USL 2009: New Look, New Season

USL UNVEILS NEW LOOK

Play with Passion campaign highlights dedication of USL fans, players and clubs
TAMPA, FL — United Soccer Leagues represents the sport in the truest, purest sense. The league searches for talent in the furthest corners of the world and affords every talented player the right to pursue their dream of playing professional soccer. It is gritty, unrefined, urban, rural, and unadulterated. And somewhere between genuine simplicity and determined complexity. It is pure devotion.

USL is proud to unveil the new design of the USL website. The redesigned look of the website stems from USL’s new branding platform, Play with Passion. In addition to incorporating the Play with Passion imagery that represents USL’s wide-ranging demographic that spans from the large metropolises of New York and Los Angeles to the more rural settings of the Midwest and South, the website unveiled several changes from its previous format. Among the changes include enhanced team pages that feature expanded information, news, photo galleries and a video player.

USL provides opportunities for males and females, youth and adults, professionals and amateurs. There are teams from four federations spanning three different official languages. Players come from all different areas and many are from outside of North America. Fans are treated with a wide range of playing styles and show their support in a variety of different ways. With such a diverse constituency, identifying a motto that resonates with fans and players at all levels of the USL family proved to be challenging. However, throughout the entire process, there was one prevalent theme that continued to stand above all else – the passion of those involved with USL.

This passion can be seen at every level of USL through countless examples. Youth players travel for hours to play matches so that they can develop by competing against elite competition. PDL and W-League teams are dedicated transitioning players from the youth ranks to professional careers at the grassroots level. Players from the USL First Division Puerto Rico Islanders and Montreal Impact travel thousands of miles to represent their country and USL in competitions like the CONCACAF Champions League.

And they don’t just show up. They play their best. They play with passion.

Fans attend matches, post content to blogs, travel to other cities, watch games online and track every word of news they can see or hear. They attend matches and vocalize their support for their team, and sometimes vocalize their dislike of the opposition. This kind of passion has been behind the success of every team since its inception and is being brought to the forefront as it so deserves.

The Play with Passion platform is intended to embody not only the spirit of the organization, teams, players and, most importantly, the fans, but also capture the one ingredient that has been consistent since the day USL was founded. Originally created as a regional indoor league back in 1986 because of one man’s passion and vision for what the sport could become in North America, USL has grown into an organization that now boasts more than 120 franchises and 500 elite youth teams competing in six different leagues.

USL will continue be a driving force in the growth of the game in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean by encouraging and promoting the passion that has fueled soccer’s rise to prominence over the past three decades. Please join us and our fans as we Play with Passion.

USL-1 SEASON PREVIEW – PART I

A look at the Opening Night foursome
TAMPA, FL – Of the four clubs that kick off their 2009 USL First Division campaigns Saturday on Opening Night, only the Charleston Battery come into the upcoming season looking to build on last season. The Minnesota Thunder, Carolina RailHawks and the defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps are in transition mode.

The ever-dreaded rebuilding tag, however, may have been proven to be a non-factor in the USL First Division last year with the performance of the Whitecaps. They came into the campaign with a new coach looking to take the team in a different direction. All they did was use the depth created by the new additions to the roster and newly-created professional Premier Development League Whitecaps Residency team to spur a run to a second title in three years.

Winning a championship under those circumstances may prove to be an inspiration to Minnesota and Carolina, who come into this season with new head coaches. Charleston, meanwhile, will be looking to incorporate what made their Open Cup run a success into this year’s league season and playoffs instead of fading down the stretch.

Vancouver Whitecaps [Web Page]
In hindsight, last season’s rebuilding campaign was mostly in review mode as many of the club’s veterans were kept and used as depth in the championship run. This offseason, however, the Whitecaps and coach Teitur Thordarson did a little spring cleaning with the roster. Out are numerous veteran players such as Jeff Clarke, Jason Jordan, Steve Kindel and Alfredo Valente. In addition, several other significant players moved elsewhere. Eduardo Sebrango and back-up goalkeeper Serge Djekanovic moved to Canadian rival Montreal while Nicholas Addlery made the biggest trek all the way to Puerto Rico.

There are still a handful of veterans that remain to serve as the backbone of the side for 2009 with Martin Nash serving as the captain and longtime USL-1 striker Charles Gbeke providing offense.

The club filled the void of the departed veterans with a few others from around the league, adding Marco Reda from Charleston, Justin Thompson from Portland and Ansu Toure, who played for Atlanta and Miami last year. The Whitecaps also brought in a couple foreign players, including Caribbean internationals Kenold Versailles (Haiti) and Tyrell Burgess (Bermuda), who spent last year with the Reading Rage of the PDL. Vancouver also inked former New York Red Bulls defender Jeff Parke after contract negotiations with Seattle broke down.

Charleston Battery [Web Page]
The Battery started off well but struggled down the final third of the season as the ratio of road games increased along with continued participation in the US Open Cup. The focus, deservingly, shifted to the Open Cup and nearly saw the Battery become the second USL First Division team to raise the trophy before falling short in the Final on the road against DC United, 2-1.

The heart of the club’s lineup remains the same for 2009 with the notable exception of Rookie of the Year Osvaldo Alonso, who went to the Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer expansion side. In his absence, the Battery have beefed up the roster with additions. Coach Mike Anhaeuser brought in experienced striker Dan Antoniuk and defender Frankie Sanfilippo from rival Carolina as well as midfielder Kenji Treschuk from Seattle. The Atlanta duo of defender Matt Bobo and midfielder Scott Buete also made the move to Charleston.

The Open Cup finalists also brought in Jamaican O’Brian Woodbine and J-League veteran Tsuyoshi Yoshitake from abroad along with Toronto’s Tyler Hemming. Moving up from the lower divisions are Harrisburg’s Nigel Marples and rookie Tommy Heinemann from the PDL St Louis Lions.

Looking to capture similar magic as they did with Alonso, who defected during Cuba’s participation in the 2007 Gold Cup, the Battery added Yeniel Bermudez, who did the same during last year’s Olympic Qualifying tournament.

Carolina RailHawks [Web Page]
In describing the state of Charleston’s rival to the north, the best way to represent it is as a combination of expansion and promoted sides. With the departure of original head coach Scott Schweitzer after his two years, change would be expected for a team that failed to reach the postseason last year. Carolina nearly cleaned out its entire roster however.

The precipitating factor in many of the changes was the addition of new coach Martin Rennie, who had built the expansion USL Second Division side Cleveland from nothing into a one-loss first-year team and second-year league champion. With Rennie’s move to Carolina came a handful of the City Stars’ top players such as Jeremy Tolleson, Sierra Leone striker Sallieu Bundu, 2008 USL-2 Goalkeeper of the Year Eric Reed and two-time USL-2 Defender of the Year and USL-1 veteran Mark Schulte, giving the RailHawks a bit of a feel of a promoted side, especially given Cleveland’s move up to USL’s top flight.

On the expansion side of things, among the few remaining players from 2008 are Hamed Diallo, Matt Watson, Kupono Low and Caleb Norkus, leaving numerous spaces to be filled. On that front, the mix of players came from three locations – the USL First Division, Major League Soccer and Europe.

Making the move from rival league clubs were Seattle’s Joshua Gardner, Charleston’s Aaron King, and Rochester’s Luke Kreamalmeyer – all key contributors for their sides. The club also acquired veteran Joseph Kabwe from the USL-2 Charlotte Eagles.

A large number of players will be joining the side having come off campaigns in MLS last year. John Gilkerson and Caleb Sewell hail from the Red Bulls, joining Amir Lowery (San Jose), Devon McKenney (Columbus), Daniel Paladini (Chivas), Brian Plotkin (Columbus) and former Battery striker Gavin Glinton (San Jose).

Former Real Salt Lake defender Jack Stewart leads a list of players coming stateside from Europe. The club also signed Paul Ritchie and veteran La Liga player Marcelo Romero on defense.

Minnesota Thunder [Web Page]
Like Carolina, the Thunder will have a new head coach in Don Gramenz. However, Gramenz is not a stranger to the Thunder, having played 13 years with the club and serving as an assistant last season until receiving the interim post midseason.

The new coach chose not to make major overhauls to the team following his ability to turn it around in the second half of the campaign last year to make the playoffs. Instead, the Thunder focused its offseason efforts primarily on augmenting the roster to make it more competitive with the other playoff sides.

The Thunder brought in Portland’s Lawrence Olum and Seattle’s Youssouf Kante from fellow USL-1 sides and added a handful of players with MLS experience. Rod Dyachenko and Quavas Kirk made the move from DC United while Ryan Pore joins from Kansas City and Andrew Peterson leaves the defending MLS Champion Columbus Crew.

Rookies Marcus Watson, Geoffrey Myers and Rich Costanzo will also be called upon to contribute to the squad in 2009 with the departures of retiring Luchi Gonzalez, Leo Gibson (Cleveland) and Stephen deRoux (Montreal).

The club avoided what could have been a devastating loss in goalkeeper Nicolas Platter, who played every minute last year for Minnesota. Platter spent the preseason with DC United and was on the cusp of being transferred until a last-minute trade saw former USL-1 keeper Josh Wicks move from Los Angeles to fill the back-up role that looked to be Platter’s. His return will certainly be critical in Minnesota’s plans considering the drop-off Portland experienced in 2008 following the departure of Wicks to LA.

OPENING NIGHT 411

Carolina hosts Thunder in Opener
Rookie coaches make official USL-1 debuts

TAMPA, FL – A pair of new USL-1 head coaches will take the field for the first time Saturday night at 7:00 pm ET in Cary, NC when the Minnesota Thunder visit the Carolina RailHawks in first of two games on Opening Night.

Minnesota’s Don Gramenz may have a bit of a head start on Carolina’s Martin Rennie having taken over in the middle of his first year as an assistant last year as the interim head coach and turning around a sour 4-8-5 campaign to finish 10-11-9 and claim a playoff berth. The third coach in the Thunder’s 20-year history, 13 of which he was a player for, will look to continue his 6-3-4 form from last year, but will face tough opposition in Rennie, who has proven capable of quick starts himself.

While Rennie may be new to USL-1, he is certainly no stranger to USL as a head coach. In his debut as a professional head coach two years ago for the expansion Cleveland City Stars he led the side to a remarkable 10-1-9 season only to be ousted 1-0 in the first round of the playoffs. Although the form dipped slightly in his sophomore campaign to 10-3-7, the postseason performance was as good as it could be as they went on to win the league championship.

The first-ever meeting between the Carolina and Minnesota was a 1-1 draw two years ago, but since Minnesota’s 5-0 drubbing of the rookie RailHawks later that year, the Thunder have yet to find another win.

Last season, the pair played to a scoreless draw in Carolina to open the season and shared points yet again in their second meeting in a 2-2 draw at Minnesota. Carolina notched their first win against the Thunder in the final showdown, earning a 2-1 win on the road.

New coaches, however, mean new looks for their respective teams. Preparing for their first seasons in USL’s top flight, the Thunder spent most of their time on training and a mix of scrimmages with local collegiate and amateur sides with the exception of a 4-0 defeat to the Major League Soccer Kansas City Wizards shortly after opening camp.

Carolina, meanwhile, added to their collegiate scrimmages with three matches against a variety of professional clubs. They opened with a 1-0 win against the MLS New England Revolution and faced their stiffest test against Honduran champs and recent CONCACAF Champions League participant Olimpia, falling 2-1 in the next contest. Regular USL-2 contenders Richmond Kickers netted a 1-0 victory in the final friendly last weekend.

Champion Whitecaps host Charleston
Vancouver begins title defense Saturday

TAMPA, FL — The Charleston Battery will be looking to make history with a win in Vancouver Saturday at 10:00 pm ET on USL Opening Night, but will have to knock off the defending champion Whitecaps on to do so.

While Puerto Rico and Montreal were stealing the headlines around the region last year with their CONCACAF Champions League performance, all the Battery and Whitecaps did was reach the US Open Cup Final and capture the USL First Division championship, respectively.

Last year, the two sides split perfectly even in the season series with each posting a 2-0 victory and playing to a 1-1 draw in the lone contest in Vancouver. The surprising factor is that most of the goal scorers from the three matches have moved on with only Charleston’s Randi Patterson and Vancouver’s Charles Gbeke – the goalscorers in the draw – remaining. Charleston lost USL-1 Rookie of the Year Osvaldo Alonso to the Major League Soccer Seattle Sounders while Vancouver saw Nicholas Addlery move onto Puerto Rico.

Charleston will be looking for their first-ever victory in their sixth visit to British Columbia since their first contest in 2001. While the Battery have posted two 1-1 draws in the last three games, they remain winless in Vancouver at 0-3-2.

The two sides comes into Opening Night off vastly different preseason programs.

The Battery, as usual, opened their camp the week before the Carolina Challenge Cup. A week into training, the side represented itself well against MLS clubs preparing for their season openers a week after the event’s conclusion. Charleston fell 2-1 to Toronto and Real Salt Lake in the first two matches and were blanked 2-0 by DC United in a rematch of the US Open Cup Championship on the final night.

Charleston then met a pair of USL-2 clubs, posting a 3-1 victory over the 2008 USL-2 regular season champion and finalist Charlotte Eagles only to manage a 1-1 draw against Wilmington, who missed the postseason last year.

Vancouver, similar to Charleston, opened up their preseason with an MLS friendly against the Sounders, suffering a 4-0 defeat. They turned it around with a victory over the University of Victoria before embarking on a globe-trotting trek to the African nation of Tanzania. The Whitecaps dropped the first fixture to the Young Africans select team, but downed Premier League side Simba SC 2-1 and drew 0-0 against the Tanzanian National Team in the remaining two contests before returning home.

Two more handily won collegiate friendlies against the University of British Columbia and Seattle University were followed by a 1-1 draw against league rival Portland.