear how well it would manage to compete in those areas in direct competition. Well, there are nine cities with teams in the CFL. Of them: -Three have MLS teams -Two are in division 2 -Two have been confirmed to the CPL Which leaves Calgary and Saskatchewan the only two markets not yet represented. Even with those two places getting teams, the CPL really needs at least 2 of the 3 MLS markets to get to a respectable 8 members (unless Quebec City has a soccer stadium).
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May 9, 2017 01:06
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Cosmos in Cuba, I can understand. Cosmos in Saudi Arabia, I can't.
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May 9, 2017 22:59
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The question now is, is this more embarrassing than buying a team on eBay?
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Jun 21, 2017 04:33
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Now, SFFC is Div. 2 USL, right?
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Jul 1, 2017 20:39
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Austin update: still without anything
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Aug 5, 2017 18:32
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Austin update: 2019!
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Aug 9, 2017 15:56
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wicka posted:Why would you build a minor league soccer stadium in the same bad location as a race track known for being in a bad location? Because you own the land, and it's your fallback option.
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Aug 10, 2017 00:49
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fyallm posted:Man.. if FC Cincy doesn't win the open cup or make it to the playoffs our attendance is going to tank... Our on field performance is laughable... Koch is terrrrible Considering you only have three home games left, I wouldn't worry too much about not getting the highest attendance medal. I WOULD worry about losing 5-0.
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Aug 13, 2017 04:29
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I'd say Austin should hire Dalglish for bookend purposes, but it's just as well we wait for Adrian Heath to fall into out laps for a bigger bookend.
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Aug 17, 2017 20:57
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https://twitter.com/SBISoccer/status/902578409360039936 dumbbbbbbbbbb
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Aug 30, 2017 03:52
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I'm going on record as saying I want Austin's team to be known as Austin A.F.C., mainly because the only non-American team I root for uses that identifier. I'm a Sunderland A.F.C. Fan
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Sep 4, 2017 18:51
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Angstronaut posted:http://fiftyfive.one/2017/09/us-soccer-federation-rejects-nasls-division-ii-application/  again NASL
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Sep 5, 2017 20:29
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If and when there's a great migration from the NASL to the USL, how exactly are they going to handle a total of around 40 teams? They're going to need to bring back USL-1 and USL-2 ASAP.
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Sep 6, 2017 03:26
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I certainly hope that's just to cover their base!
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Sep 12, 2017 15:19
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Shame about the Deltas. They never had a chance, what with that terrible logo/league.
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Oct 16, 2017 23:13
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I’m as bewildered as you are.
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Oct 17, 2017 14:36
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San Diego 1904 is the name of a new NASL club, but you don’t want to know why it’s called that.
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Oct 18, 2017 20:26
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USL playoffs start tonight, and there’s only 4 reserve squads that made it!
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Oct 20, 2017 18:13
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Next Monday night is the USL Cup Final, as Louisville City plays host to Swope Park Rangers. Both semi-finals went to PKs, and we almost got an all-reserve final! Meanwhile, the Cosmos are playing in this year's Soccer Bowl against (team leaving NASL TBD) at (time and location TBD).
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Nov 6, 2017 03:07
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The soon-to-be defunct Deltas won their semi-final and are hosting the Soccer Bowl on the 12th. Funny if not sad.
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Nov 6, 2017 21:10
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Congrats and condolences to the Deltas.
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Nov 13, 2017 04:09
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USL News & Notes: -Whitecaps FC 2 is no more. Fresno will be affiliated with Vancouver. -The Harrisburg City Islanders are now Penn FC. -Memphis will have a club in 2019.
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Nov 21, 2017 04:21
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Poor Eddies. Hopefully the CPL takes off.
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Nov 24, 2017 20:51
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Well, that makes an easier OP to write for the next thread, I guess.
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Jan 8, 2018 17:46
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I didn't know about the large Brazilian contingent in Ohio.
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Jan 14, 2018 22:53
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Tormenta FC is the first announced club for USL’s D3 league. Statesboro, Georgia.
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Jan 22, 2018 17:36
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I will make a 2018 USL thread....soon-ish.
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Feb 15, 2018 17:47
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It's an improvement over the old logo, but that's not saying much.
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Feb 17, 2018 04:30
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https://twitter.com/statesman/status/968260342605320193 I'm also going to post the USL 2018 thread later today. e: And it's up! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3850449 Edward Mass fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Feb 27, 2018 |
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Feb 27, 2018 01:54
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