Puerto Rico were dumped from the Champions League but did all USL fans proud, pushing deeper into the cup competition than any other USL team and even further than any MLS team. In the process, the Montreal Impact and Puerto Rico Islanders brought USL the publicity and respect it can’t afford to purchase in marketing campaigns. USL was busy this week unveiling a new website and launching USL Live Friday afternoon. In the opening week of action, the Thunder were dominated by the Railhawks and the Battery earned a point away in Vancouver. Speaking of Vancouver, it looks like defender Jeff Parke may not have been such a great pick up after all. These stories and more in this week’s edition of USL Week in Review.

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League News

Puerto Rico exited the CONCACAF Champions League play with a down to the wire shoot out in Mexico City. It wasn’t a pretty game for the Islanders with Colin Clark’s team going into a shell early. Somehow the team held on all the way to penalties where they lost. Perhaps the biggest question of this match was why the away-goals stopped counting in the overtime? If the rules had stood like competitions in Europe, the Islanders would have been on their way to the final. This is one more thing for me to ask Jack Warner. My list is growing quickly.

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Last week I presented Inside Minnesota Soccer’s 2009 USL Preview. This past week the Vancouver Whitecaps who have a nice web site, did their own USL-1 preview and naturally it’s very good. There are a few features in here I will certainly use for my 2010 USL-1 preview.

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Jeff Di Veronica makes his picks for the season. “But if I had to pick the top five teams in the USL-1 right now, they’d be: Puerto Rico, Montreal, Charleston, Rochester and Minnesota. Watch out for the Battery, folks. Charleston lost USL Rookie of the Year Osvaldo Alonso to Seattle FC, where he has assists on three of the Sounders’ first seven goals in MLS, but the Battery has picked up some savvy veterans and I think that really helps in this league.“

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Di Veronica also writes for ESPN Soccernet, and gives us some players to watch and why he’s picking Puerto Rico to win it all. In this article he informed us of this little tidbit that slipped by me this off season: “Look for more foreigners on the pitch at the same time. Previously, USL clubs could carry seven foreigners and use five in a match. The USL now allows teams to use all seven on its 18-player roster for matches.”

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Speaking of season previews, I guess USL decided it was a good idea to get into the action as well with their own preview. I like that they are trying to create content for their web site. That is something that’s really needed.

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USL Live went live on Friday afternoon with 2008 content and then brought us the season opening games on Saturday evening. It has a pretty nice look to the interface, seems to function well and is fairly intuitive. I watched the Thunder v Railhawks game and tried to use the cool chat window that can be accessed during games. It seems each team’s supporters are colored differently. The problem I had with the chat was that it was too successful. Chats were going on in English, Spanish and French-Canadian all at the same time and many different topics were being discussed beside the game. It all got to be a bit too busy for me.

By the way, someone from USL was live on the chat at half time and introduced themselves to say they would take any issues that viewers were having and bring them back to USL and NeuLion to try to get them fixed asap.  Folks were complaining that there wasn’t a time clock on the top bar where the scores were displayed. By the time the game was into the last 15 minutes, there was a time clock added to the bar. Nice one USL!

The Archives are still not up from last night’s game and I am curious if this is going to be like USL Live last year when it took up to two days to get archived broadcasts uploaded for viewing. I sure would have liked to watch the Vancouver Whitecaps v Charleston Battery game tonight.

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The dropping of reserve teams for MLS sides has been a positive for USL-1 teams, but Andrea Canales is saying it’s already having a negative effect on MLS.

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Kartik Krishnaiyer says the officiating in both the MLS and USL was poor, as was the quality of play in both leagues. He also had this to say about USL Live, “USL Live is a decent product for the price which is free. The league will get more exposure this year not simply because of the free access to games but because of the success of Montreal and Puerto Rico in CONCACAF. That did more to build USL’s credibility than any amount of advertising and free giveaways could have.” I would have to agree wholeheartedly with Krishnaiyer who writes for MLS Talk and covers USL news more than any other MLS writer I know. Thanks for that Kartik!

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GAMES THIS COMING WEEK:

Games times are listed EST.

Sat, April 18, 2009

7:00 pm     Vancouver Whitecaps     at     Puerto Rico Islanders     Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium

7:00 pm     Rochester Rhinos     at     Carolina RailHawks     WakeMed Soccer Park

7:30 pm     Montreal Impact     at     Charleston Battery     Blackbaud Stadium

8:00 pm     Cleveland City Stars     at     Miami FC Blues     Lockhart Stadium

8:30 pm     Minnesota Thunder     at     Austin Aztex     Nelson Field

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Team News

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Austin Aztex
No significant team news from Austin this week.
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Carolina Railhawks
The Indy gives a preview of the Railhawks and what to expect from the team.

The News & Observer says that Railhawks are out to change their image.

The Railhawks took apart the Thunder in the season opener at WakeMed Park, even though the score was not reflective of the game, thanks to the saves of Thunder keeper Nic Platter who almost became a backup for DC United this spring.

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Charleston Battery
The Charleston Battery have added three players to its roster ahead of this Saturday’s season opening match in Vancouver. Defenders Yeniel Bermudez, Nigel Marples and forward Tom Heinemann all sign for the 2009 USL First Division season.

The Charleston Battery battled the defending USL champion Vancouver Whitecaps to a 0-0 tie Saturday night at Swangaurd Stadium to earn a point in the season opener.

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Cleveland City Stars
City Stars have announced the signing of midfielder Joshua Boateng, who previously played collegiately at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

As I told you last week, I wrote to the City Stars and asked them about the possibility of dating their news stories and press releases for the future. There’s still no change to the website. The team never responded to my message left on their contact board.

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Miami FC
Cuban defectors, Pedro Faife and Reinier Alcantara were added to Miami FC’s roster. Alcantara tried out with the Charleston Battery but didn’t make the team. Even Soccernet got in on this action on this story.

Miami FC announced today that it has come to terms with 3 players, Brazilian midfielder Leo Inacio Nunes, striker Diego Serna, and Argentine defender Facundo Erpen, for the upcoming 2009 season. All three signings are subject to USL and USSF approval along with international clearance.

Miami FC continues to show its commitment to all of South Florida’s soccer fans by confirming its second home game and Dade County home opener versus the Montreal Impact at FIU Stadium on Friday, April 24, at 8PM.

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Minnesota Thunder
Dan O’Brien, a local MN kid and former PDL player, signed a contract with the Thunder this year and Shoreview Press features the young player.

The MN Thunder dropped their season opener away to the Carolina Railhawks. It was not a good game for the team. The Thunder did not train outside of Minnesota this spring which always puts the team on their back foot at the beginning of the season. Most of the outdoor fields in Minnesota are still not dried out sufficiently for practice.

The team was also missing two of their key players, Jon Greenfield and Ricardo Sanchez as explained here.

Jonathan Greenfield played in the NISL Championship on Saturday evening as his team won 13-10 over the Rockford Rampage.
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Montreal Impact
The Montreal Impact notched a 2-1 win against the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins, Saturday at the Bell Sports Complex, in Brossard, in its 14th preseason game of the training camp.

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Portland Timbers
A second-half goal by forward Takayuki Suzuki sealed a 1-0 victory for the Portland Timbers over the Oregon State University Beavers in a preseason scrimmage Wednesday on the OSU campus.

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Puerto Rico Islanders
The Puerto Rico Islanders fell to Cruz Azul in the away leg of the semi-finals and dumping them from the competition — and in Spanish.

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Rochester Rhinos
The Rochester Rhinos, playing their sixth preseason match of the season on Sunday, remained unbeaten in exhibition play, tying Real Maryland (USL-2) 2-2 at the Maryland Soccer Complex. With the draw the Rhinos are now 3-0-3 in preseason play.

Forward Mauricio Salles had a goal and assist to lead Rochester to a 2-0 win over St. Bonaventure University on Thursday night in Corning. Johnny Menyongar assisted on Salles’ goal a minute into the game and Salles sent Mike Ambersley on a breakaway goal in the 74th minute. Tim Melia played in goal for the Rhinos.

Also, the Rhinos have made a few player moves, elevating defender Brent Sancho to player-assistant coach and signing defender, Darren Kenton, 30, who has played mostly in England. Sancho, 31, is a first-year Rhino who played in the 2006 World Cup with Trinidad & Tobago. Newcomer Chris Sanders is likely lost to a season-ending knee injury, team general manager Matt Ford said.

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Vancouver Whitecaps
The Vancouver Sun gives us a team profile.

Jack Bell first alerted us that Jeff Parke may not be a sure thing for the 2009 season.

Then the Whitecaps clarified the situation and indeed the suspended MLS defender will not be eligible to play until the ‘Caps play the Minnesota Thunder at the National Sports Center Stadium on Saturday, May 2.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced today their 2009 broadcast schedule. This season will see 17 Whitecaps matches broadcast live throughout the Province of British Columbia, including eight games on Shaw TV, Cable 4.

The Caps added Paul Hamilton and Jerome Baker to their team.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC began the defense of their USL First Division championship title with a goalless home draw versus Charleston Battery on Saturday evening.