Runaway winners in the Eastern Conference, and best performing team overall in the USL this season, Louisville City blow their lines with a 0-3 defeat. They even butchered a 98th min pen. Not their day.
So 28 yr old Adams's season ends. 28 games for him (all starts), 0 goals. His 7th season in the USL.
Presumably back next year. Hard to see him breaking back into the AWs. He looks to be down at about 7th-8th in the CB rankings. Hay and Bazeley had a look at him in late 2022-early 2023, and he obviously can't have impressed enough. Plus since then the likes of Surman & Bindon have come through.
Boxy's Minnesota the only team with a Kiwi left in MLS/USL post season.
MLS Next Pro Wynne full game for Atlanta II at RB in a back 4. A 0-1 loss. I see from another game they are still doing the gimmacky pen shootouts at the end of a draw in the MLS Next Pro
MLS Next Pro Wynne full game for Atlanta II at RB in a back 4. A 0-1 loss. I see from another game they are still doing the gimmacky pen shootouts at the end of a draw in the MLS Next Pro
Played pretty well at RB. Didn't have too much to do defensively as Atlanta had most of the ball, but he was good going forward with some decent delivery from wide positions to compliment the overlapping runs going forward. Looks to have a pretty decent long throw on him as well.
In a game of few clear cut chances, Wynne probably created Atlanta's best. Must've been not long after the hour mark, he beat his man and cut back a cross from the byline, finding a completely unmarked attacker about the penalty spot, who then pretty tamely had his shot blocked on the line by defenders that had been rushing back to defend the initial cross.
Decent signs for Wynne though. It would be handy to see him develop over the medium/long term at RB, given the relative dearth of depth we have in that position for the AW's. Hell, if he can even manage to crack MLS minutes at some point this season then he shoots right into contention as a bolter to the national setup. But we'll hold fire on that front until he gets used to life in the pro game over the next few months.
Riley Bidois on at 64 mins (3-1) as Loudoun win 3-1 at Birmingham Legion.
Kyle Adams full game & a yellow as Louisville City win 2-1 at Charleston. 24 yr old Zac Duncan (ex Glory & Roar) 67 mins for Louisville. Duncan was with Memphis in the USL last year.
Alex Greive off the pine at 88 mins (1-0) as San Antonio beat Monterey Bay 1-0. Jacob Muir (ex Glory) an unused sub for Monterey.
Probably a good call. Birmingham area under a 30% risk of seeing high end tornado's within 25 miles of a point on Saturday night - The original kickoff time.
MLS Next Pro Bulkeley on the bench for North Texas. No Linder for Vancouver II, but 20 yr old Giuseppe Bovalina (ex Adelaide) who spends most of his time with the Vancouver first team MLS squad, gets a run for the reserves.
Edit - Bovalina gets a goal for Caps II, as North Texas win 3-2. Bulkeley on for his debut at 71 mins (3-2), just after Bovalina's goal.
MLS Next Pro Bulkeley on the bench for North Texas. No Linder for Vancouver II, but 20 yr old Giuseppe Bovalina (ex Adelaide) who spends most of his time with the Vancouver first team MLS squad, gets a run for the reserves.
Edit - Bovalina gets a goal for Caps II, as North Texas lead 3-2 with 10 mins left. Bulkeley still on the pine.
Bulkeley came on for his debut just after the goal that brought it back to 3-2.
YH bet me to it. Really feel it was a mistake that Luke Supyk was given a Nix contract ahead of Bidois. Supyk yes 4-5 years younger, but it was a surprise at the time. Loudoun win 2-1.
Musa full game as Indy Eleven start their USL season with a 2-1 road win.
Greive on at 75 mins (1-0) in San Antonio, and gets the assist to make it a 2-0 win.
YH bet me to it. Really feel it was a mistake that Luke Supyk was given a Nix contract ahead of Bidois. Supyk yes 4-5 years younger, but it was a surprise at the time. Loudoun win 2-1.
Musa full game as Indy Eleven start their USL season with a 2-1 road win.
0-0 at HT in San Antonio
Sorry, I was watching it at work. 😂
We're starting to see signs of maturity from the young Nix guys who were moved on. Maybe not playing the highest level, but they're carving out careers and making important contributions at club level. Bidois and Ott are some of the better examples of late, but in a year or two it might be guys like Josh Tollervey, or Charlie Beale, Ben Wallace, Dan McKay etc.
Young lady, probably former local captain or something, or maybe a basketball commentator even, telling us to look at Greive’s ball handling ability.
Good job Alex!
Better commentary than the North Carolina v Loudoun game where the commentator was talking about having dinner with his son and how his other son had a picked up a non sporting Achilles injury.
US Open Cup 1st round tie, Loudoun travelling to West Chester United in Pennsylvania. West Chester a NPSL side which looks to be about the US 5th tier (amateur)??
Bidois looking to be in pretty good form early in the season. Hard to gauge against the level of opponent of course, but the least you can do when given the shot is to put them in the back of the net.
He's always been a bit of a big lad, but it looks like he's gained a yard of pace in the off-season. Even in the last game v North Carolina he smoked their centrebacks with his runs off the shoulder of the last defender. Hopefully the good form continues.
He is a big lad. Likely won't happen, but I'd like to see him get another crack at the ALM with the Nix. Rated highly enough to be part of last year's Olympics squad.
I guess given he's already been released once by the Nix, that breaks the chain of potential solidarity payments, if he was say brought back, was successful and then onsold to a European club?
So USL Division One would basically be a direct competitor to the MLS?
Interesting. but then the US football (soccer) pyramid has always been a bit different.
I guess some those sizeable cities like Las Vegas, Detroit, Phoenix, San Antonio Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Jackonsville, Oklahoma City, El Paso, Louisville, Memphis, Baltimore that don't have a MLS club, will be able to raise the funds to form clubs that yeah could rival their MLS counterparts. Google tells me those cities are all above 500K. Another potential new quality pro pathway for young Kiwi footballers.
So USL Division One would basically be a direct competitor to the MLS?
Interesting. but then the US football (soccer) pyramid has always been a bit different.
I guess some those sizeable cities like Las Vegas, Detroit, Phoenix, San Antonio Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Jackonsville, Oklahoma, City, El Paso, Louisville, Memphis, Baltimore that don't have a MLS club, will be able to raise the funds to form clubs that yeah could rival their MLS counterparts. Google tells me those cities are all above 500K. Another potential new quality pro pathway for young Kiwi footballers.
Yep, once ratified it would be right up alongside the MLS, but crucially they would have beaten the MLS to the implementation of promotion/relegation system - a cornerstone of football pyramids from around the world. Something I think the mega-rich MLS owners would probably prefer to gatekeep given the vast difference in licensing expenses between the two.
San Diego FC paid $500 million ($850 million NZD) to buy an MLS licence going into this season. By comparison the USL is a more modest $20 million and about $5-10 million a tier further down.
The growth of the game in North America over the past few years, and looking ahead to the next 5-10 years, growth in the game is going to explode.
