September 30, 2010

Brian at Inside Minnesota Soccer.com is reporting that the NASL has applied to be a 2nd Division league in 2011. Six teams were included in the submission. Those six were Carolina, Edmonton (2011 expansion team), Miami, Montreal, Tampa Bay, and Puerto Rico.

The NASL is working with St Louis and Minnesota to try and get to the minimum 8 teams that the USSF says they want for a league to qualify as a 2nd Division league.

Although, with Edmonton, Montreal, and Puerto Rico included, the NASL won't be able to meet the USSF requirement that 75% of the teams reside within the US even if St Louis and Minnesota can meet the USSF financial requirements for D2 teams.

With Rochester Rhinos press releases now showing up on USL Soccer.com , it may be safe to assume that the Rhinos will be playing in the USL PRO League in 2011.

The USL has announced that the Dayton Dutch Lions will be playing in the USL PRO League in 2011.

News & Notes:

- Devo had a piece yesterday on how the Rhinos have to get back to what they were doing when they were on their 6 game winning streak. Hopefully the Rhinos will have a nice little slump busting match versus St Louis this weekend.

- Tickets for the Rhinos home playoff match on October 9th are on sale today even if they have no idea who they are playing yet.

- The Washington Freedom are looking for a coach and investors. I wonder what the Flash will need to do to get Abby Wambach if the Freedom aren't back for 2011?

- The Red Bulls have Part 1 & Part 2 of an interview with John Wolyniec up on their blog.

- Carlos Mendes gets some love from Jack Bell at the NY Times.

- Why would the Red Bulls let Juan Pablo Angel go? I know they are worried about his back, but he's 2nd in the league in goals in 2010.

- If DeRo does have to go , my guess is that Houston might take him back. Can you imagine the splash that Vancouver or Portland could make by adding JPA & DeRo who will both be in the top 5 in goals in 2010?

- John Harkes has said he would be interested in the DC United job when they go about making a permanent hire after the season.

- Waldo doesn't think that there are too many good American coaches out there.

- Stuart Holden did a Studio 90 interview and then signed an extension with Bolton.

- Shawn Francis rambles on over at the MLS Insider blog about making MLS more attractive to young players. Personally, I doubt that MLS will ever get the revenue to keep players like Holden as they want both more money and the higher level of competition that they get in Europe. MLS would need NFL type revenues to make those two things happen.

- Grant Wahl looks at why CONCACAF is trying to kill the best rivalry they have going. Personally, this sucks. But, you know that the powers that be don't care.

- The NY Cosmos may not have a team, but they have some sick new threads from Umbro.

- After reading this from the Wall Street Journal and this post at Inside Minnesota Soccer.com , I am really interested to see how this plays out. Fraud, Racketeering, and Antitrust Violations by US Soccer isn't something I want to read in the midst of World Cup bids!

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.