USL Thread, One of the toughest leagues in the FC

How come no one here talks about the USL??? Only when a team wins a US Open Cup or has a super run in the FC Champion's League. I was just watch Carolina vs Vancouver (ok it's better than watch seinfeld or friends) play & those teams were stacked. Stacked w/ guy that MLS sides didn't want to pay. Good stuff to watch. Just curious why no on raps about the league. I posted this thread in this forum, cause the League has 3 different countries in it's jurisdiction.

I try to catch the Friday night USL game of the week. I have to say that some games are difficult to watch. Not because of the level of talent -- it's decent enough and we all know what USL teams occasionally are capable of against supposedly superior teams -- but because of some of the fields. Portland's artificial surface long has been a problem and the two new teams, Austin and Cleveland, play on absolutely atrocious fields (high school football fields, I think).

You have to wonder where the league will stand in a couple of years when Vancouver and Portland head to MLS. I believe there's a team from the Tampa Bay area slated to come on board next season and I think some talk Atlanta will return. If that's true, almost half the league's teams will be in the Southeast, if you count Puerto Rico.

That isn't all bad as MLS is conspicuously absent from that part of the country, but the USL map is going look pretty lopsided. Unless other franchises come on board, there will be no USL 1 teams west of Austin and only one Canadian market, which MLS is eyeing.

I catch whatever USL games I can, though I obviously see a lot of the Canadian teams and not much of anyone else.

The Montreal debacle continues to unravel. Sandro Grande (who already served a team suspension) tried to choke player/assistant coach Mauro Biello and was released. I thought Grande was their best player last season, but it’s all going wrong this year.

That happened in Minnesota in a 3-0 loss. In that game Kevin Sakuda was seen laughing it up on the bench. Considering Sakuda was a regular starter in Seattle and was supposed to be a veteran presence. Instead he was arguably the worst player in every match I saw him play. He was shocking. They also released Pa Amadou Gai, a young Gambian forward I quite liked. He looked pretty useful in the limited minutes I saw him play. The club said it was a soccer decision, but Gai told the Gambian press he was in conflict with GM Nick DeSantis. Most Impact fans are deseperate to see the end of DeSantis and new coach Marc Dos Santos.

And just so they didn’t feel left out, St. Vincent & Grenadines central defender Wesley Charles head-butted Jeff Parke in training and was released. Charles got into an in-game fight with Charles Gbeke that resulted in both getting a two-match ban. I thought Charles was an excellent player and thought he might even make the leap with the team to MLS, but clearly he wasn’t fitting in with the group at all.

It may be for the best that Toronto FC won the Voyageurs Cup. They’re the only Canadian side that isn’t a total circus right now.

cheers,
hobbes

I never knew Nike owned the USL, well they did until this week when the entire league was sold to a holding company which runs the Atlanta franchise. Here is the league's news release on that:

http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/359940.html

Strange that a franchisee would go and uy the whole league. So can Atlanta expect "favorable" rulings from the referees now?

Edit: Wait i just looked and Atlanta isn't even part of the USL right now, they are on a "hiatus" for one year! With the league's best teams beings wallowed up by MLS expansion you realy do have to wonder what will become of the USL.

Portland won the regular season title and received a bye to the league semifinals, they'll play Vancouver in one semi after Vancouver eliminated Carolina in their two legged quarterfinal. The other semifinal will match Puerto Rico (who beat Rochester) and Montreal, victors over Charleston.

The USL will have an improbably all-Canadian final.

Sunday Vancouver drew in Portland 3-3 to win the two-game total goal 5-4 on aggregate. Earlier in the day in Puerto Rico, Montreal beat the Islanders 2-1 for the second straight game for a 4-2 aggregate win.

Montreal was fifth in the standings and Vancouver was seventh, but that’s all history now.

As you may recall Montreal fielded a much weakened side to capitulate and lose 6-1 to Toronto FC in the final game of the Voyageurs Cup allowing TFC to win the Canadian title instead of Vancouver.

Not that this final needed a subplot, but it’s already being talked about in the press.

The first leg is October 10 in Vancouver. The second leg is October 18 in Montreal.

Both games are supposed to be on Fox Soccer Channel (up here at least).

cheers,
hobbes

FSC is an international channel so that means we'll get it too...October 10?! Please tell me its before or after Mexico game...

If Puerto Rico, Rochester, or/and Montreal leave anytime soon the USL will go down under...

Did anyone catch the first leg of the Final on Sat??? Pretty entertaining stuff. I think Montreal has the advantage going into the 2nd leg.

You can catch games on USLLIVE.COM

Yeah I saw both legs. In both matches Vancouver had a player sent off which greatly affected the result IMO.

Montreal won 3-2 on a late goal in Vancouver after Marty Nash was sent off and in Montreal Jay Nolly looked to have clearly fouled a Montreal attacker (Gjertsen?) for a penalty, but former Wales youth international Shaun Pejic clearly hauled down Roberto Brown a second later and was sent off and Montreal earned the penalty.

That pretty much killed off the drama in the second leg as Montreal led 4-2 on aggregate a man up at home. Since the game wasn't being played in Torreon the lead felt safe.

Montreal went up 3-0 before Vancouver scored just before half, but the Impact cruised to a 6-3 aggregate win over the two legs.

I'm Vancouver felt hard done by and I wasn't sure either foul was a straight red (the ref should have called Nolly on the foul and not sent him. As it was I didn't think Pejic was the last man back when he challenged either, though he clearly denied an attempt on goal with the keeper down). The Nash call was closer. It was probably a red, but it could go either way.

Still when they were 11 v 11 I thought Montreal were the better side,

cheers,
hobbes

I to feel for the WhiteCaps, because of the way the Impact bent over to TFC in the Concachampions. That wasn't professional at all & the WhiteCaps had a chip on their shoulders. So the USL will do home & away finals for now on??? They didn't last year, so why this year???

During a rare foray by me to BigSoccer.com, it's apparent that the USL-1 as we now know it is in serious trouble.

The new owners of the league NuRock Soccer has shaken up the league front office and also apparently alienated a number of owners. A group of owners, called the Team Owners Association, is exploring breaking away from the USL, possibly even affiliating somehow with MLS, though that seems unlikely.

The TOA group includes current USL-1 teams Vancouver (soon to be in MLS), Montreal, Miami, Minnesota and Carolina along with prospective or dormant owners in Tampa, St. Louis and Atlanta.

If you want to wade through it on BigSoccer, you can find threads in the MLS News & Analysis and the USL forums.

Looks like it's a done deal now

Looks like it's a done deal now

From the article robdog linked,

The MLS-bound Vancouver Whitecaps and five other United Soccer Leagues First Division teams have formed a new professional league that will begin playing in April.

The Whitecaps are scheduled to move up to Major League Soccer in 2011. They are joined by teams from Atlanta, Carolina, Miami, Minnesota and Montreal from USL-1. A new club, St. Louis Soccer United, will be part of the seven-team league that does not yet have a name.