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Posted by
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July 6, 2014 |
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Aaron Nielsen
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@ENBSports
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With the World Cup taking up most peoples’ soccer attention, the assumption would be the smarter business move would be to suspend domestic league play until the tournament is over. Major League Soccer decided to not play league games until the group stages is over, although MLS clubs south of the border have played US Open Cup games during this period and many might be surprised the tournament is already in the Quarter-Finals stage despite 80 teams participating.
MLS has elected to use mostly "B" teams in the US Open cup with players missing because of the World Cup, but also managers giving many first team players a vacation in preparation for the second half of the season. This has lead to a couple of surprise results, although MLS still represents six of the final eight clubs, creating two ‘all MLS’ quarter finals with Philadelphia hosting New England and Seattle hosting Portland. Two NASL clubs, the Carolina Railhawks will host Dallas after beating both Chivas and LA Galaxy, and Atlanta will host Chicago after getting by Real Salt Lake and Colorado.
Interestingly, Carolina and Atlanta both struggled during the Spring season of NASL, with Carolina finishing 4th but also had a -4 goals differential, and Atlanta finishing 8th with the worst goal differential in the league at -8. The Spring season concluded just prior to the World Cup with Minnesota taking 1st place, which means they automatically qualify for the NASL Cup after the Fall Season is complete. Minnesota were a slight surprise as the New York Cosmos were heavily favored this season, although after they slipped up Minnesota was in a second tier group of teams, including San Antonio who during the Fall Season should also be favored for a playoff spot.
Personally, I also had Ottawa in this group and so far, despite finishing 6th, I think the Fury should be pleased with their performance. As an expansion team they slipped up in a couple of games, including the Voyagers Cup match up against Edmonton, but I still say player for player they can compete with any team in the league. They will be moving into their new stadium, which should give them added energy and make them competitive during the Fall Season.
The teams who struggled were as predicted. In the case of Atlanta and Indy I felt they didn't have the talent to complete with other teams in the league and it showed, although the case of FC Edmonton is a more complicated situation. Other than the top three clubs Edmonton were the strongest defensively and Daryl Fordyce was tied as the league leading scorer with five goals, despite the entire club only scoring eleven. Edmonton’s biggest issue has been their willingness to strangle a game, which lead to a 0-0 draw and three 1-0 losses. There is definitely a need to be more expansive and take greater risks in the second half.
The other leagues in North America elected to play during the entire World Cup. In the case of development leagues, such as PDL and League One Ontario, most players will be returning to school in August so teams have to complete their schedule in a very tight time frame. In the PDL, most clubs have played more than 1/2 of their schedule and Canadian teams have struggled compared to the past few seasons. However, Thunder Bay and KW United both have a chance to make the playoffs with KW lead by Toronto FC prospect, and in my All-Canadian list, Jay Chapman as well a player who has been on the Canada NT radar Stefan Vukovic. Arguably, both players, including the KW United team, should be playing in League 1 Ontario (L1O) and we will see how this story develops in the future.
L1O in its inaugural season and the play has been better than expected and very exciting, including a large amount of goals scored. Vaughn Azzuri, TFC Academy and Sigma FC, who have Cyle Larin, seem to be the strongest teams and the ones who should challenge for the championship.
USL Pro also elected to play during the World Cup partly due the league feels it’s better to finish their season earlier and not compete with College Soccer and Football. Halfway through the season, as I predicted, Orlando is in first place as they prepare to join the MLS and an interesting sidenote is the team was heavily rumored, and now has fulfilled, signing Kaka for next season.
Orlando have been lead by players who are already MLS ready including: Kevin Molino, Adama Mbengue, Darwin Ceren, Luke Boden, Brad Rusin and keeper Miguel Gallardo. The Richmond Kickers, with a number of DC United prospects, seem to be Orlando’s greatest challenger, while LA Galaxy II has been a surprise and currently sit third playing very free flowing soccer and have been involved in almost twice as many goals as more than half the teams in the league.
Dayton and Pittsburgh have been the greatest disappointments in USL Pro so far. Both teams had some struggles in the past but looked to be a factor going into this season, with Dayton as a leading academy and an affiliation with Columbus while Pittsburgh have a relationship with Houston and potentially thought as a future MLS expansion team. Both clubs have not only struggled on the field, but also with attendance, and one begins to question can independent teams survive in USL Pro or will eventually it become a league like with Minor League Baseball and controlled by MLS?
I should also mention NWSL, as they are also already half way through their season with Seattle surprising many after missing the playoffs last year and in first place by eight points. I did foresee Seattle being a factor primarily because I had a good knowledge of who Kim Little was from her from her time with Arsenal in England and she now leads the NWSL in scoring with 11 goals.
Surprisingly, both Portland and Western New York have been struggling with Christine Sinclair only having three goals in twelve games and Abby Wambach only playing six games so far with Western New York. I feel Portland will improve in the second half which could lead to a Portland/Seattle final and bring the league some great publicity.
With all leagues at around the half way mark I thought I give my mid-season top five players in each league.
NASL - Fall Season
1. Cristian Ramirez, Fw, Minnesota
2. Mark Anderson, Mf, Fort Lauderdale
3. Mads Stokkelien Fw, New York Cosmos
4. Danny Barrera, Mf, San Antonio
5. Miguel Ibarra, Mf, Minnesota
USL Pro
1. Kevin Molino, Mf, Orlando
2. Jack McBean, Fw, LA Galaxy II
3. Rodrigo Lopez, Mf, Sacramento
4. Adama Mbengue, Mf, Orlando
5. George Davis, Mf, Richmond
League 1 Ontario
1. Cyle Larin, Fw, Sigma FC
2. Dylan Sacramento, Mf, TFC Academy
3. Anthony Gonzalez, Mf, Sigma FC
4. Matthew Stinson, Mf, Vaughn
5. Eli Roubas, Df, TFC Academy
PDL
1. Ricardo Velasco, Mf, FC Tuscon
2. Brandon Allen, Fw, Baltimore
3. Jose Cuevas, Mf, Fresno
4. Jason Plumhoff, Mf, Ocean City
5. Stefan Vukovic, Fw, KW United
NWSL
1. Kim Little, Fw, Seattle
2. Diana Matheson, Mf, Washington
3. Amy Rodriguez, Fw, Kansas City
4. Jessica McDonald, Fw, Portland
5. Vicky Losada, Mf, Western New York
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