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 The United Soccer League is the organizing body for several soccer leagues, both professional and amateur, in the United States. For the first time in ten years, the USL will have both a second-tier league and a third-tier league in the American (and Canadian) soccer pyramid(s). The last time, it was pretty simple: there was USL-1 and USL-2 to go along with the semi-pro USL-PDL.Now, because we have to copy the British for no reason, the second-tier league is the USL Championship and the third-tier league is USL League One to go along with the semi-pro USL League Two. In spite of the half-baked idea, the creation of League One has led Jake Edwards, Commissioner of USL, to talk about something no fan of American soccer had imagined would ever be discussed by a person in a position of power: promotion and relegation. Now, it's early stages (League One hasn't kicked off yet), but the sport's biggest 'what if' has the potential of being implemented, at least between those two leagues. Who knows if it will happen? Pro/rel is just a concept at this stage in the US, but at least someone is talking about it that has actual sway. Anyway, on to....wait, HOW MANY professional teams are there now? 46? Hell no, I'm not writing witty remarks for 46 clubs, many of which are brand new. I'll just point out Louisville City are defending USL Cup winners, while the premiership went to the now-MLS side Cincinnati. The Richmond Kickers have twice been champions of the third tier of American soccer, so that's something to think about as their campaign begins. Also,  THAT'S RIGHT, ANOTHER PRO LEAGUE IS COMING. AND IT'S GOT THE NEW YORK COSMOS. The NPSL Founders Cup, and 11-team competition taking place shortly after the NPSL season ends, is the soft launch for a new league, tentatively called 'NPSL Pro'. Four teams in California! Two teams in Miami! Chattanooga FC and Detroit City! Holy poo poo! After all of this, should you still go to a live match with has-beens and never-weres that can't even hack it in MLS? Absolutely! Get some buddies, drink some beer, enjoy soccer in your very own hometown! Your club could be the next to win Don Garber's Golden Ticket, and you should be there Before They Were Cool™. Come on it, complain about the gridiron lines, and enjoy Greenville Triumph SC/South Georgia Tormenta FC. Also, R.I.P. Leon.
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Feb 5, 2019 07:55
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Looking forward to seeing what the new Rays ownership can do for the Tampa Bay Rowdies. #COYR Previous owner Bill Edwards saved the club and put it on a solid business foundation but he didn't know anything about running a pro sports club, soccer or otherwise. The Rowdies spent a lot of money on players without much to show for it for the past five years. USL Championship needs more teams in Florida. There will be new USL League One (D3) teams in Sarasota and Orlando; however the Rowdies remain alone in Florida in the USL Championship (D2), since Orlando City B went on hiatus in 2018. This is very different from the situation when the Rowdies were still in NASL in 2016 and there were 4 Florida teams (Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami), which made for a lot of very easy road trips. I'm not in Florida though; closest for me would be Hartford Athletic. Lower league soccer in North America is filling out the map (with some gaps) in ways which would have been seen as unlikely 10-15 years ago. Do over Ham fucked around with this message at 10:59 on Feb 5, 2019 |
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Feb 5, 2019 10:56
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Las Vegas Lights FC:    Bentai posted:They’re a marketing gimmick wrapped up in a mediocre team. But it’s my team. I guess. High Point of 2018: A tie between the helicopter cash drop... https://twitter.com/lvlightsfc/status/1038642472665010177 ...and "technical director" Chelis finally getting fired. How someone can be suspended for 2/3rds of a season and still draw a paycheck, I'll never know. 2019: After a miserable inaugural year (8 wins, 19 losses, 7 draws), the team management fired both "technical director" Chelis and his son, head coach Isidro Sánchez. The new head coach is former US national team and MLS player Eric Wynalda. Wynalda proceeded to cut all but five of the original players, while some like former US phenom Freddy Adu are still potentially in contract negotiations to stay on the team. Because of the sheer amount of blood-letting in the off-season, it would be easy to say this will be another "inaugural year" for the team, as all the players and the staff need to gel together.
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Feb 5, 2019 11:04
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Don't forget that Wynalda has absolutely poo poo on Chelis when he's been on one of the radio shows
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Feb 5, 2019 14:34
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Title is perfect
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Feb 5, 2019 15:13
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Hello! I copped season tickets for my fairly new local team, Nashville SC. Looking forward to watching us Not Win anything in our last year in the USL before we move on to Not Winning anything in MLS. It is a Nashville tradition. That being said, our team is actually pretty solid, and we nearly knocked regular season winners Cincinnati out in the first round of the playoffs last year, but ended up losing on penos after a great 3-3 full time performance. e: Our stadium won't be finished until 2021 but the Sounds' baseball stadium has been a pretty good venue: 
brasstassels fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Feb 5, 2019 |
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Feb 5, 2019 20:39
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I guess we're doing this, so here's an effortpost about Austin Bold FC. Austin Bold FC (whose name is pretty hard to shorten) is the fourth and probably last attempt for a professional soccer club under the USL umbrella. Announced in August 2017, the club was the talk of the town for about two months, until the plans for Austin FC got announced. Since then, ABFC and owner Bobby Epstein has had a bit of an image problem. Go on, look at the Wikipedia article, I'll wait. Back yet? Regardless, ABFC are the only game in town for the next two years. Local reporters suggest that while there may be animosity now for the club, winning helps build bridges. Will this club be a winner? Who the gently caress knows, it's hard enough to determine who will be good in MLS year-to-year. I just know I'll be there, standing and chanting with the other folks who want to see some local soccer. If you followed my direction and went to Wikipedia, you'd notice the current squad is a bit....old. I'm pretty sure the majority of players are older than 30. It's also the most valuable USL Championship squad, according to that one German website that determines the value of players in Euro. To the outsider, one might wonder why the 2010 Dream Team would be a good idea in 2019. Again, I'd like to point out that MLS is coming to town in 2021, which means that ABFC has two years to make an impression before their thunder is stolen. If you've only got two years, why sign young players you know will need time to develop when you can sign known commodities that will make an impact within two years? In summation, don't be shocked if ABFC make a deep playoff run. Also, don't be shocked if ABFC suck out loud.
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Feb 5, 2019 23:42
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Looks like we have rival USL bids in Ft. Lauderdale:quote:http://magiccity.soccer/2019/02/05/...ams-mls-dreams/
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Feb 6, 2019 02:27
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Hi here's a drive-by effortpost on Detroit City FC: I assume in terms of NPSL, Detroit City FC is an organization whose reputation has largely outstripped the actual size and budget of the club, largely on the back of their Northern Guard Supporters. Easy to love, easier to hate, they're a driving force behind DCFC's reputation.   2018: Coming off of a spectacular playoff run in 2017 ending in a national semifinal appearance, 2018 was a year marked by notable organizational progress and growth moreso than league results, as they finished 4th of 7 (5-4-3) in conference play, far outside a playoff spot. Buoyed by a schedule that included Liga MX's Club Necaxa, Serie A side Frosinone Calcio, and Bundesliga 2's FC St Pauli, they played for an average 5,946 fans including a new record attendance of 7,887 against Frosinone at Keyworth Stadium. St. Pauli was hands down my favorite weekend of the year, where they made one of two US tour stops with a weekend full of events, including a panel on community-oriented soccer, a meet-and-greet, as well as a Rise Against concert the night before the match. At the end of the day, St. Pauli is still a pro club and DCFC never stood a chance on the pitch, losing 6-2. The result hardly mattered, though, as it was a surreal experience getting drunk with a bunch of German footballers who came here to see our little club. Very cool.    2019: During the offseason, the club opened the Detroit City Fieldhouse and Clubhouse, a facility with two indoor turf fields as well as a bar and restaurant overlooking them both, all run with the same ethos that guides the club itself. A planned jump to the NPSL's new professional league has resulted in some major changes, as well. The departure of an owner to head up USL Hartford, a new head coach, a partnership with one of the larger youth clubs in the region, additional stadium renovations including new turf, plans to continue an amateur squad and start a women's team, promises of fair, living wages for professional players, etc. In addition to intra-club matters, they'll be gaining some semblance of competition from the new USL League One team, Lansing Ignite. They have already announced three returning players for the professional roster: Club legends Cyrus Saydee and Tyrone Mondi alongside former Pittsburgh Riverhound Bakie Goodman. Excitement among the fanbase is at an all-time high, and expectations will be even higher. sleepwalkers fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Feb 6, 2019 |
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Feb 6, 2019 05:51
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sleepwalkers posted:Hi here's a drive-by effortpost on Detroit City FC: Just reminded me that I never picked up my season ticket for this year. Damnit
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Feb 6, 2019 10:53
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TraderStav posted:Just reminded me that I never picked up my season ticket for this year. Damnit They'll still be available! They stopped deposit sales on the 28th, but season tickets proper will be on sale in a week or two.
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Feb 7, 2019 05:14
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Who are the greatest North American association football club not currently in MLS, and why it is the Tampa Bay Rowdies?  [Commence effortpost] THE NASLOZOIC ERA, AKA THE PREMLSAMBRIAN ERA . . . The original Tampa Bay Rowdies played their first match, an indoor soccer game, on Valentine's Day, 1975, at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, a short walk from where the new era Rowdies play at Al Lang Stadium. Fun fact: the Bayfront Center was imploded in 2004 and replaced by the Salvador Dalí Museum. The Dali is awesome and you should visit it if you happen to be in downtown St. Pete. The original Tampa Bay Rowdies played in the North American Soccer League, in Tampa, Florida, at Tampa Stadium, aka The Big Sombrero. The Rowdies were the first pro sports club to represent the Tampa Bay Area, a year before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When the Rowdies first started playing in 1975 at Tampa Stadium, the end zone seating had not been built yet, so it was not known as The Big Sombrero back then. The Rowdies had a sold out home game of 40,000+ when Pelé and the New York Cosmos came visiting in the early years before the expansion of Tampa Stadium was completed (once the expansion was completed, Tampa Stadium seated 72,000). The Rowdies had several 40,000+ home games circa 1975-1980, and one 56,000+ home game in 1980. Average attendance started at about 15,000+ in 1975 and increased to 28,000+ by 1980, IIRC, before starting a slow decline which culminated in the collapse of the original NASL. The original 1970s/1980s era Tampa Bay Rowdies were known for their very effective and witty marketing campaigns.  Original era motto (on the back of most Rowdies t-shirts, and on Rowdies bumper stickers): "Soccer is a kick in the grass." We had a kick-rear end theme song; I used to have this record, it's either in storage or long lost though, sadly ("SOLD - Tampa Bay Rowdies '45 record - available on eBay late October"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qrQ80oCcpo Get it? Kick in the grass? Kick rear end? No? Also, Rowdies fans were known as Fannies. We had a mascot named Ralph Rowdie, or was it Rowdie Ralph?  However, he was better known from this original NASL artwork, featured on tens of thousands of t-shirts worn by 1970s/1980s era Floridians:  Tampa Bay Rowdies got off to a good start in 1975, beating the Portland Timbers to win the first NASL Soccer Bowl, at Spartan Stadium, the then home of the San Jose Earthquakes:  Awesome NFL-style Voice of God video ("Rowdies Road To The 75' NASL Soccer Bowl"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlRSfC6StTQ (Watching that video, I realize I am a really old fogey, because somewhere buried deep in my unconscious mind, soccer referees still wear all black, the assistant referees are still called linesmen, there is no fourth official, you can still back-pass to the goalkeeper, etc.). The best known original Rowdie would be Rodney Marsh, currently one of the Grumpy Pundits on SiriusXM FC, channel 157.  TAMPA BAY ROWDIES/MUTINY ACHIEVEMENTS AND TROPHIES . . . Tampa Bay Rowdies 1975-1993: 1975 Indoor Region 3 1975 NASL Indoor Runner-Up 1975 NASL Eastern Division 1975 NASL Regular Season Runner-Up 1975 NASL Soccer Bowl Champions 1976 NASL Indoor East Region 1976 NASL Indoor Champions 1976 NASL Eastern Division, Atlantic Conference 1976 NASL Regular Season Premiership 1978 NASL Eastern Division, American Conference 1978 NASL American Conference 1978 NASL Soccer Bowl Runner-Up 1979 NASL Indoor Runner-Up 1979 NASL Eastern Division, American Conference 1979 NASL American Conference 1979 NASL Soccer Bowl Runner-Up 1979-80 NASL Indoor Champions 1980 NASL Eastern Division, American Conference 1981–82 NASL Indoor Atlantic Conference 1981-82 NASL Indoor Runner-Up 1983 NASL Indoor Champions 1989 ASL Southern Division 1992 ASPL Runner-Up 1992 Professional Cup Runner-Up (The Tampa Bay Mutiny were MLS 1.0's Tampa Bay Rowdies in all but name, because reasons.) Tampa Bay Mutiny 1996-2001: 1996 MLS Eastern Conference Regular Season Winners 1996 MLS Supporters' Shield 2000 Copa de Puerto Rico Winners Tampa Bay Rowdies 2010-present: 2010 Coastal Cup 2010 Ponce De Leon Cup 2011 Coastal Cup 2012 Ponce De Leon Cup 2011 NASL Fair Play Award 2012 Coastal Cup 2012 NASL Fair Play Award 2012 NASL Soccer Bowl Champions 2013 Coastal Cup 2014 NASL Fair Play Award 2016 Coastal Cup NEW ERA TAMPA BAY ROWDIES . . . As noted above, the new era Rowdies won their second NASL Soccer Bowl in 2012, under the pre-Bill Edwards ownership. Leapin' Luke Mulholland celebrates 2012 Soccer Bowl win:  The Bill Edwards era 2014-2018 was significantly unsuccessful on the field, in spite of spending a lot of money on players, including Joe Cole and Marcel Schäfer. Local goons in Ralph's Mob can explain in much better detail than I can how head coach Neill Collins is rebuilding the team for the 2019 season, after losing the aforementioned Joe Cole and Marcel Schäfer, and fan favorites such as Georgi Hristov, and others. Pre-Bill Edwards, the new era Rowdies had Hoops McGee as mascot:  The Bill Edwards era ushered in Pete the Pelican:  quote:Having made his home, as many Pelicans do, in the bay near downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., Pete the Pelican was getting to know his new surroundings in early 2016 when he happened upon a stadium right on the waterfront. Pelicans are not the only birds of note associated with the Rowdies. Al Lang Stadium and the area around it in downtown St. Petersburg is inhabited by feral parakeets (not budgies; the big green kind of parakeet, probably something similar to Indian Ringneck Parakeets, but I'm not sure of the exact species). At Rowdies home matches at Al Lang, they hang out in the palm trees behind the south goal, in the Mahaffey Theater parking lot, of an evening, squawking loudly until it gets dark. And of course there is the aforementioned Ralph's Mob, named after the 1970s/1980s era Ralph Rowdie/Rowdie Ralph mascot:  New era Rowdies slogans: "we stand for soccer" and "come on you Rowdies"; hashtag: #COYR. A good site for following Rowdies news is The Unused Substitutes: http://www.theunsubs.com/wp/ Their podcasts are very informative as well: http://www.theunsubs.com/wp/category/podcasts Oh yeah Ralph's Mob has a website, too, though most Mobster activity seems to be on Facebook, Twitter, and reddit (Big Soccer activity amongst most Rowdies fans died off a long time ago): https://www.ralphsmob.com NEW ERA TAMPA BAY ROWDIES HISTORY IN BRIEF . . . The new era Rowdies spent 2008-2009 trying to get permission to build a small stadium in Tampa, and failing badly (RIP, Tomato Patch, the tiny Rowdies SSS that was not to be), and also losing control (or never having had control) over the Tampa Bay Rowdies trademarks and copyrights because reasons. The new era Rowdies began play in 2010 in the weird USSF shotgun marriage D2 league, featuring all of the then USL and soon-to-be-NASL teams in one big unhappy family, with the Rowdies playing under the forced, but temporary, name of FC Tampa Bay, due to some copyright squatters in Texas. The Rowdies played the 2010 season at George Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees spring training facility, which was not a good facility for soccer. The next year the Rowdies moved across the Bay to Al Lang Stadium in St. Pete, and at the end of 2011 got the rights to their name back, just in time to win their second NASL Soccer Bowl in 2012. The then owners didn't have the money to keep this up, though, so sold the Rowdies to Bill Edwards at the end of 2013. Bill Edwards spent 2014 successfully fighting to wrest control of Al Lang Stadium away from the St. Pete Baseball Commission, who had left the facility in a bad state. Before the 2015 season Al Lang was greatly improved, and the Rowdies were finally able to play home games on a decent quality grass pitch. After the 2016 season, Bill Edwards moved the Rowdies from the new era NASL, to the USL, and not a moment too soon (RIP, both original NASL and new era NASL). Bill Edwards made a bid for an MLS expansion spot for the Tampa Bay Rowdies, with a proposed expanded Al Lang Stadium (approved by an 87% yes vote of St. Pete voters), but this was turned down by MLS because reasons. Late last year Bill Edwards sold the Rowdies to the Tampa Bay Rays of MLB; the Rays currently deny having any MLS ambitions for the Tampa Bay Rowdies, but I (possibly being in denial) don't believe them. Since moving to Al Lang Stadium in 2011, Rowdies average home game attendance has increased every year, except for last year (and only missed the mark by a very small number). This is impressive for lower league soccer considering that the Rowdies have some of the highest ticket prices in USL. IIRC average attendance is hovering somewhere just below 6,000; the capacity is just above 7,000, so there isn't much room to grow. Hopefully the new Rays ownership will be able to get more sellouts and bump those average attendance numbers up again (maybe justifying some seating expansion at Al Lang?); the fact that this year, all of the Rowdies home games will be on Saturday nights, helps a lot. Previously in USL and NASL there had been too many weeknight games and other weird scheduling (plenty of fans won't drive over the bridge on a weeknight due to rush hour traffic congestion). The longer season in USL this year may also have an effect. The Rowdies are currently selling Season Tickets and 3 game Hat Trick Packs; as an out-of-towner I am busily pressing F5 waiting for individual home game tickets to go on sale. IN SUMMARY . . . And so, once again, as a long suffering original Rowdies Fannie (since 1975!), I look forward to 2019 being a repeat of 1975 and 2012, although I fear it will be another repeat (at best) of 1976, when Toronto Metros-Croatia crushed my hopes and dreams (in the NASL playoffs) of the Rowdies repeating as NASL Soccer Bowl champions (the New York Cosmos and Vancouver Whitecaps going on to crush my hopes and dreams yet again, in Soccer Bowls 1978 and 1979), or (at worst) a repeat of the past 5 years, under Bill Edwards' stewardship, of relative mediocrity on the field. NB: As I am also a New England Revolution fan, I am very much used to going to the Cup final and losing. TL;DR - the Tampa Bay Rowdies are awesome and you should support them. #COYR
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Feb 7, 2019 09:36
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do the tampa bay rowdies have capos and hymnals
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Feb 7, 2019 11:38
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Eau de MacGowan posted:do the tampa bay rowdies have capos and hymnals No idea. I live over 1,000 miles away, so I have no personal involvement. When I make it down there, Ralph's Mob has drums, singing, and tifo. I suspect if you Google "Mob" and "capo" you're going to get a lot of very non-soccer related search results! There's some local Tampa Bay Area goons on this forum who might be in Ralph's Mob who could answer your question. Edit to add: Oh, yeah, and Ralph's Mob drinks at the Thirsty First and marches from there to Al Lang Stadium before home games, IIRC. There is also a tailgate in the Al Lang parking lot before home games; I believe there is free beer? Free beer good. Also various trucks and tents from Rowdies sponsors, etc. Saturday mornings the Al Lang parking lot is also used by the St. Petersburg Saturday Morning Market, except in the summer, when it moves a few blocks north to the shade of Williams Park. Do over Ham fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Feb 8, 2019 |
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Feb 7, 2019 12:03
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sleepwalkers posted:Hi here's a drive-by effortpost on Detroit City FC: Speaking of Detroit City FC, the first time I visited Al Lang Stadium to watch the new era Tampa Bay Rowdies, in 2015, I sat next to a young couple from Michigan who were visiting the Tampa Bay Area and who were Detroit City FC fans. IIRC the husband was wearing a Detroit City FC t-shirt. They asked about the status/nature of the NASL, and I made a hash out of trying to explain how the new NASL came about as a split away from the USL due to the TOA (Team Owners Association), by mumbling something about USSF D1, D2, and D3, and about how these USSF division levels have nothing to do with promotion/relegation, or something. 
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Feb 7, 2019 12:16
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This’ll be my last season watching DCFC since I’m moving in July. Allez les Rouges!
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Feb 7, 2019 13:36
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Saint Louis FC: despite being a city with a great soccer tradition stretching back more than a century, MLS still wants to give Nashville and Austin a team ahead of us because they, like many stupid people, think St Louis combines the crime of Johannesburg today with the racial politics of Jo'burg in the '70s, and those cities have regular trend pieces written about them in the NYT. we're managed by Tony Pulis' kid, who sadly does not wear a baseball cap and tracksuit on the bench. he did get us actual, quantifiable Results though, getting STLFC to the playoffs for the first time last season. we've switched conferences for the fourth time this year, back to the East--but it means we get regular games against Louisville, Indy Eleven, and Nashville, and gently caress them. our supporters group is called "The Louligans" and are annoying as gently caress (no swearing, weird references to chupacabras, capos, all that bullshit) though they do put on a good tailgate. our home stadium is a 5,000 seat bandbox surrounded by industrial parks by the old Chrysler plant in Fenton, which provides the fun pre-match experience of drinking in the parking lot of a heavy-equipment retailer, running to the Road Ranger outside SP for more beer, and rinse and repeat. nobody knows whether we'll actually be good this year, because like I said above we're managed by a Pulis.
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Feb 7, 2019 18:03
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New Mexico United - 2019 is the inaugural season of our new USL team, the first actual pro team in the area since 1998. Games will be played at the Albuquerque Isotopes baseball stadium, with some aspirations by ownership to build a SSS in the downtown Albuquerque area soon. The existing PDL team, the Albuquerque Sol, is hoping to position themselves to feed homegrown talent to the United. The United stole the worst color combination in soccer from the shittiest team in soccer, the Columbus Crew. Luckily they have a kickin' rad jersey sponsor.
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Feb 7, 2019 19:16
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That kit owns, what's Meow Wolf?
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Feb 7, 2019 19:18
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Meow Wolf is a bizarre and extremely awesome interactive art installation in Santa Fe, something akin to walking through an X-Files episode while also being slightly insane.
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Feb 7, 2019 19:22
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Syrinxx posted:New Mexico United - 2019 is the inaugural season of our new USL team, the first actual pro team in the area since 1998. Games will be played at the Albuquerque Isotopes baseball stadium, with some aspirations by ownership to build a SSS in the downtown Albuquerque area soon. The existing PDL team, the Albuquerque Sol, is hoping to position themselves to feed homegrown talent to the United. The United stole the worst color combination in soccer from the shittiest team in soccer, the Columbus Crew. Luckily they have a kickin' rad jersey sponsor. This is hideous
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Feb 7, 2019 19:55
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I didn’t realize Tyler, the Creator designed soccer kits.
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Feb 7, 2019 20:05
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Edward Mass posted:I'll just point out Louisville City are defending USL Cup winners  Hi y'all, it's Louisville City FC! Louisville City FC originated in late 2014 when Orlando City SC went to MLS and had to find something to do with their USL franchise, which I think technically means Louisville City used to be the Austin Aztex. The affiliation part of that deal didn't work out and ended at the end of the 2015 season. They currently play at Louisville Slugger Field, which sounds like a baseball stadium because it is. A soccer specific stadium is expected to be complete in time for the 2020 season. They've appeared in every Eastern Conference Final since they started, and won two USL Cups. Rivalries: Nashville SC (going to MLS) Saint Louis FC (maybe going to MLS someday?) Indy Eleven Jefferson County Sheriffs 2018: Things were looking pretty good at the start of the year. Almost all of the championship squad from the previous season returned plus a few promising newcomers, resulting in a strong if a little lean team. Things started looking a little more grim in late June when original head coach James O'Connor announced he was departing with the rest of the coaching squad to have a fun time coaching Orlando City (2-3-13, welp). This also coincided with the 2nd worst 5-game form in club history (0-4-1). But it all turned out ok! He was replaced by a Triumvirate of player-coaches who did very well for themselves (4-1-1) until relieved by new head coach John Hackworth, who closed out the regular season with an 8-3-2 record. Other than leading scorer Cameron Lancaster going down with a hamstring injury in the Eastern Conference finals, the playoffs were a fun romp, ending with a 1-0 win over Phoneix Rising. Highlights: Winning the season series vs Cincinnati in May after taking both away games. Specifically this goal. Lancaster winning the Golden Boot with a record breaking 25 goals, blowing past the previous record of 22 set by Louisville's Matt Fondy in 2015. Winning the cup again was pretty cool too even though they didn't let us rush the field this time. Lowlights: Losing 1-4 to Toronto FC II, the worst team in the league. 2019: Lancaster to Nashville SC by way of Nashville MLS. Starting goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh and team accountant Kyle Smith to Orlando City, 2nd in goals and assists (and bicycling enthusiast) Ilija Ilić to Indy Eleven. Again almost all of a championship squad returning, plus some good signings to give the roster some actual depth for the first time in a while. The departures are more worrying this year since Lancaster and Ilić accounted for a little under half of last year's goals, and they're both going to teams that have made a lot of big moves in the offseason. We haven't seen a lot of Hackworth's influence yet since he didn't change a whole lot at the end of last season, but the moves he has made were pretty successful and he's got just about everything you could ask for as a new head coach. Minimum eight-peat.
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Feb 7, 2019 21:05
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Syrinxx posted:New Mexico United - 2019 is the inaugural season of our new USL team, the first actual pro team in the area since 1998. Games will be played at the Albuquerque Isotopes baseball stadium, with some aspirations by ownership to build a SSS in the downtown Albuquerque area soon. The existing PDL team, the Albuquerque Sol, is hoping to position themselves to feed homegrown talent to the United. The United stole the worst color combination in soccer from the shittiest team in soccer, the Columbus Crew. Luckily they have a kickin' rad jersey sponsor.  
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Feb 7, 2019 21:52
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Popoi covered Louisville FC completely and they’ll definitely win the Cup again. I’ll miss Big Greg Rangitsingh, but at least no one has snatched up Brian Ownby who is seriously the best player I’ve seen in the USL.
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Feb 8, 2019 04:19
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the only time i went to see the rowdies, ralphs mob spent a not insignificant amount of time chiding puerto rican fans for not paying taxes.
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Feb 9, 2019 16:14
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Sounds about right, and is illustrative of why I stopped sitting with them when I still went to games regularly.
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Feb 9, 2019 16:26
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sleepwalkers posted:the only time i went to see the rowdies, ralphs mob spent a not insignificant amount of time chiding puerto rican fans for not paying taxes. Lower tier soccer owns
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Feb 9, 2019 18:54
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sleepwalkers posted:the only time i went to see the rowdies, ralphs mob spent a not insignificant amount of time chiding puerto rican fans for not paying taxes. Rodney (Marsh) Dangerfield: "I went to a discussion of fiscal policy the other night, and an association football match broke out."  I was at that match; Joe Cole scored a bicycle kick goal against Puerto Rico FC (July 16, 2016). That goal was worth the 1,200 mile road trip.
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Feb 10, 2019 03:45
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its bizarre that ive watched joe cole, georgi samaras, and raul play lower league soccer in indianapolis. also i physically bumped into alessandro nesta at one of the last ever nasl games
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Feb 10, 2019 04:22
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Here's the logo for the Green Bay D3 team that will start next year: That is tremendous.
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Feb 10, 2019 21:53
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Cool, Sufjan Stevens is resuming his 50 States 50 Albums series. e: According to Wikipedia, that's a League Two club that begins THIS year. Edward Mass fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Feb 10, 2019 |
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Feb 10, 2019 22:36
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Crazy Ted posted:Here's the logo for the Green Bay D3 team that will start next year: Wish the league and that team existed back when I lived in the area 10 years ago
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Feb 10, 2019 23:58
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Crazy Ted posted:Here's the logo for the Green Bay D3 team that will start next year: This is very comfy and looks like one of those really cool youth summer camps my parents couldn't afford to send me to when I was a kid.
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Feb 11, 2019 02:18
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iunno that crest seems awfully kitschy. i guess that's kinda what lower level pro sports do, but eh. don't necessarily love it.
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Feb 12, 2019 04:01
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I hope "introducing" always appears as part of the crest
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Feb 14, 2019 02:09
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https://twitter.com/lvlightsfc/status/1095835212091600896 Vegas having more fun at the expense of Toronto.
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Feb 14, 2019 07:03
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the banner says all competitions. what competition was this?
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Feb 14, 2019 17:38
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Azerban posted:the banner says all competitions. what competition was this? 98.9991% sure this was just a photoshop to get a rise out of people on The Internet. I'll find out for sure tomorrow though.
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Feb 15, 2019 19:17
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2019 Suncoast Invitational at Al Lang. Saturday, February 16: 4 p.m. — Montreal Impact vs Philadelphia Union, Impact 1-0 Union. 7:30 p.m. — Tampa Bay Rowdies vs D.C. United, Rowdies 0-1 United.    
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Feb 18, 2019 04:21
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