USL Pro Week 2: What to Watch For

After a successful opening weekend of the inaugural USL Pro season, the second set of games is set to kick off this weekend. Bullet time:

• Can Richmond continue their early success?: I would think so. Richmond dominated a solid Orlando City side last Saturday, and their attack is looking dangerous. Last week's USL Pro Player of the Week, Mike Callahan, returns to the line up for Richmond after an admirable effort last week. They will host the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Saturday, April 9th at City Stadium.
• Will FC New York be successful this year?: An expansion franchise's first season is usually rough, even harder when you start from scratch. FC New York's debut will be down in the Citrus Bowl, when they play Orlando City SC this Saturday. New York is bringing a young team to the pitch this year, but have some experience in captain Paul Shaw, who played for many years over in England. City is looking to rebound off a loss to Richmond.
• Can Puerto Rico United find chemistry early in the season?: We'll see what happens, but United is my choice for last in the International Division. Their whole team looks to be a mess, and especially so in the midfield. They will host Sevilla FC Puerto Rico, who played River Plate Puerto Rico level last weekend. Sevilla looks to have a team that could compete for an International Division Championship.
• Will Charleston open up the season with a win?: Come back to the blog tomorrow for my preview and thoughts of the game.

Luckily, 3 of the 4 games this weekend will be broadcasted live on USLLive.com. The only exception to this will be Richmond vs. Pittsburgh.

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

Real Salt Lake Advances to CCL Final, Plus Cobras News

First off, I'd like to give a big congratulations to Real Salt Lake, who are advancing to the Final of the CONCACAF Champions League.

This is a huge accomplishment, as they are the first MLS team to go to the Final since the LA Galaxy in 2000.

They advanced to the Final after defeating Saprissa on a 3-2 aggregate. Last night they had to go down to Saprissa (located in San Jose, Costa Rica), and defend a 2-0 lead.

Saprissa's Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá is a tough place to play in the least.

After Saprissa's first goal, the fans were shaking the stadium, and everything in it. If you were watching the TV broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel, you know what I mean.

Salt Lake lost 2-1 last night, but the 2-0 win they had at Rio Tinto Stadium would see them through.

Central SC Cobras FC will open their season of friendlies on Friday, May 6th at 7:00 PM against the Charlotte Lady Eagles.

Adult tickets are only $5 and kid's tickets are $2, so make sure to head out to that match in a couple of weeks.

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

Charleston Falls to the Islanders 1-0 in Final Preseason Match

Today, the Charleston Battery took on the Puerto Rico Islanders in their final preseason match of the season, at Blackbaud Stadium.

The Battery's Starting XI in the 4-4-2 was: Dykstra started in goal, with Wilson, Marples, Zaher, and Dugoni on the back, Armstrong, Jackson, Pervely, and Prince in the midfield, and Coleman and Kelly up front.

That is definitely a possible starting line up for the season opener this Saturday.

The game went into halftime with a 0-0 score line. One substitution was made in the first half, and that was Seedy Bah coming in for Levi Coleman late in the second half.

Keith Wiggans would come in for Andrew Dykstra, and Nicki Paterson would come in for Zach Prince.

Charleston's best chance would come in the 60th minute, when Dane Kelly would have a goal called back for offsides.

In the 63rd minute, Brandon Massie, unsigned Mark Wiltse, JC Mack, and Alex Caskey would come in for Dugoni, Kelly, Jackson, Wilson, and Armstrong. Evan Taylor would also come in for Peverly in the 70th minute.

In the 76th minute Matt Bouraee would score a goal for the Islanders, which would end up being the only goal of the game.

A disappointing result for the Battery, but not necessarily a bad loss. Charleston was looking to get as many players as possible, some playing time before their season opener this Saturday, when they will play host to the Charlotte Eagles. And in that sense it was successful.

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

Charleston Battery: The Week Ahead

The Charleston Battery will be very busy this week, with their preparations for the beginning of their 2011 USL Pro season.

It starts tomorrow, Tuesday, April 5th, when the Battery will host last year's USSF Division 2 Professional League Champions, the Puerto Rico Islanders, in the final preseason match of the season for the Battery.

The Battery have some history with Islanders, including a 2006 2-leg playoff series which the Battery won on a 3-2 aggregate. That included this amazing goal by Stephen Armstrong.

The game will be played at 5:30 PM at Blackbaud Stadium, and admission's free. Make sure to come out and support the Battery.

Then on Saturday, April 9th, we have Charleston's opening match of the 2011 USL Pro season, against the Charlotte Eagles. This game will also be played at Blackbaud Stadium, and kick off is set for 7:30 PM. The game will be broadcast live on usllive.com.

I'll be posting a preview of the game later this week, so watch out for that.

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

USL Pro: Week 1 Observations

Well we have finished the first round of games for this brand new, USL Pro season. Yesterday we saw the Richmond Kickers take on Orlando City SC, and River Plate Puerto Rico play Sevilla FC Puerto Rico.

In the first game of the day, Richmond defeated Orlando City 2-0 in front of 1,650 spectators at City Stadium. The first goal came when Ryan Heins earned a penalty in the 39th minute. Stanley Nyazamba stepped up for Richmond and slotted it home. This would give Richmond a 1-0 lead at the half.

Richmond would dominate the chances in the second half, and the Kickers added to their tally in the 83rd minute, when Matt Delicate scored off a cross Sascha Görres. Richmond would walk off the pitch with their first win of the young season.

At 8:00 PM EST, River Plate hosted Sevilla FC in the first International game of the season, and this game proved to be the more exciting of the two. Sevilla opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, when Ryan Massoud connected with a cross from Erik Hort, which would send Sevilla in to the locker rooms with a half-time lead.

River Plate came out of the half swinging, and scored on a give-and-go between Peter Villegas and Matias Arce, with Villegas finishing to the left for an equalizer. Sevilla would take the lead in the 71st minute, when Nick Cardenas connected on another corner from Erik Hort.

The lead wouldn't last long, as Yaikel Perez headed in a cross from Julio Maya to tie the game at 2-2.

This would be the final score, as both teams would earn their first points of the season.

Here are some of my observations from this pair of games:

• Richmond Leading the League: Well technically anyway. The Kickers came out and put it on Orlando City, and really just dominated the game. Richmond had 15 shots to Orlando's 5, and had 6 corners, to Orlando's 1. It really was a dominating performance by Richmond. Now we'll see how this game effects the standings at the end of the year, but head-to-head, it looks like Richmond's the better team.
• International Division Could be a Close Race: Now that's a lot to take away from a 2-2 draw, but the sides looked to be even on the day. If you read my preview of the International Division, you'll see that I had Sevilla finishing 3rd and River Plate finishing in 1st. We'll see how Barracuda FC play, but we could see a very tight race in the International Division.
• USL Live Successful Debut: The River Plate-Sevilla FC game was the first game to be broadcast live on USLLive.com. I'm happy to see this being successful, and hopefully we can see this carried on to the seasons ahead.

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

Central SC Cobras FC Official Announcement and Watch the Battery Live This Year

Today in a post on USLSoccer.com, the United Soccer Leagues officially welcomed the Columbia-based Central SC Cobras FC, to the USL W-League.

The Cobras will play a series of friendlies this year against W-League opponents, and will enter league play next year, in the 2012 W-League season.

I'm really am happy for the Cobras, and this is a big step for the game in South Carolina. Let's be honest, no matter if its women's, men's, or youth teams, more soccer is for the better. Hopefully, we will see the franchise be successful in the year's to come, and maybe in a couple of years we'll be seeing some former Cobras up in the WPS.

Also, very exciting news for any fan of the Battery or any team in the USL Pro. According to USLSoccer.com, 11 of the 15 USL Pro teams will be broadcasting all of their home games this season. We should be seeing around 20 Charleston games on http://usllive.com/ this year.

This is a great addition to http://usllive.com/, as last year they showed very few games. This will allow fans of these teams to watch the teams away fixtures easier, and help them find a connection with the team.

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

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