USL Derby's: Are There Any True Rivalries in the League?

I've been wanting to write this piece for awhile, but with the Portland Timbers-Seattle Sounders match this previous Saturday, it seemed like the perfect time.
Let's start with a fact: Rivalries are crucial to all sports.

Major League Baseball has the Yankees and the Red Sox, the NBA has the Celtics and the Lakers, college football has Michigan-Ohio State, and the list goes on and on. But in soccer, there is something special.


The derby (pronounced darby) is something that is unique to soccer, and is exhibited in leagues all around the world. Barcelona-Real Madrid, Manchester United-Manchester City, Celtic-Rangers, I could name them all day, but that's not the point I'm trying to make.

What I'm trying to get at here is; Are there any real derby's in the USL? And the answer is a challenge.
You may be wondering, "Why the USL? What about the MLS? There are plenty of clubs that have a hatred for each other in the top league."

Well a couple of reasons. First off, its the league I cover, so I know the more about it than a lot of other leagues, and also the USL has been around longer than the MLS, so they've had more time for the rivalries to develop.

Plus their are only two real rivalries in the MLS, the Rocky Mountain Cup between Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids, and the Cascadia Cup which involves the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, and Vancouver Whitecaps.
The latter laid its ground in the NASL in the 70's and 80's, but developed in the USL in the late 90's and early 2000's. So its obvious that the USL can support rivalries, and that they aren't always friendly.
Right now the rivalries are a little more laid back, and are a lot more likely to be discussed between the sides over a couple of drinks in the parking lot before the match than in previous years. But inside the stadium and within the various forms of internet taunting we still see some bad blood between a couple of teams.

The Battery are involved in the Southern Derby, which currently also includes the Charlotte Eagles and Wilmington Hammerheads. Other teams that have participated in the past are; the Raleigh Express, Atlanta Silverbacks, and the Carolina Railhawks. This derby was completely fan-started and fan-based. Here's an article on No Quarter about it.

Most of the others are pretty obvious, but not really official. You have the North Carolina Derby between the Eagles and the Hammerheads, and a brand new one up in Pennsylvania that's contested between the Harrisburg City Islanders and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

Another rivalry/derby of note, is the most historic USL rivalry of all time. The Richmond Kickers and the Charleston Battery have played each other 42 times dating back to 1993. It couldn't be any closer, as both teams hold the same record (19-19-4) in this rivalry. They will face one more time this season to decide who will take the edge.

Luckily for the fans in Chucktown, we have a few matches to look forward to every year that can be considered "derby's" or "rivalries." They may not be what they have over in Europe, but its our own little slice of what the rest of the world gets to enjoy.

(Sorry about the formatting issues if there are any, Blogger seems to be having some technical difficulties.)

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New Zealand's Cole Peverley Signs with the Battery



Peverley training with the New Zealand
Senior National Team.

 Today the Charleston Battery attained New Zealand midfielder, Cole Peverley for the upcoming USL Pro season. Peverley signs with the Battery "subject to USL and USSF approval." This brings Charleston's roster up to thirteen players, and signs just in time for the Carolina Challenge Cup.

Peverley, is a native of Wellington, New Zealand and plays for the New Zealand National Team, and in the past has played for their U20 and Olympic team. He was basically the 24th man on New Zealand's World Cup roster (he was put in for an injury), but ended up off the roster. He to Charleston after playing for Hawke's Bay United and Team Wellington, two teams in New Zealand's top league, and has recently been on trial with Seattle Sounders FC. Peverley has played against his new teammate, Colin Falvey, in matches in New Zealand (Falvey played for Youngheart Manawatu). Peverley has scored only 1 goal in his 68 appearances in the ASB Premiership.

Peverley will bring the Battery roster to a total of thirteen players, with 6 midfielders. The other 5 being Stephen Armstrong, Jon Gruenewald, Alioune Gueye, Kevin Jackson, and recently signed Nicki Paterson. Though young, he is only 22, Peverley brings some experience to midfield for the Battery. He has played in the top flight of New Zealand soccer for five years, which will bring expectations of a smart and experienced player.

Honestly, I don't know much about Peverley. Will have to see what he looks like this season, but luckily there is plenty of preseason matches to experiment with. I really feel that the Battery are making smart moves, and sometimes you have to just trust them. I have full confidence that they will bring the best team possible to the pitch this year, and making the playoffs should be a good goal to have for Charleston. Any year after a championship is tough (especially in the lower leagues), because your best players will move on to bigger teams. I still would like to see the Battery add another forward, and strengthen the back line, but there is still plenty of time before the USL Pro season.

If you have any questions, or if you need to contact me, you can email me at SCSoccerblog@gmail.com.

Lamar Neagle Playing in Preseason Matches for Seattle Sounders FC

Former Battery player Lamar Neagle, who played on last year's USL Second Division Championship team, is training with Seattle Sounders FC for the upcoming Major League Soccer season. He has been with the Sounders for the entirety of their training camp this year in Arizona.

In a game against Real Salt Lake on Tuesday, Lamar Neagle got the Sounders on their way to a 3-3 draw. In the 3rd minute, Lamar picked off a lazy pass and put it past the keeper and to the far post. Fredy Montero was subbed in for Lamar in the second half.

On Thursday Neagle also got playing time in a match against the Columbus Crew.Yesterday, Neagle got in and played for the entire second half. He was put in for Alvaro Fernandez in the 46th minute. If Lamar does make the first team, he will be playing with former Charleston defender Osvaldo Alonso.

Overall I'm happy for Lamar, though I would have liked to see him playing at the 'Baud this season. Neagle along with Heinemann and others will be hard to replace.

If you need to contact me, e-mail me at SCsoccerblog@gmail.com.

Some Possibilities for the Carolina Challenge Cup

So we're just now entering February and in a month is the biggest preseason tournament there is; the Carolina Challenge Cup. For those of you that don't know, the Carolina Challenge Cup (I'll shorten it to CCC for my sake) is the tournament that has been hosted by the Charleston Battery annually since 2004. Since the beginning of the tournament, the Battery have been able to bring in MLS clubs to play. This year is no different, with Toronto FC, DC United, and Chicago Fire SC all coming to play in the Battery's tournament. A month before the tournament, here are some updates, and what you can expect for the eight edition of this tournament:

• Charlie Davies Coming to Charleston: As mentioned in my last article, Charlie Davies is now training with Major League Soccer's DC United. Well, it just so happens that they're playing in the CCC. Isn't that just wonderful? Actually it is. I'd be really excited to see Davies come to Charleston. Any chance to get USMNT players to town is something that needs to be jumped on. Hopefully the transfer will go through, and I see no reason why it wouldn't. Davies wants playing time, and at DC he will get it, and at Sochaux he won't. Simple as that.
• 9th Edition of the Coffee Pot Cup: DC United will be playing Charleston in one of the only MLS-USL rivalries. I'm always happy to see DC in Charleston, because I love this rivalry. For more of the history on the Coffee Pot Cup check out this Wikipedia article.
• A Chance for Revenge for Chicago: Way back in the summer of 2010, the Battery faced the Fire in front of 2,526 at Toyota Park, (Yes that does mean for every two seats filled there were eight teen empty.) The game went nil-nil through 90 minutes of regular time and 30 minutes of extra time. After this, the Battery won 3-0 on PK's and were sent through to the Quarter Finals of the 98 year old tournament. Charleston deserved to win just as much as Chicago, with the Fire completely underachieving. The best chance came in the 5th minute when Stephen Armstrong hit the post off a left-footed strike.
• Toronto Returning for 5th Straight Year: Every year since the club's founding in 2007, Toronto FC has participated in the CCC. They have never won the tournament, but came in second in the 2007 and 2009 editions of the tournament. Toronto has definitely brought the most supporters to the CCC during all of the tournaments they have participated in. Check out this video on YouTube of their supporters making the trip down to Charleston. Its in four parts:

This year's tournament looks to be a good one. Having a USMNT player in Davies coming to Charleston will hopefully bring more fans to the CCC. With DC also comes the Coffee Pot Cup which is always great. Chicago will be looking for some revenge and I'm excited to see Toronto back. I'll be expecting a large contingent of their fans down here in Charleston.

Why Soccer is Going in the Right Direction in the United States

Well as I've been watching Fox Soccer Channel's coverage of the FA Cup, I came to thinking: The United States format of soccer is actually similar to England's. Obviously, the clubs in England have a chance to play for many trophies a year, (FA Cup, Carling Cup, UEFA Champions League, etc.) but the US Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League has been making the United States soccer more European, year after year.

Now, I have talked about how we need to Americanize soccer, but in this situation, I'll make an exception, because we need to have multiple pieces of hardware to play for every year. That's what I think makes soccer so great in Europe, you always have something to play for. Whether it is to escape relegation, win a cup, or win the UEFA Champions League, the teams in England are always playing hard. Its also exciting for the clubs, hardcore fans, and casual watchers when a small club from the Football Leagues draw a mastodon like Chelsea or Manchester United.

You can see the similarities when the USL clubs draw the MLS sides in the US Open Cup. Though it is always exciting to see two MLS teams duke it out for the trophy, it's always nice to see a USL squad play an MLS team in a "David vs. Goliath" type scenario. We saw this in 2008 when the Charleston Battery played DC United in a rendition of the Coffee Pot Cup and the US Open Cup championship game. Though the Battery didn't win the match (they lost 2-1) they put up a good fight, and it was good for the fans to see their team compete for a big cup.

This extra excitement that is found in soccer is not found in the other professional sports in America. In the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL you play for one championship every year. You also see teams in the later stages of the season not play hard, because they are out of contention to win anything. Now while this can happen in soccer in some situations, when you are playing for 3 or 4 trophies every year, you can keep it exciting, and keep more clubs afloat.

What I want to see in the future, is a relegation system. It is far off, but the relegation system could work in the United States once the USL and MLS develop a little further. Undoubtedly the MLS has gotten good attendance figures, but if the USL can get each club up to 10,000-15,000 average attendance, then there is a good chance that the relegation system used in England, could work here. Just imagine, "MLS in Charleston" it just sounds good.

To finish this long rambling off, let me say this: English Soccer fans can't talk down to the MLS for attendance, quality of play, or coverage of the sport in the United States, because seriously the MLS has been around for 13 years. I would like to see the English soccer attendance numbers from 1901.