NASL Podcast Episode #38; Coaching Change in Atlanta, 1/2 Season MVPs & Rookies of the Year and More
2012 July 10
Welcome to episode #38 of the IMSoccer News North American Soccer League Podcast.
This week Gerry Wittmann , Jay (Yankiboy) Long, and yours truly, Brian Quarstad, have a lively discussion about the most recent activities in the NASL.
You can find all past episodes of the North American Soccer League Podcast here and the RSS Feed here.
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Great comments about the situation down in Atlanta, and some good interviews too. From what I saw last year, and continued to see this year was the inability of the Silverbacks to play a full 90 minutes of soccer and put a team away. From what I saw in the recent Stars/Silverbacks match was an early goal (questionable as the player was about a step offside), and their ability to deny Minnesota scoring opportunities or much of anything when Minnesota was in their attacking 1/3 of the field. This resulted in Minnesota playing on Atlanta’s terms and conceding a second goal late in the second half, which sealed the game. I hope that Atlanta can turn things around. It is never good for a league and the teams to play in a league to have one team that consistently struggles to win.
I really do not know much about Eric Wynalda, so I intentionally went into the stadium early to watch warm-ups. Coach Wynalda was on the pitch and although pretty passive, he made sure his players were getting mentally and physically ready for the match. This was something I really have not seen much of when watching warm-ups int he past.
I am looking forward to the article on first-half Rookies of the Year. It is great to see the NASL produce fine players. While I would love to see promotion/relegation, D2 fans like me will have to be content with seeing D2 players move onto MLS.
Great show as always guys. I agree with BQ that you could really kind of read a lot into the comments of a veteran like McManus in discussing the changes in the team. We now know that Turcios is gone as well, so Wynalda is certainly there to put his stamp on this team, make changes, and not spare any feelings. If he is successful, and agrees to stay on with the team in some kind of capacity, perhaps this makes finding investors to buy out Traffic a little easier as well.
Can’t wait to hear more about what could be going on between D1 – D3 with MLS leading the way. I think a lot of us would prefer not to see the lower levels become strictly MLS reserve leagues. But if it helps the overall development of players and the game in this country to have MLS reserve teams playing competitive games against independent D2 and D3 teams in their leagues, I think it’s a win/win for everyone. Enjoy the vacation BQ! And everyone else, make sure you’re out there supporting your local teams and doing everything you can to spread the word!