The American Premier League: A Alt-History FM Dynasty

[SirFozzie]

We all know what happened at the 2009 Confederations Cup. The United States shocked the world, defeating Spain in the Semi-Finals, and actually being up 2-0 at halftime against Brazil, before a furious comeback from the best team in the world gave Brazil a 3-2 win.

Let's say the Confederations Cup was in 2008, and the United States actually held on to to the lead and shook up the world. More then that, they inspired a wave of soccer interest unlike no other time in US history.. How could it possibly have turned out?

This will not be a hands on dynasty. I'm using this to test out my American Premier League edit file, and will be simming months at a time, and then going back and looking how it all turns out.

But for now, let's pierce the curtain of time, and see what might have been..

[SirFozzie]

New American Leagues detailed inside!
By: Kyle Ogden - SoccerAmerica.com

Fresh off the miracle win at the 2008 Confederations Cup, the United States Soccer Federations announced with the support of some new corporate sponsors looking to capitalize on the soccer boom, that the formerly staid Major League Soccer league will be replaced by a new American Premier League. This is not the only major change, as the US Soccer Federation has consolidated the lower divisions into a new American Soccer Pyramid.

We have received a leaked document with the proposed league setup, and here it is:

The American Premier League

This 20 team league will feature all 14 Major League Soccer teams from the 2008 season, and six new teams to the highest echelon of American Soccer..

Four of the new teams will be from the United States. The Seattle Sounders, who was already scheduled to make the leap, Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers, and Rochester Raging Rhinos. The Timbers and Sounders have a long rivalry, and Philadelphia and Rochester will add to a crowded northeast corridor.

The league also welcomes its second and third Canadian team to the setup, as the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact will join Toronto FC as teams in the US league.

The American First Division

With the dissolution of the USL and PDL setup, and multiple teams making the leap to the new American Premier League, the first division will be a lot of teams who've never faced each other before, but that just means new teams will arise.

Teams for the first division are:

Austin Aztex
Brooklyn
Crystal Palace Baltimore
Carolina
Charleston
Charlotte
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Des Moines
FC New York
Harrisburg
Maryland
Miami FC
Minnesota
Puerto Rico
Reading
Richmond
St Louis
Tampa Bay

Three of these teams will be playing soccer at the highest level next season,, as the US Soccer Federation has authorized a three up-three down system. The top two teams will automatically play in the APL in 2010, and the third through sixth place teams will play off for the final promotion spot.

American Second Division

The Second Division will be using a bit of a twist this year. Unlike the top two leagues, which are 20 teams each, the Second Division will feature twenty four teams from across the nation. To prevent fixture congestion, the league will split into two, once the first round of twenty three games has been played. The top twelve teams will then play a second round of games against each other for the two promotion spots on offer, and the lower twelve will play against each other as well.

The teams invited to join the second division are:

Baltimore Colts FC
Boston Aztec
Dallas-Fort Worth Tornadoes
El Paso
Fort Wayne
Fresno
Los Angeles Legends
Long Island
Michigan
Mississippi
Nashville
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Orleans
Newark
Northern Virginia
Rhode Island
Southern California
Spokane
Springfield
Tacoma
West Virginia
Western Massachusetts

The US Open Cup has been replaced by the US Cup, where the 64 teams in the US League System will be playing for the trophy, and the Us Soccer Federation also announced the Lamar Hunt Trophy, to be contested between the US Cup and American Premier League winners to kick off the season.

[SirFozzie]

Six weeks into the season, and here's the first progress report. With the great amount of money making its way into the system, teams were cautious with their signings. The biggest name making its way over to the MLS was the Los Angeles Galaxy signing 34 year old defender Sol Campbell on a free transfer. Campbell had last played for EPL side Portsmouth.

Toronto FC also signed a fairly big name, former Brazilian international Roque Junior, a nomad who previously played in Brazil, England, Germany and Italy, as well as a brief stint in Qatar.

APL Update:

Toronto has only lost one of their first eight league games, and currently top the league with 19 points, one more then Houston, with Chivas a further point back. DC United, LA Galaxy, and Columbus each have 15 points.

The six new teams to the league are all in the bottom half of the table other then Seattle (9th). It's early, but both the Portland Timbers and Philadelphia Union have not won a single league game yet, and along with the Colorado Rapids, are hoping to pull themselves out of the relegation zone

First Division: Miami FC leads with 18 points through 8 games, but Austin, and Harrisburg could move ahead of Miami if they win their game in hand. Pittsburgh and St Louis make up the two relegation spots.

Second Division: The Tacoma Tide have not lost a single game so far, and top the table with 20 points through 8 games, but Long Island, New Hampshire, West Virginia, LA Legends, and Western Mass are all within a game of the Tide.

US Cup: We're down to 16 teams in the US Cup, as the first two rounds have been played. The first round saw four APL teams eliminated, two of them in all-APL match ups (Toronto and LA Galaxy), but two other APL teams lost to lower level opposition, as Colorado lost to first division side Austin, and in the shock of the round, second division side New Hampshire traveled to San Jose and stunned the Earthquakes after penalty kicks..

The second round saw three more APL teams leave the competition, as first division side Puerto Rico beat Columbus at Crew Stadium, Portland beat hosts Chicago in an all-APL match up, and Philadelphia could not use their home-field advantage in losing to the Kansas City Wizards in another matchup between APL teams.

Highlight of the second round was a 7-0 thrashing of second division side Spokane by Chivas USA.

All 24 Second Division teams were knocked out in the first two rounds, and it's quite possible that the quarter finals could be an all-APL affair.

3rd Round Match ups

(home team listed first)

Austin (1st) vs Salt Lake (APL)
Harrisburg (1st) vs FC Dallas (APL)
Kansas City (APL) vs New England (APL)
DC United (APL) vs New York Red Bulls (APL)
Vancouver (APL) vs Puerto Rico (1st)
Portland (APL) vs Chivas USA (APL)
Houston (APL) vs Seattle (APL)
Pittsburgh (1st) vs Montreal (APL)

[SirFozzie]

October Update:

As we get closer to the end of the year with just 5-6 games to play for each team, it's ridiculously close in the APL at the top.

Los Angeles 58 Points (5 games remaining)
Chivas USA 58 (6 games Remaining)
New England 56 (5 Games Remaining)
Seattle 56 (5 Games Remaining)
Houston 56 (6 Games Remaining)
Chicago 54 (6 Games Remaining)
San Jose 54 (6 Games Remaining)
Toronto 54 (7 Games Remaining)

At the bottom, barring a miracle, Rochester, Vancouver and Philadelphia are going down. Rochester is 8 points away from safety with only 6 games left. The other two are even in more dire straits needing 9 and ten points respectively to catch 17th place Portland to secure APL play next year.

The third round of the US Cup saw upsets, as Austin and Harrisburg beat Salt Lake and Dallas to clinch their spots in the quarter finals., KC, New York, Vancouver, Chivas, Houston and Montreal filled out the 8 remaining teams.

It was not a good time to be a road team in the quarter final as KC (over Harrisburg), Houston (Red Bulls), Vancouver (Chivas), and Montreal (Austin) all won at home. The semi-finals were set, and it will be Canada vs USA in the finals as Montreal will play Vancouver, and Kansas City vs Houston.

In the first Division, Charleston leads by four points over Miami with five games to play, with Richmond a further point back. Two of those three teams will auto-promote, and third will have to battle through the playoffs. At the bottom, FC New York is all but mathematically eliminated, 13 points from safety (one more then they have so far this year), and Tampa Bay has it all to do, four points behind pittsburgh.

In the Second Division, with two of the thirty four games left to play, one of the two promotion spots is already locked up, as leaders Western Mass lead with 69 points. New Orleans just needs one more point from their final two games to clinch promotion, but would like to go up as champions, but they'll need Western Mass to drop at least three points to do so. Long Island and New Hampshire are both praying that New Orleans loses both their remaining games.

[SirFozzie]

Season One of the American Premier League is over, and the top of the table has a distinctly western taste to it. LA Galaxy finished strong, winning all but one of their final five games (a draw) to finish on 71 points, but even if they had won out, Chivas won five of their last six, and won their first American title ever with 74 points.

Season Wrap-Up

Winner: Chivas USA (74)
North American Champions League Qualifiers (Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston)
Super Liga: New England, San Jose, Toronto, Chicago
Relegated: Philadelphia, Rochester, Vancouver

Golden Boot (Top Goalscorer): Eduardo Lillingston (MEX) Chivas USA, 20 Goals
Silver Boot (Top Assists): Sam Cronin (USA), Toronto FC, 13 Assists
Most Valuable Player: Jaime Moreno (BOL), 21 games, 7.65 rating

[SirFozzie]

The first Division saw no further surprises as Charleston and Miami held on to the top two spots. They'll be joined next year in the APL by the Austin Aztex, who won the playoff final over the Puerto Rico Islanders.

Winner: Charleston (81 Points)
Promoted: Miami FC
Playoffs: Puerto Rico, Austin (PROMOTED), Carolina, Richmond
Relegated: Tampa Bay, FC New York

Golden Boot (Top Goalscorer): Gifton Noel-Williams (ENG) Austin, 21 Goals
Silver Boot: Scott Buete (USA) Charleston, 15 Assists
MVP: Gifton Noel-Williams (ENG) Austin, 30 Appearances (1 sub), 7.58 Rating

[SirFozzie]

The second division came down to the wire, with Western Massachusetts losing their last game at Mississippi, New Orleans had a chance to tie Western Mass for the title, but they too fell to Nashville, so Western Mass squeaked to the title by 3 points., However, don't feel too bad for New Orleans, as they will also promote to the first division.

Champion: Western Mass 69 Points
Promoted: New Orleans
Wooden Spoon (Last place team): Boston Aztec
Golden Boot: Jeff Deren (USA) (Western Mass) and Drew Smith (USA) (Tacoma), 11 Goals Each
Silver Boot: Kevin Watson (USA) Tacoma, 15 Assists (only 16 years old)

[SirFozzie]

In the Semi-finals of the APL Cup, Montreal defeated Vancouver 2-1, and Kansas City needed penalty kicks to eliminate Houston, to set up the final.

In the final, Kansas City defeated Montreal 2-0, and lifted the US Cup, and they will play in next year's Lamar Hunt Trophy match.

Internationally: The US suffered a bit of Confederations Cup Hangover, but still managed to qualify fairly easily for the World Cup in third place, five points ahead of Honduras. In December, we will know what challenges the USA will face in South Africa.

[SirFozzie]

Pretty much a good draw for the USA, as they got placed in Group B of the 2010 World Cup, along with the hosts South Africa, and South American qualifiers Uruguay, they will try to re-enact the 2002 upset that shocked the world of Portugal.

The draw was a nightmare for Mexico, as they draw Brazil, Russia and Japan in Group E, and Honduras has a tough draw as well, with Greece and Argentina being the heavyweights, while Saudi Arabia makes up the group.

[SirFozzie]

The second season will feature some big spending teams: The four largest transfers were all California dreaming as the LA Galaxy splurged with an $11 million pounds ($18 Million US) purchase of Chilean midfielder Jorge Valdiva from United Arab Emirates side Al-Ain. The Galaxy also added Albanian defender/midfielder Debatik Curri for $3.5 million.

The other team at the Home Depot Stadium also had a big transfer window, as they signed Brazilian Diogo from Sao Paolo for $4.2 million and striker Maxi Lopex from FC Moscow for $3.4 million.

Other big transfer news: Miami FC made a splash with their signing, 34 year old French International Laurent Robert on a free transfer,

[bbgunn]

Nice. This is what I tried to do with an alt history U.S. soccer dynasty before, but this is much better.

[Jon]

Nice! Are you making the file edit available for download?

[SirFozzie]

this was the test run to make sure everything was working fine (but plan on running it for this dynasty too)

I did another test run through 2041 overnight, since that looks to be going fine, I'll put it online shortly

[chesapeake]

Tacoma Tide? Everyone knows that they'd be the Tacoma Aromas!

I'm having great fun managing the York Minstermen in the Blue Square Premier League standings, but I may have to dump that in favor of managing my hometown Aromas to the top.

[SirFozzie]

Download and Discussion Link up:

American Premier League - Download and Discussion - Front Office Football Central

[SirFozzie]

Heh. They may be nicknamed the Aromas, but the Tide are a real team:

Tacoma Tide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

62 of the 64 teams were real, and taken directly from the database (From MLS, USL1/2/NASL, and the PDL). FC New York and St Louis are not quite real yet, they are both due to play this year.

[SirFozzie]

Well, it's June, 2010 and it's time for another update. We are close to the 2010 midseason mark, so let's look how things are going.

APL: You thought last year's standings had a western flavor? This year it's even more pronounced as six of the top seven teams would have hailed from the Western Conference. Seattle leads the pack on 35 points from 17 games, followed closely by LA (two back), San Jose and Toronto (both five back). Last year's First Division playoff winners, Austin are having a decent first year in the APL, in 13th place, 9 points above the drop zone.

The other two new teams in the competition aren't faring as well, as both Miami and Charleston are four points deep in the relegation zone. They'll have to come back in the second half of the year if they want to avoid the yo-yo affect. Portland.. well.. with Seattle topping the table, and Portland at the bottom of the table, 8 points from climbing out of the relegation zone it's easy to see where the power rests in this rivalry right now.

In the first division, Puerto Rico just missed out on promotion last year (finishing 3rd, and losing the playoff final to Austin).. but this year has seem them push for automatic promotion, and they lead the table with 38 points from 17 games.

The three teams relegated from the APL last year (Philly, Rochester and Vancouver) all have bounced back well, and they hold the 2-4 spots. But remember, only the top two go up automatically, Philly looks like a good candidate to take one of those spots (34 points with a game in hand on everyone), so Rochester and Vancouver will have to keep it up if they want to avoid the playoffs.

At the bottom end of the table, Western Massachusetts and New Orleans are both flirting with relegation after getting promoted last year, Western Mass is in 19th, and New Orleans is in 18th.

In the Second Division, Long Island and New Hampshire, who just missed out on promotion last year, are in good position to go up this year, as they are the top two teams as they near the split point (19 of 23 first round games done), Long Island leads with 41 points, and New Hampshire has 39.

The two teams who dropped down from the First Division have a decent chance to promote, as FC New York (4th) and Tampa Bay (6th), will both almost definitely be in the Top Half after the split. Looks like another long season for the Dallas Fort Worth Tornadoes, Baltimore Colts FC, And Boston Aztec as they prop up the table again.

Cup:

In the Lamar Hunt Trophy to kick off the year, Kansas City added the Lamar Hunt Trophy to their US Cup win from last year, as they handily dismissed the defending APL Champs, 3-0.

In the US Cup, the first round did not have many surprises, but the shock of the round had to have been the second division side Tampa Bay traveling to New England to play the Revs and managing to eke out a 0-0 draw, and then winning the Penalty Kick Shootout, 4-2. The other APL team to be knocked out in the first round was Seattle (surprise!) who also lost a PK shootout against 1st division side Vancouver.

The second round had few upsets, with first division Philly beating DC United on penalties after a 1-1 draw being the only real one of note. Again, none of the 24 second division teams had made the final 16.

The round of 16 was supposedly the last hurrah for the little guys, with only one matchup of the 8 being between lower division teams, it looked like the APL would dominate. However, not only will the quarter finals have Philadelphia (6-1 winners over Harrisburg in an all-1st division clash), they will also have Minnesota, who triumphed 5-4 in a PK shootout against Colorado.

The Quarter Finals are set as follows:
(Home Team Listed first)

Philadelphia (1st) vs New York (APL)
Austin (APL) vs Minnesota (1st)
Kansas City (APL) vs Chivas USA (APL)
LA (APL) vs Columbus (APL)

[SirFozzie]

Well, I let this run a little bit more then I wanted to.. I wanted it to stop in time for me to give a "With 10 games to go", but I turn around, and it's suddenly November 22nd. So, we get an end of season update:

APL: First, the bad news. Miami and Charleston will yo yo their way back to the First division next year, and the Emerald City Derby will have to be in the US Cup, at all, as Portland was the third team dragged through the trap door.

Now, the top 3 in the APL:

Seattle dropped like a rock. They averaged more then 2 points per game through the first seventeen games (35), but in their last 21 games, they only got 30 more points, and they finished a distant third.

Finishing second was DC United, who was quite possibly the hottest team in MLS history. They over came a slow start (only 24 points through the first seventeen games), and finished the year with an unbelievable TWENTY-ONE GAME Unbeaten streak (19 wins, 2 draws). However, they still finished one point shy of the champions.

And those champions? The LA Galaxy. How many teams would have a star player retire midseason, and still go on to win? The David Beckham era ended in july, but the free spending was on as the Galaxy continued to emulate Barcelona's Galacticos with the "Galaxytos", spending nearly 30 million dollars on players through transfer fees and loan fees (including acquiring Jermaine Pennant from Real Zaragoza on loan.).

It doesn't look like the Galaxy will stop either, acquiring Argentinian defender Paolo Goltz for Argentine side Huracan for $9.5 million after the season's end.

2010 APL Season Recap

Winners: LA Galaxy
NACL Qualifiers: DC United (2nd), Seattle Sounders (3rd)
SuperLiga: San Jose (4th), Chivas USA (5th), Houston (7th), FC Dallas (8th)
Relegated: Portland Timbers (20th), Charleston Battery (19th), Miami FC (18th)
Golden Boot: Brandao (Brazillian), DC United (On loan from Olympique Marseille), 23 goals
Silver Boot: Jorge Valdiva (Chilean), LA Galaxy, 17 Assists
MVP: Jorge Valdiva (LA Galaxt), 7.58 rating (and worth every penny of LA Galaxy's $18 million US transfer fee!)

[SirFozzie]

First Division: The leaders at the last update, Puerto Rico, also detonated over the second half of the season. They slipped all the way down to 6th from first place, and quite frankly, if the season had been any longer, they would have missed even the playoffs! Even worse then the Islander meltdown, the Vancouver Whitecaps, who looked strong for at least a playoff spot, at the midseason point, just disappeared in the second half of the season. They finished 9th!

Taking advantage of the Islander meltdown, Philadelphia and Rochester will immediately go back to the APL. Philadelphia just up and ran away with the league in the second half of the season, winning the league by twelve points!

Joining them in APL next year will be the Carolina Railhawks. They missed out on the automatic promotion spot by four points, but they easily beat the Islanders in the promotion semifinal, and squeaked by the Minnesota Thunder in the playoff final to earn the big payday that comes with being an APL Team!

Of course, for every up, there must be down, and Western Massachusetts could not maintain the form that had earned them promotion to the first division, and will return to the second division next year. Joining them will be Des Moines, who did not ever get untracked this year, and missed out on safety by a mere 16 points.

Winners: Philadelphia Union
Promoted: Rochester Raging Rhinos
Playoff: Carolina Railhawks (PROMOTED), Cleveland City Stars, Minnesota Thunder, Puerto Rico Islanders
Relegated:Western Massachusetts, Des Moines
Golden Boot: Ricky Schramm (USA), Rochester 17 goals
Silver Boot: Marcelinho (BRA), Philadelphia, 13 assists
MVP: Marcelinho, Philadelphia, 25 league appearances, 7.84 average rating

[SirFozzie]

Second Division:

After reading about the horrible fates of league leaders in the APL and First division, you're probably wondering what horrible fate is in store for the teams from Long Island and New Hampshire.

Their horrible fates are.. to play in the first division next year.

Long Island continued to destroy everyone even after the league split to total up 77 points from 34 games, and to basically lap the field by FIFTEEN POINTS. The Springfield Demize and Tacoma Tide must be looking over their season, wishing that at any key moment, they could have saved points they lost... but New Hampshire BARELY held the second promotion spot at the end of the year, one point ahead of Springfield, and four ahead of Tacoma.

In the bottom half of the table, the "best of the worst" was Mississippi, who were unfortunately dumped in the bottom 12 play in 13th, and they did not take kindly to it.. if you look at the season standings, the team in 13th (Mississippi) actually has 15 points more then the team in 12th (Northern Virginia), but that's the difference between being the worst of the best, and the best of the worst. Dallas Fort-Worth and Baltimore Colts FC again prop up the table this year.

Winners: Long Island Rough Riders
Promoted: New Hampshire Phantoms
Wooden Spoon: Baltimore Colts FC
Golden Boot (1st half): Fabian Dawkins (JAM) FC New York, 15 goals
Silver Boot (1st Half): Three Players with 9 each
MVP (1st Half): Almir (BRA) 23 appearances, 8.12 rating

Cup and International Next!

[SirFozzie]

US Cup: The quarterfinals were all tight one goal games, with two home teams and two away teams winning. New York defeated Philly (1-0), Austin defeated Minnesota (2-1), Kansas City (looking to defend their title) defeated Chivas USA (3-2), and Columbus defeated LA, (2-1), denying the Galaxy a chance at the double.

In the semifinals, the Red Bulls handily defeated Austin, 3-1, and Columbus denied the repeat for the Wizards, in a penalty kick shootout that went 9 rounds before Columbus won 7-6 on PK's.

So, it was the Red Bulls and the Crew in the finals. It went back and forth. Columbus took the lead twice (9th and 76th minute goals from Leandro Domingues), and the Red Bulls replied through Maxim Shatskikh.. so entering the last few minutes, not only were they down a goal, they were down to 10 men, and that missing man was someone very important. Seeing your goalie hurt is always a bad thing. Seeing your goalie hurt after you've made all three substitutions is the worst thing possible.

However, with midfielder Seth Stammler playing goalie/striker, and with Columbus just trying to hang on to the ball, New York kept thumping the ball into the box, and in the 89th minute, midfielder Rasmus Lindgren went down after a shove in the Crew box, and the referee awarded the penalty! Brazilian Roger stepped up.. and SCORED.. 2-2 in entering injury time, with PK's just minutes away..

However, finally, the lack of an experienced goalkeeper on the field cost the Red Bulls the chance at the PK Lottery, as Stammleer went out for a 95th minute cross he had NO chance at, and Chad Marshall headed home the most important goal he will ever score, and Columbus had the US Cup Trophy, 3-2!

NACL: In the 2009/10 edition of the North American Champions League, 5 APL teams participated in the group stage: DC United, Houston, Columbus, Toronto, and New York. They made a good showing for themselves, as four out of the five teams made the knockout stages.. the only victim was Houston, who got drawn into Group B with mexican powerhouse sides Cruz Azul and Toluca, and bowed out.

In the Quarter Finals, Toronto FC bowed out at the hands of Pachuca, New York pulled off the upset over Cruz Azul, and DC United squeaked out a win over Columbus.

In the semi-finals, the Red Bulls couldn't continue their streak of upsets, but there was no shame in a close loss to Pumas, and DC United lifted the banner for the USA, upsetting Pachuca 2-1 at home to seal a 3-2 aggregate win.

And it came down to DC United and Pumas in the final. When the first leg at DC United ended in a 2-2 draw, everyone was wondering if in what was essentially a one game playoff, if DC United could pull off the unthinkable. Sadly, it was not to be, but DC United made a great show of things before losing 2-0 to Pumas, who won the NACL 4-2 on aggregate.

The 2010/11 Group stage is now over, and the APL did even better then the year previously, as all five APL teams involved in the NACL (Toronto, KC, Chivas, Seattle, LA) made it through to the final 8, and the NACL knockout stage will be 5 APL teams, and 3 mexican teams.

SuperLiga: Only one of the four APL teams made it through to the final, but that one team (Houston) more then made up for what the three other teams (Chicago, San Jose, New England) could not do: They hoisted the SuperLiga trophy after defeating Chivas of Guadalajara 2-0 in the semi final, and defeated Morella 3-1 in the final.

Up next: USA in South Africa 2010. Would it be football feast, or famine?

[SirFozzie]

USA at World Cup 2010:

Well, the schedule makers did them no favor, as they had to face Portugal first, just like in 2002, with the possibly easier games against Uruguay and South Africa second and third. Ideally, the Americans would want to play the South Africans first, and get some points in the bank, and make the other teams catch THEM.

But you have to go by the way the schedule makers put it..

The first game against Portugal was billed as PAYBACK for 2002 and if there was any concerns that the Portugese would again underestimate the US, there was no such concerns, as they came out, respectful of the US and what they had done previously, but they were out to do an Ivan Drago job on the US.

They found seams in the US, and with Carlos Bocanegra going down to an early injury, the US was out of sync and tenative. Portugal seemingly attacked at will, unleashing a total of 25 shots at the US, 12 of them on target. Tim Howard did what he could, but he couldn't keep them all out, and the two goals by Cristiano Ronaldo (22nd, 83rd minute) was enough to beat the US 2-0, and put them behind the eight ball to start.

There was criticism of Landon Donovan, it was argued that this was his opportunity to continue to show that US Soccer had arrived, and in the biggest game possible, he put out a very small game. He was pretty much invisible out there (5.7 rating), and eventually substituted before Portugal's second goal.

With Uruguay having beaten the South Africans, the view for the US side was clear. Any thing less then a full three points against Uruguay in the second game, and they'd need a miracle against South Africa to qualify for the knockout stage.

Donovan had been moved deeper into midfield, as if to try to alleviate the pressure he was under, and he had a good, if not spectacular game. The game was even 50/50 on posession. Most of the US's chances were half chances, while Tim Howard had to make several point blank saves on good Uruguay chances.. as the second half started to tick away on a scoreless game there was a sense of impending doom around the US..

Finally with a half hour left, the Gooch struck. He went impossibly high for a header, and knocked it down, squirting it inside the near post, past the despairing keeper, and America celebrated! If they could just hold on, they had their destiny in their own hands..

And then that destiny was cruelly taken away from them. With six minutes to play, and Uruguay throwing the kitchen sink at the US, the US clearance was deflected, and came out to Alvaro Fernandez, from 25 yards away. He unleashed a powerful swerving shot that broke the United States's collective heart. It was top corner, basically top 90, and no goal keeper in the world could have saved it. It was 1-1, and the United States hopes were reduced to a single thread.

With Portugal's win over South Africa qualifying them for the next round, the US was down to this single forlorn hope. They had to beat South Africa AND have Portugal defeat Uruguay, AND have the combined margin make up the four goal difference.

The heart had gone out of the US. They launched many an attack on South Africa, out shooting them 15-4.. but the shots were really half chances at best. The minutes ticked away, and with the vuzelas buzzing, the heat and the situation took its toll. Portugal and Uruguay were having a glorified kickabout, and even a point made the US result meaningless.

In the end, both games ended in 0-0 draws, and the US was out. They had only scored one goal in three games, and that will just not cut it at this level.

The US did bounce back, and played a good slate of international friendlies, even barely losing to a full-strength Argentina side, 2-1 in Argentina, but there was concern. Had the US peaked too early? Would the soccer boom continue? Or fizzle out...

[bbgunn]

Nice so far!

[SirFozzie]

More coming, just woke up, hope to get at least another half season up today

[SirFozzie]

Off-Season Update:

January 2011:

The Galaxytos strike again, signing Argentinian Attacking Midfielder/Striker Gabriel Hauche for $8.5 million from Argentinos,

The other big $ transfer was within the APL, as the New York Red Bulls signed 21 year old Peri Marosevic for $6.5 million from FC Dallas. This is more of a transfer built on the future, as Marosevic has only scored 10 goals in 34 games for FC Dallas, but he has already debuted for the US National team, scoring a hat trick against the Faroe Island in November, 2010.

February 2011:
Another big money American move within the APL, who'da thunk it? And again, it may be an indication that there is silly money out there, as Chad Marshall made a move from Columbus to Houston for $9.5 million in transfer fees. Now, not saying Chad Marshall is a bad player, but while he's been serviceable, (58 appearances for Columbus in the APL over the last two years), would you pay nearly $10 million for a player who averages just under a 7.00 rating? (6.98 in 2009, 6.97 in 2010)

More coming..

[SirFozzie]

Preseason wrapup:

At the end of February, the Colorado Rapids may have made the smartest move of the offseason, as they picked up 18 year old Argentinian Fernando Bucchi for $6 Million from Boca Juniors. My created manager (so I can go on holidays and sim quickly without letting it run too far by stating an end point), can't see all his stats, but with a 16 in dribbling, 14 in both finishing and long shots, and 13 in pace at age 18.. this kid has all the tools not only to compete, but dominate in his preferred Attacking Midfielder position.

In other news, the Red Bulls made a move for another player, as they signed Uruguayan Diego de Souza for $3.6 million from Defensor Sporting, another sign that the Red Bulls see their attack as their weak side entering the nex season.

Finally, we hit the best day of the year for US Soccer fans, and that is the Lamar Hunt Trophy pitting the LA Galaxy against the Columbus Crew.

Not a bad start for the Galaxy's new signing, though, Gabriel Hauche scored with 46 seconds on the clock.. that's right, a first minute goal on his debut.. not bad!

The Galaxy let that hold up, and they hoisted the trophy with a 1-0 win..

[SirFozzie]

May 1st update:

How fleeting, glory, eh, for Sigi Schmid? After finishing 3rd in the Seattle Sounders inaugural season in 2009, and then leading the APL for a good amount of 2010 before collapsing to 3rd in 2010, it was always understood that the seat was hot, and when the Sounders got off to a middling start (4 wins, a draw, and 5 losses leading them to be in 15th place at the beginning of May), combined with a player revolt, led to Schmid being fired by Sounders management.

It was even a worse start for the Chicago Fire, as they had lost 7 of their first 11 games, and just five months after giving manager Denis Hamlett a contract through 2012, fired him, and hired brazillian manager Zinho in an attempt to right the ship.

With the West Coast domination of the APL, the top three teams shouldn't surprise you. In fact, you could say the APL is California Dreamin, as San Jose currently tops the title, followed by Chivas USA and Los Angeles.. The fourth place team MIGHT surprise you, however.

Why?

That team is the Rochester Raging Rhinos. After finishing second last year in the first division, they were not tipped for glory. They spent less then a million dollars in the transfer market, preferring to sign free agents and hope for the best.

Well, the best is pretty gosh darn good so far. Journeyman Mike Magee, one of those free agents, has scored 5 times in the first 10 games he's played for the Rhinos, Pat Noonan (another free agent signing), has 4 goals in 9 appearnces, unheralded Mexican striker Carlos Kamiani has five goals in five appearances for Rochester. Can it keep going? I fully expect the Rhinos to fade.. but it will be interesting to find out.

[SirFozzie]

Lower Division/Cups:

The Portland Timbers obviously miss the APL, and want to go from worst (in the APL) to First (in the First), as they currently lead the first division with 25 points from 11 games.

Second place Vancouver also hopes to return to the lofty heights, but they are ahead only on goal differential from the Long Island Rough Riders, who are trying to be the first team to promote from the Second Division to the American Premier League in consecutive seasons.

In the Second Division, Newark, Springfield and Western Mass hold down the top three spots, and I'm pleased to note that if the first half ended today (we're only halfway to the split), that the perennial whipping boys Baltimore Colts FC and Boston Aztec would play in the top 12 round. But there's still a lot of soccer to be played
.

In The US Cup, the LA Galaxy crashed out at the first hurdle, losing a home game to Montreal via Penalty Kicks, but we had a true upset as second division side, the Indiana Invaders knocked out the Austin Aztex, and the Chicago Fire will not be winning the cup this year, (another possible nail in the coach's firing?) as first division side Long Island beat them handily, 3-1.

Unlike the previous season, the second division WILL be represented in the round of 16. Two all Second-Division matches took care of that (Indiana over Rhode Island and Southern California over Spokane), but there was also second division Tampa Bay defeating First Division side New Orleans in PK's.

Here's the third round matchups:

Carolina (APL) v Toronto FC (APL)
Indiana (2nd) v Harrisburg (1st)
Rochester (APL) v Portland (1st)
Colorado (APL) v Kansas City (APL)
San Jose (APL) v FC Dallas (APL)
Southern California (2nd) v Long Island (1st)
New York (APL) v Charlotte (1st)
Tampa Bay (2nd) v Miami FC (1st)

[SirFozzie]

Here's something you don't see every day. A coach on a team currently set for a spot in continental competition leaves for one flirting with relegation, but that happens here, as Dominic Kinnear, the long time manager of the Houston Dynamo (7th Place), signs to be Seattle's (15th) new manager.

Toronto also makes a managerial change, as they have slipped down to lower mid table by the end of July, firing manager David Bilcharski.. and bringing in famed english manager Glenn Hoddle to take over. Verrrry interesting..

[Young Drachma]

The World Cup outcome for the US seemed realistic Hopefully the future will bestow the Red White and Blue with some regens who can bring it home. And maybe you'll get to host one before we do in real life, too.

[SirFozzie]

More coming later today, as my last post said, I simmed ahead a couple months, I just have to write up the report for it.

[SirFozzie]

Well, we are in the middle of July, and things are getting a might bit interesting around there.

APL: Barring a Seattle-like collapse at the top of the table, the California trio of Chivas USA, LA and San Jose will take the top three spots. Chivas USA currently has 52 points through 21 games, 8 points ahead of LA and 11 points ahead of San Jose.

The move to hire Dominic Kinnear was a good one for the Seattle Sounders as they have pulled themselves far from the drop zone, so much so that they would play in next year's SuperLiga if they finished the year in 6th, where they are now.

Houston hired American legend Brian McBride to take over as manager, and truth be told, he has a very good mind for the business (Attacking 20, Fitness 18, Mental 20, Tactical 19, Technical 14). He isn't a rah-rah guy, but Houston has responded well, and they remain in fifth position.

Rochester has cooled off from their hot start, but they are still comfortably midtable in 12th position, and are only three points behind Austin, who's currently in the final continental competion spot in 8th.

Right now, the bottom five teams are all within three points of each other. New England and Colorado are currently out of the drop zone, but there's a lot of time for Philly, Carolina, or FC Dallas to pass them.

Taking a look at the stats, Gabriel Hauche, the big money signing for the Galaxy, has had a great first season, currently leading the league with 14 goals in the league (and 20 on the season in 25 games total).

Next: The Lower Divisions

[SirFozzie]

1st Division:

Looks like Charleston is going to be large and charge in this year.. with only three losses in the first 22 games this year, they have 49 points, and top the table by 8 points, but the true story is the 2nd-8th place battle royale. One team will go up, 4 more will miss the playoffs, and 2 will miss out entirely.. but it's anyone's guess who will be those teams. Let's break it down real quick (all teams on 22 games unless noted):

2nd - Portland (41 points)
3rd - Miami FC (41 Points) (note=21 games=game in hand)
4th - Long Island (41 Points)
5th - Puerto Rico (37 Points)
6th - Cleveland (37 Points)
7th - New Orleans (36 Points)
8th Vancouver (34 Points)

Crazy stuff.

At the bottom of the table, it's tight there too, as Pittsburgh will be going down unless they have a miracle, (9 points through 22 games, and 14 points from safety), but there are 7 teams within four points of Charlotte, currently the second team to go down. It's going to be very interesting to see how this turns out.

2nd Division has just hit the split a little while ago, and Boston Aztec and Baltimore FC DID make the top 12 split, but just barely, and likely will not be a factor. At the top of the league with 9 games to play is the Northeast Corridor. FC New York leads the table with 54 points, New Jersey is second with 51, and Western Mass is third with 50. Springfield is another point back from there. A team that gets very hot in these final nine games could spoil the party, however.

Next: The Cups and International Play

[SirFozzie]

In the US Cup, Indiana became the first team ever to qualify for the quarter finals from the 2nd division, as they shut down Harrisburg 2-0 at home. Joining them from the lower divisions are Miami FC (1-0 winner over 2nd Division Tampa Bay) and Long Island (1-0 winner over Southern California.)., They will be joined by APL sides Toronto, Rochester, Colorado, San Jose, and New York.

The NACL finished up their 2010/11 season recently. When last we updated, five of the eight Quarter Finalists played in the APL. Believe it or not, four of them advanced to the semis, making it an all APL affair..

Seattle (who had yet to fire Sigi Schmid) defeated Chivas USA, 5-4 on aggregate, but they were pushed all the way, they had tied Chivas 2-2 at home, scored an 83rd minute goal to tie it, and then in the dying seconds of extra time, Osvaldo Alonso lashed one home to give the Sounders the win.

Los Angeles also needed a road victory after a 2-2 draw at the Home Depot Center, and thanks to a brace from Gabriel Hauche, they managed to squeak by Toluca, 4-3.

Kansas City had won the away game at Tigres, so all they needed was a home draw to advance, but they went out and defeated Tigres 2-1 at home, the first time a APL team had won both legs of a knockout against a mexican team, advancing 4-2 on aggregate.

Toronto FC, while not specifically a US team, did the APL proud as well, as they not only beat Atalante, the embarassed them, defeating them 4-1 at home, and then kept Atalante from making a come back (Atalante had cut it to 5-3 with 15 minutes to play, making fans fear a furious come back), and made advanced 6-3 on aggregate.

There was a lot of griping south of the border.. the usual words came out, that the refs were biased, that the timing was bad, that the mexican teams didn't take it seriously... but there was an undercurrent of fear. For years, they had treated American Soccer (specifically, the old MLS) like the playground bully would treat a new kid.. they roughed them up and made them run in fear.. But now the new kid had grown up, and not only fought back against the bully, but made them look bad..

There was talk amongst several owners of Mexican teams that the Mexican FA should do what the US did, and replace the current league structure, with a more streamlined and less confusing system. But there was enough backlash in keeping the old group system and playoff structure that it seemed unlikely. Needless to say, however, the ancient rivalry seemed to have the balance of power going northwards..

(next: The Semi-finals and Finals, and US MNT update)

[SirFozzie]

NACL wrapup, continued.

In the semifinals, it was Seattle against Toronto and LA against Kansas City.

the hot seat was truly under Schmid at this point, but he kept the Sounders focused, and they managed to defeat Toronto 2-0 at home. The team from Toronto knew they had a rough job ahead of them to come back, and attacked all out in the second leg in front of their rabid home fans , but that just allowed space for the Sounders Fredy Montero. Twice he slashed through the Sounders defense, winning not only one but two penalty kicks, converting them both, and Seattle won the game 3-1, and advanced 5-1 on aggregate.

In the other semifinal, the Galaxy managed to take a 2-1 lead into the second leg after a home win, and had looked to put away the game with a 6th minute header from Obina, but when Jonatas was sent off with a half hour left for two yellow cards, te Galaxy were in trouble.. but substitute keeper Adin Brown managed to keep things in front of him, pulling off several key saves in the dying minutes, and the Galaxy were in the final with a 3-1 aggregate win.

So, in the final, it was LA and Seattle. The Sounders slow starting streak outside of the NACL had reached its nadir.. and you had the feeling that Schmid probably needed this victory to buy some time.. however, the Galaxytos had two big names, in dutch midfielder Royston Drenthe (on loan from Real Madrid), and Gabriel Hauche, and when they both scored second half goals in the first leg, the two teams went back to Seattle with LA holding a 2-0 lead.

The Sounders knew that all the Galaxy would have to do is sit back and absorb the pressure for 90 minutes to advance, so they were expecting manager Bruce Arena to tell his team to bunker down and bend not break.

Instead, it was the Sounders who would break first, as Landon Donovan basically killed off the tie very early with a 4th minute goal. 15 minutes later, Hauche scored again, and the game was for all intents and purposes, over. The Sounders did play tough, scoring two early second half goals, but it was not going to be any where near enough, and the Galaxy hoisted the NACL trophy on the Sounders turf, 4-2.

There was one bright spot on the year for the folks south of the border, and that was the 2011 Gold Cup.

The US started as everyone knew they would, comfortably beating Haiti 3-1 (2 from Altidore, and one from young defender Omar Gonzales) and following that up with a 3-0 shellacking of Guatemala (Edu and two from Ching). However, some warning bells rang when the US could not build on a second minute goal from Clint Dempsey and only tied Panama, 1-1 to finish off the group stage.

The US seemed to shrug that off, and beat Guadeloupe in the Quarter Final 3-0 (goals from Onyewu, Marshall and a penalty from Landon Donovan) and then beat Jamaica 3-0 in the semis (2 from Clint Dempsey, 1 from Onyewu).. to set up the eternal rivalry.

US-Mexico in the finals.

It wasn't a contest. Mexico broke it oven with four goals in 16 minutes en-route to a 5-0 win in front of a Mexican-leaning 71,500 crowd at Reliant Stadium. How bad was the beating? Only one US starter (Jozy Altidore) finished with a rating above 6.0.

So the victory was enough to quiet the nay-sayers at the national team level, and make folks wonder if there had been too much focus on the APL and not enough on the national team.

In other USA news, the "Young Yanks" easily qualified for the 2011 U-20 World Cup, defeating Jamaica, Costa Rica and Trinidad and Tobago by a combined score of 10-0 to win their qualifying group. The routs continued with 3-0 and 6-0 wins over minnows Barbados and Bermuda (so a total of 19 goals for and not one allowed for the year).

They also got probably the best possible group for the U20 world cup. They will face France who is a tough team, but the other two teams (North Korea and Equitorial Guinea) should be chances at three points.

The future may be bright, and that is what the APL was designed to foster.

[SirFozzie]

More news coming later, but just came across another coaching change I wanted to pass along.

Kansas City had been punching well above their weight all season, and were in 5th place when their coach disappeared on them.

No, I'm not saying that he went all MIA on them.. however, Curt Onalfo had decided to take a new job, with league's bottom side FC Dallas. The only possible reason for this is that his contract was set to expire at the end of the current season, and had not got a new offer. So he took the offer and the opportunity in an attempt to rescue FC Dallas from relegation, and to not risk losing his job anyway at the end of the year.

However, so far, he has not been able to pull Dallas out of the drop zone, although they are less then a full game from safety, and there's still some time left.

Two days after Onalfo left, the Wizards had signed their replacement, and Swedish manager Hans Backe a vagabond who had managed of Panthaniakos, and was as an assistant at Manchester City (under Sven-Goran Erikkson) and then moved with him to Mexico, before managing the last couple years at Notts County, was the new manager.

[Rawhide]

This is quality.

[bbgunn]

Fabulous stuff... except for that 5-0 beating the U.S. took in the Gold Cup final. We all know that wouldn't happen in real life.

[SirFozzie]

Thanks all for the good thoughts and praise. It keeps me going.

I'll have another update tonight, and then at the end of season three, If someone want s an update on a league or a division, I'd be glad to provide an update

[Northwood_DK]

Very fun read. Keep up the great work.

[SirFozzie]

We've hit the end of August, into september, and it's time for another update:

APL: With 10 games to play, it would take something significant for Chivas USA to not win the APL, as they have 67 points from 28 games and lead by 10 points over LA. San Jose is 3rd, a further 5 points back.

At the bottom of the table, it's a cluster. Here's how it stands:

(All teams through 28 games, 10 games to play)

13th Toronto FC (32 Points)
14th Philadelphia (32 Points)
15th Rochester (31 Points)
16th New England (31 Points)
17th Carolina (30 points)
________(RELEGATION LINE)________
18th Colorado (29 Points)
19th Montreal (29 Points)
20th FC Dallas (28 Points)

In the first Division, it is Charleston up by three points over Portland, and Charleston has a game in hand, so they look like they have a good chance to win. Long Island is in third, and needs one of the teams above them to slip up if they want to make automatic promotion. At the bottom of the table, Pittsburgh is 10 points away from safety, so they're pretty much down, and right now, Brooklyn is the second team in the drop zone, but New Hampshire, St Louis, Charlotte and Minnesota have to be nervous as they are all within two points of the drop.

In the Second division, with five games to play, FC New York look to have the title in their hands, as they lead by six points. Who the second team will be, no one has any idea, as Newark, Springfield, and Western MA all are tied on 55 points, and New Jersey is two points back. Only one of those four teams will be going up at the end of the year.

Cup: In the Quarter Finals of the US Cup, Second Division Indiana's Cindarella clock struck midnight, as Colorado beat them 3-0. However, Long Island will be the first team not in the APL to make the semifinals, as they defeated Rochester on penalty kicks. Joining them will be San Jose, and the New York Red Bulls

[SirFozzie]

An end of season update will be up later tonight or tommorrow, but first, the U20 World Cup..

At the end of September, the Young Yanks headed down to Colombia to take on the best U20 teams in the world.

With 20 players valued at 1 million or more (and 14 players worth 1 million pounds or more, it showed that the APL had made significant strides in finding, and developing young talent.

The first game, held at the Atanasio Giradot, in Medellin, would pit the Yanks against North Korea. Not much was known about the Asian team (it's hard finding out information about the professional players, never mind teenagers and the like), but the hope was that the US could get off to a quick start and show the world that they're no pushovers..

Well to steal a phrase...

Mission Accomplished.

The US jumped out to a quick lead in Kansas City youngster Shaun Ring, who knocked in a rebound past the Korean keeper in the 11th minute to put the US up. Just three minutes later, Colorado midfielder David Clarke, who played 32 times for the Rapids this year, headed home a cross, and the US had a 2-0 lead.

The match was controlled, but by no means dominated by the Yanks, and North Korea hit the bar with a 32nd minute free kick, but the US stayed strong, and more importantly, kept their foot on the accelerator. In the 40th minute, the New England Revolution's Antonio Ordiales knocked home a goal mouth scramble to make it 3-0, and if there were any doubts that the US would kill this game off before the halftime whistle, Ring knocked home the 2nd just a minute later, to make it 4-0 US.

They would go on to make it 6-0 at the end, adding an Ordiales penalty and a second header from David Clarke in the second half. So.. the US was off to the best start possible.

[SirFozzie]

The second game was against Pereniall powerhouse France, and the US wanted to come out and show Les Bleus that they would not be intimidated. France tried to lean on the US, but they did not retaliate, letting France earn the ire of the referee.

Ordiales corraled a long breakaway ball and beat the French keeper, rounding him and knocking it into the net for a 1-0 US lead in the 30th minute.

It remained that way to the half, and as the minutes started to tick away, the haughty aloofness that the French had brought to the game disappeared. They threw attack after attack at the US, but the US had several other chances to add to their lead, Ordiales missing a chance to make it secure with a half hour to play..

That would be their undoing.. but it took two incredible goals by Olympique Lyon young star (valued at $10.5 Million US) Yannis Tafer in the 65th and 76th minutes, to beat the US. But they were not humbled. They had played one of the best youth teams in the world evenly and pushed them to the very limits.

[SirFozzie]

Entering the final group stage game, the USA knew that a draw would put them through to the knockout stages. Standing in their way was a rag-tag team from Equatorial Guinea. Guinea had come to the World Cup, hoping to show the world that their tiny country was ready to play with the big boys.

Well, they did play with the big boys.. kinda like Charlie Brown and the ol' gang play baseball. France had embarrassed them 13-0 in the first group stage game, and while they had beat North Korea, they knew that they had to beat the US to make it through, and the US knew that losing to Equatorial Guinea would not only knock them out of the tournament, but not only undo all the good that had come from the first two games, but make the US look foolish.

Coming into the game however, the Guinea strategy was clear. 11 men behind the ball, knock it forward when you can, and hope that somehow you fluke a goal in.

The US didn't over press Guinea. Instead, they kept possession, moving it back and forth, long balls from side to side, hoping to make the opponents tire and expose holes.

It worked well (72% possession!!!), and any chances of Guinea fluking a result were made even more remote by San Jose's Michael Solis scoring in the 11th minute. Guinea basically shut down, hoping not to be embarrased again at that point, and while the US didn't pull a France on them, they did manage to get additional goals from Clarke (38th Minute) and Ring (50th minute), and the US had their solid result and a ticket to the round of 16, 3-0.

The second round would see them face off against continental side Canada, who had come through group D with Brazil and Venezuela (Ivory Coast finished last in the group)