North American Soccer League Podcast Episode #1
IMSoccer News is pleased to bring you a weekly podcast about the 2011 North American Soccer League season. It’s simply called the North American Soccer League Podcast. It’s hosted each week by me, Brian Quarstad, and will be co-hosted by Gerry Wittmann who has become a major contributor to IMS with his player updates that will soon change to game reviews, and Jay (aka YankiBoy) Long. Jay is a regular commenter on IMS and the NASL & USL discussion boards and has been following lower level soccer in the U.S. for many years.
We will try to bring you a fast moving and concise 30 minutes of information on the North American Soccer League. We will talk about past and upcoming games, news, and will try to bring you a special guest each week.
In our inaugural podcast we run down each of the 8 NASL teams, previewing each and every one. For the Carolina RailHawks segment our special guest head coach Martin Rennie talks about the difficulties in signing players for the RailHawks with the offseason ownership change. He also talks about this year’s RailHawks team and previews his team’s opening day game with the Puerto Rico Islanders, which is a rematch of last year’s USSF D2 Pro League Championship game, which the the Islanders won.
I hope you enjoy the inaugural IMSoccer News North American Soccer League Podcast, episode #1.
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Thanks BQ. Any chance of an RSS feed for this? Would make it handy so I don’t miss any episodes.
@BQ, Gerry, and yankiboy – Loved. It. Tremendous stuff gentlemen! You say you’re doing this every week?!? Awesome! I will definitely be making time every week for this discussion. I hope you won’t mind if I toss out my predictions for week one to go along with all of yours:
Carolina 1 – Puerto Rico 2: I think Coach Rennie still needs more time to get this team organized, plus they’ve had trouble scoring in the preseason. Yankiboy’s Islanders get a win on the road in week one.
Montreal 2 – Tampa Bay 1: To me this is the closest matchup of opening night. I like the moves Tampa has made in the offseason (man is that tough to say LOL) and I think the atmosphere for the Rowdies fans in Al Lang is going to be an improvement over last year. But on paper you have to give the Impact the nod in a lot of the games they will be playing this year in preparation for MLS.
Atlanta 1 – Minnesota 1: It’s going to be tough picking the Silverbacks to pick up any points most weeks this year. Unfortunately I think they are going to be bottom of the league in both the stands and on the field. But hey, it’s the home opener, and as BQ talked about, the Stars haven’t had much of an opportunity to get the work needed to be ready to go on the road in week one and get a win.
Fort Lauderdale 4 – Edmonton 0: Sorry Edmonton, but someone was going to have to come to Lockhart opening night and take a whipping. Not only is South Florida completely revitalized by the work Traffic has done to reconnect this team to the Strikers of old, but they’ve done something else we haven’t seen from them before as well – actually make smart personnel moves, ones that look like they’re actually trying to win a championship! This team is going to compete for one of the byes this year, without question. The backline is strong, goal tending is strong, and as the preseason wore on, and things started to gel, the goals started to come. Look for Abe Thompson to electrify the Strikers faithful on Saturday with, that’s right, you heard it here first, the league’s first hat trick of the season!
Will this be in iTunes?
Thanks BQ,
You’ve done a great job reporting the lower leagues and this podcast is great. Keep up the good work.
Oh anything on the Scorpions or the next NASL expansion team lately. Very Excited about opening weekend.
Great job, BQ. Looking forward to the opening NASL weekend.
Good job, guys! It was an informative listen. I look forward to next week.
I already logged in my picks on ‘NASL Guru’(?) but after listening to your analysis, it makes me want to make some changes. I had Edmonton and Strikers tying, 2-2, but after hearing more about FCE, maybe that would be their best case scenario. This is a tough thing for a Rowdies fan to say, but I hope Ft. Lauderdale’s debut is a smash hit with the community, and that only seems possible with a win. Strikers, 2-0
Im a homer but I think, FCTB takes Montreal. I think The Rowdies have built a great lineup with veteran talent, and mixed with an improved fan atmosphere at Al Lang, should be tough to beat on opening night. The Impact may get us at the end of next month when they return, but not this Saturday, I believe. FCTB, 2-1
I see Minnesota getting points this weekend in Atlanta for the same reasons as everyone else. Atlanta just doesnt seem ready enough to beat anyone, let alone a veteran-laden squad like The Stars. Its just a matter of win or tie for Minnesota. I say win! Minn., 1-0
As for the rematch of the title game of The Longest Soccer League Name in History, I like the home team Railhawks in a close one, 2-1.
Thanks and let the fun begin!
I predict that the Stars are going to win it all this year. Coach Manny has his magic wand, Coach Carl has pithy quotes, and Bracadeldo is roaming up front with Gary the Cat and Nessy supporting the Stars in midfield and the back. Oh, I forgot to mention Taka Time! Come on you Stars!
Hey Strikers Return, when those young Edmonton kids surprise you and win, I will never let you forget that you predicted 4 – 0 for the Strikers.
Excellent podcast, bq, Gerry and Yankiboy. Looking forward to your weekly banter.
@Daniel – LOL Make sure you’re watching the live stream (geez I hope there is one!) on Saturday night. It’s nothing personal against Edmonton, it’s just all coming into place here, and the Strikers were going to win no matter who came to town first. I’ll give you this about Edmonton, youth can always be unpredictable. That’s why I wouldn’t be shocked if they managed to beat out either the Stars or Railhawks for the last playoff spot this year. But you’re going to see dominance this Saturday night, and the Lockhart faithful will be going home happy!
Enjoyable stuff by all involved and looking forward to hearing what ya’ll have to say next week when you will get to talk about the real deal (league matches).
No matter how many times I hear or read that Duct tape is playing for Edmonton I am always surprised. Probably gonna be shocked when I see him playing when Edmonton comes to the Nessie.
Thanks everyone for the positive comments.
Here’s the deal, I am not very savvy when it comes to RSS and iTunes. I really want to get hooked up to iTunes but need some help. If anyone can help with this or knows someone who can help with this please contact me at insidemnsoccer AT gmail.com . I’d like to get the show listed on iTunes ASAP. I also have other WordPress and sever issues which I could use some help with. So if anyone is supportive of the site and willing to put in some hours helping out as a webmaster I would greatly appreciate it. Pass the word please.
Great job! Hope you keep them coming throughout the season. I’ll also join in and say that I’d love to see this on iTunes (sorry I can’t help as I’m not well versed on setting that up either).
Great job BQ!
Very stoked with your work. Hope you can find a webmaster.
On a side note, I am very impressed with the NASL at this point of the season. Good moves across the board.
1. Excellent work, as usual.
2. Rennie is class. Hope he stays awhile.
3. Gerry’s a great addition.
4. It’s good to finally hear what the yanqui-boy sounds like. Not as snarky as I imagined though.
@MH: That’s because I made a calculated, conscious decision to leave the Yanki-Yank meter at 2.8 while working with my esteemed colleagues.
I did think that it was appropriate to crank it up.
At least, not yet Playah.
Who knows what the future may or may not hold for my participation on the IMS NASL podcast. You can take the boy out of the ‘hood/barrio but you can’t take it completely out of the Boy.
@MH: That line was supposed to read
“I did NOT think that it was appropriate to crank it up.”