Weekend Wrap-Up: Battery, Cobras, MLS, EPL, and Andrew Dykstra for President?

Well a lot went down this past weekend in the soccer world. The Battery played two matches, history was made down in Columbia, among other things.

First off we had the Battery. Their first match this weekend ended in a scoreless draw with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, while the second was a 1-0 loss to the Rochester Rhinos.

The Central SC Cobras played their first match on Friday against the Charlotte Lady Eagles. Though the Cobras lost the match, it was considered a success for many reasons. The turn-out was great, the players now have something to gage the rest of the upcoming matches on, and not to mention that it was the first professional women's soccer match in South Carolina history.

In MLS action, two matches were nationally broadcast this weekend, both of which I caught.

On Friday we had the Portland Timbers playing host to the Philadelphia Union on Fox Soccer Channel. Portland continues to have amazing crowds, and the Timbers Army (which got its start in the USL) still creates one of the best atmospheres in North American soccer. Portland would win the match 1-0.

Late on Saturday night, the New York Red Bulls travelled across the States for a fixture with the Los Angeles Galaxy. And who else could have gotten the goals in this 1-1 draw besides Landon Donovan and Thierry Henry?  It was a great match.

And not to mention that Man U basically clinched the EPL title, and what is up with all these injuries in the MLS?

And apparently Andrew Dykstra is running for president:

I don't know about Dykstra's policies, but we definitely need to see one of these over in E10 for Dykstra's next start.

A bit of a rambling today, but thanks for reading if you've gotten this far!

If you need to contact me, e-mail me at SCSoccerblog@gmail.com. Also follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/scsoccerblog.

USL Pro Preview: Wrap-up

In the last three days, I have given you all, my thoughts on how the teams in the USL Pro will finish in their divisions. Here's a recap of how I had them finishing.

International:

1. River Plate Puerto Rico

2. Antigua Barracuda FC

3. Sevilla FC Puerto Rico

4. Los Angeles Blues

5. Puerto Rico United

National:

1. Rochester Rhinos

2. Pittsburgh Riverhounds

3. Harrisburg City Islanders

4. Dayton Dutch Lions

5. FC New York

American:

1. Charleston Battery

2. Richmond Kickers

3. Orlando City SC

4. Charlotte Eagles

5. Wilmington Hammerheads

The American Division is easily the toughest, with the National and International being about equal for second place, but if forced, I would have to give the edge to the National Division.

The full league table, will determine who gets home field advantage in the Semi-finals and Finals of the playoffs. This is because in the First Round, home field is determined by how the teams finish in their division (Excluding the 2 vs. 2 match up, see below). Here's how I think the full league table will end up:

League:

1. Charleston Battery

2. Rochester Rhinos

3. Richmond Kickers

4. River Plate Puerto Rico

5. Orlando City SC

6. Pittsburgh Riverhounds

7. Antigua Barracuda FC

8. Harrisburg City Islanders

9. Sevilla FC Puerto Rico

10. Charlotte Eagles

11. Dayton Dutch Lions

12. Wilmington Hammerheads

13. Los Angeles Blues

14. Puerto Rico United

15. FC New York

If you have been keeping up with the USL Pro, then you know the playoff format, but if not here is a recap.

As you can see it is pretty obvious where the teams will fall in the playoff system if they finish how I predicted, but here is the playoffs set up, along with my predictions, round by round.

First Round (Winners in bold, Home team on left):

River Plate Puerto Rico vs. Antigua Barracuda FC

Rochester Rhinos vs. Harrisburg City Islanders

Charleston Battery vs. Orlando City SC

Richmond Kickers vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds

The first round should be all chalk, with the exception of my one upset to watch for; Pittsburgh over Richmond. Seed wise this wouldn't be, but Richmond would be playing at home and probably finish higher in the League Table, so I consider it an upset. The one that I won't predict, but I'll mention is Orlando over Charleston. Orlando has a team that could to go deep in the playoffs.

Semi-Finals (Winners in bold, Home team on left):

Charleston Battery vs. River Plate Puerto Rico

Rochester Rhinos vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds

And the chalk keeps coming. Charleston handles the International champs, while Rochester takes care of business up in New York. The rematch of the USL Second Division Championship game is not meant to be, and the Championship will be played between the Rhinos and the Battery at Blackbaud Stadium

Finals (Winners in bold, Home team on left):

Charleston Battery vs. Rochester Rhinos

This one was a tough decision. Obviously I'm a little bias towards the Battery, but I really do think that they are the best team. Charleston has the depth, experience, and even the youth to build a championship team this season. Charleston celebrates a second consecutive championship, while Rochester will have to wait another year for their first trophy since 2001.

I will be making as many posts as possible this USL Pro season, with my thoughts and predictions, as well as previews for most Charleston Battery games and recaps of as many of those games as I can.

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

Weekend Wrap-up: Armstrong Announced as Player-Coach, US 1-1 Argentina, and More

Sorry that I haven't made a post in a while, as I have been on vacation. But here's a wrap of the weekend's events:

On Thursday, veteran Battery midfielder, Stephen Armstrong, was announced as a player-coach for the 2011 USL Pro season. He will be in the role of an assistant coach to Mike Anhaeuser.

Armstrong has been with Charleston since the 2006 season, and has 24 goals and 11 assists in 113 games with the Battery. He is fifth all time in both goals and assists, and sixth in games played.

The native South African has been with the Battery for their most recent accomplishments. These being the team's run to the 2008 US Open Cup Final, where they lost to DC United, and the 2010 USL Second Division Championship.

Head Coach Mike Anhaeuser had this to say, “Stephen brings us a wealth of experience on and off the field; he has been an important part of the club for the past six years. This experience will be more beneficially this season as Stephen has assumed the role of player/assistant along with keeping his high level of play on the field.”

On Saturday night, the United States Men's National Team took on the Argentina National Team in match at the New Meadowlands Stadium, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Playing for Argentina, was who many consider the world's best player, Lionel Messi.

The first goal would come from Esteban Cambiasso in the 41st minute of the game. The goal came off a scramble right in front of the goal, which Messi started.

In the 59th minute, the US would pull level with a goal from, who else but, Juan Agudelo. Landon Donovan would launch a free kick into the box where Bocanegra headed the ball on goal, and the rebound came to Agudelo who put it in the back of the net.

The game was highlighted by Argentina dominating possesion in the first half, followed by the US making it a little more even in the second half, as well as another great performance by Tim Howard.

The USMNT will play Paraguay in a friendly on Tuesday, March 29th at LP Field in Nashville.

Mikey Buytas, president of The Regiment, will be on a podcast by Feuerstein's Fire tonight at 8:00. They will be doing a preview of the 2011 USL Pro Season. Make sure to check it out.

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