August 18, 2010
MLS Rumors is very hit and miss with their "reports". But, they have one up right now saying that they are hearing that Rochester & Austin could drop down to 3rd division soccer in 2011 after last week's meetings with US Soccer that outlined what US Soccer wants from leagues and team owners in the 2nd division moving forward.
I wonder if the site was reading into the comments that Rob made to Devo that were in the notebook following Saturday's win over Montreal where Rob stated that the team could meet the new standards but he felt that US Soccer was going about stabilizing 2nd division soccer the wrong way.
Another wrinkle in this whole thing is the fact that the Rochester Lancers own the territorial rights to a USL 2nd Division team within a 60 mile radius of Rochester. So, if the Rhinos want to play in the USL 2nd Division in 2011, they will have to negotiate with the Lancers.
It will be interesting to see what will happen with regards to 2nd & 3rd division soccer in 2011.
Will the NASL have enough teams that meet the new standards and get OK'd?
Will the USL 2nd Division (a 3rd division league) be the highest league under MLS in 2011?
It looks like we may have another off season full of questions ahead of us.
News & Notes:
- Devo has a nice article and blog post about the Rhinos 4 game winning streak going into tonight's match in Baltimore.
- MLS Rumors also has a post about huge 2nd division expansion out west.
- Joey Saputo didn't like losing to the Rhinos and he ripped his players, including captain Nevio Pizzolitto.
- Montreal added another player in French F Anthony Le Gall.
- San Jose has their first DP in Brazilian F Geovanni.
- John Wolyniec is not ready to hang up the boots yet.
- The Whitecaps are facing some tough decisions with how to build their MLS team.
- Bob Bradley will meet with the US Soccer brass next week.
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.
