The Wizards thinned out the number of players in camp today, as four players from the camp roster were let go. Rauwshan McKenzie, Ofori Sarkodie, Eric Gehrig, and Kyle Brown were all let go. McKenzie was the only player that was under contract for the Wizards, Sarkodie, Gehrig, and Brown were trying to earn a contract.

The MLS has started, and a new former Wizards season has started as well. Multiple players have started the season, but quite a few spent games on the bench or not dressing at all. One former Wizard has a new, as Lance Watson has returned to Texas to play for the Austin Aztex. Another former Wizard looks like they could be headed back to MLS, as rumor today is that Claudio Lopez is on his way to Colorado.

A blog post on a not-well-respected site called MLSRumors.com today suggested that the Austin Aztex and Rochester Rhinos are considering moving to Division 3 next year, in response to the Division 2 standards recently announced by USSF.

As you might guess from a site with "rumors" in its name, and which deals mostly in headlines with question marks at the end, they should be ignored.

This is the time of year for Major League Soccer to start their playoffs and the USSF second division are awaiting the second leg match in their championship final between the Carolina Railhawks and the Puerto Rico Islanders. This was supposed to be the fun part for one playoff season to start as another one is coming to an end.

Unbeaten record versus the first place team. Blues vs Aztex will take place at Lockhart Stadium tonight Wednesday May 26, 2010 at 7:30 pm.
Sure, its during the week but soccer is about passion! Miami FC have given us a competitive team this year and a number of great Tailgates too. This tailgate is no exception!

David Beckham may be front and center in this picture, but it was Landon Donovan, behind him, who stole the show tonight (AP Photo).

Game story.

MLS standings.

Galaxy fans will have the unusual experience of cheering on Chivas USA against the Kansas City Wizards Sunday at Home Depot Center.

By TRAVIS CLARK

A second division soccer league is on the verge of kicking off, a moment many U.S. soccer observers thought impossible earlier this year.

With the NASL-USL hatchet buried (for the time being, at least), the 12 clubs that comprise the USSF-run league will leave controversies behind and get down to the business of competing for a championship.

Hola amigos! Everyones favorite dawg Burrito here wit mucho info on the Blues loss against those pinches Aztex! What can Miami FC do to make this team bettererer?
Burrito's amigos at Miami Soccer Fan have an idea. El Presidente of the Miami Ultras Pieter Brown break it down like this:

This year Miami FC spent some time and money to put a better team on the field.

Portland Timbers
VS
Miami FC Blues
Saturday June 11th
4:30 pm @ Lockhart Stadium
Streaming LIVE @ PortlandTimbers.com/live
Radio on 95.5 The Game
Miami is (1-2-7) in league play, they love to earn a draw as they did with Baltimore this week in 3-3 high scoring game.

Amid the continuing troubles engulfing the USL's 1st and 2nd divisions, the league is busy organizing their extensive lower divisions' 2010 season. Last week they announced the 2010 "alignment" of the Premier Development League (PDL).
The PDL is made up of amateur teams (with a few pro exceptions), and college-age players (with a few older exceptions) who are, well, developing.

Miami FC announced their schedule complete 2010 schedule for the upcoming USSF Division IIseason. The Blues will play 30 matches against some of the best competition that the league can throw at a team that will come into the season with a great deal of question marks. Miami will also play in the Lamar Hunt U.

David Agrell at the MLS Insider says Dom's not scared, so why should anyone else be? Well, to look further into that question after reading Agrell's great piece (see it here), I think there are no reasons why DYNAMO fans should be scared. But the rest of the league? They may just start seeming to the team like each of them looks like a certain Harris County Commissioner.

The end of their undefeated streak came at the hands of 1st place Austin Aztex last night at Lockhart Stadium. Miami FC fans were thinking positive as the game started but soon we saw how our defense started to fall apart thanks to Austin's fast forwards.
For a full report check out the South Florida "Football Fanaticos" Blog or head over to the Official Miami FC site
As usual here are the pictures from last night by Robert Scorca:

First Round Pairings Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

All 32 lower division teams will enter the tournament in the first round. First-round pairings were determined by dividing the clubs geographically into eight groups of four, with match-ups within each group determined by random draw.

Despite a hard-fought second half effort, Miami FC was unable to defeat the Austin Aztex at home as a late penalty kick gave the visiting Aztex a 2-1 victory as the Blues prepare for an extended road trip. The Blues will travel out west to take on the Houston Dynamo on Tuesday, June 29 in the third round of the U.

Not according to Rob Clark, owner of the Rhinos. He stated this morning that nothing has changed and he is still waiting until the end of the season to make a decision if his team will stay with the North American Soccer League or move to the new USL Pro League.

As some other teams prepare for some other games this weekend, the Houston Dynamo are hard at work preparing and looking for potential new faces for next season. Yeah, I know, everyone would rather be playing this weekend but if you can't, you might as well use the time wisely.

The Dynamo PR team is hard at work covering the combine and prodiding updates.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

A recent trip to Portland was all it took to see even some semblance of enthusiasm for the soon-to-be MLS Portland Timbers.

There were a couple of billboards in town. And at Fred Meyer, a variety store chain, Timbers scarves, T-shirts and beanies were for sale.

USSF President Sunil Gulati started off with pleasantries talking about U.S. World Cup, etc, etc. Basically the Federation will take a direct role, operationally, etc. There will be a board of directors handling any issue. There will be no commissioner. All disputes are dropped. Goal is to have a stable professional league in the U.

Former Alta midfielder Jay Needham has elected to return to his home state of Texas by signing with the Austin Aztex of the USL.

Ever wonder if you're getting all the Aztex info? I try to cover it all here, but I don't always get to everything, and I'm not always the fastest to get to breaking news, either. So, at the risk of putting myself out of business, I thought I'd share a quick list of the sources I use to keep on top of all things Aztex.

The 2010 USSF Division-2 Pro League season will kick off this weekend with eight teams in action. The Carolina RailHawks will host the first of two opening-day matches when first-year club AC St. Louis visits WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., on Saturday, April 10 at 7 p.m. ET. That match will be closely followed by the contest between the Rochester Rhinos and Miami FC at Lockhart Stadium in Ft.

By TRAVIS CLARK

When the USSF brokered the deal to ensure second-division soccer took place in 2010, adopting the leagues names as conferences seemed like a logical step. It was a way of paying homage to the two sides that supply the 12 teams that comprise the league.

By TRAVIS CLARK

When the USSF brokered the deal to ensure second-division soccer took place in 2010, adopting the leagues names as conferences seemed like a logical step. It was a way of paying homage to the two sides that supply the 12 teams that comprise the league.

It is time again to visit the USSF D2 Power Ranking (tracking all matches through 5/6). Portland remains the hot team in the league, while the bottom sees some movement.

1. Portland Timbers (3-1-0) (Last Week: 1)
2. Austin Aztex (3-0-1) (Last Week: 4)
3. Vancouver Whitecaps (2-1-1) (Last Week: 3)
4. Rochester Rhinos (2-2-1) (Last Week: 6)
5. Puerto Rico Islanders (2-0-1) (Last Week 3)
6. Montreal Impact (1-1-1) (Last Week: 8)
7. Carolina Railhawks (1-1-1) (Last Week: 5)
8. NSC Minnesota (2-0-4) (Last Week: 7)
9. Tampa Bay Rowdies (1-1-1) (Last Week: 10)
10. Miami FC (0-3-0) (Last Week: 9)
11. AC St.

If you have listened to my latest show on the Feuerstein's Fire Podcast, you heard former MLS Talk Podcast host & writer Kartik Krishnaiyer discuss about the positives that are being done in the Tampa Bay area. There is no question that professional soccer has grown in the Central West end of the State of Florida and people were hungry once the Tampa Bay Mutiny was contracted from Major League Soccer.

photo: Examiner.com

The Aztex extended their league lead Saturday night, with a convincing 2-0 road win over Crystal Palace Baltimore. They're perched firmly at the top of the table, as well as most pundits' recent "power rankings" (e.g., Ives').

Here's a rundown of other post-match coverage:

• box score - USSF
• Palace overpowered by league leaders Austin - Examiner.

This Wednesday Miami FC will play against Baltimore Crystal Palace at Lockhart Stadium. The game is set to start at 7:30 PM and as usual, get ready for a great Tailgate starting at 6 pm with Live band A Beautiful Cage , sponsors Holy Mackerel Beer will be giving away free samples of their great beer, just to name a few!

The Timbers played in Texas last night in facing the Austin Aztex, and held the league's top scoring team scoreless. However, they couldn't find the net so the game ended in a 0 - 0 draw. The team also announced a partnership with local restaurant chain Burgerville USA to become the MLS Timbers' first founding sponsor effective in 2011.

By TRAVIS CLARK

Even with the World Cup right around the corner, USSF D-2 kept on cranking out mid-week action Wednesday night.

Miami FC showed a real fight back spirit, turning a 3-1 deficit against Crystal Palace Baltimore into a point. Christian Gomez's header in the final minutes tied the score at 3-3.

Project 2010 was launched by the U.S. Soccer Federation in 1999 and was based at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. It was intended to bring together the best under-17 players in America to develop under the guidance of coach John Ellinger.
The ultimate goal was to win the 2010 World Cup.

This is the fourth of a 4-part article looking at the future of Division-2 soccer in North America. Click here for part-1. Part-2. Part-3.

Sanctioning of the League Where do we go from here?

As reported earlier in this series, US Soccer has called a meeting for August 9th.

Bleacher Report - This Is the Los Angeles Galaxy: Yohance Marshall

Football shares a few parallels with life in general. One of those parallels is a significant one: Getting a chance to prove yourself isn't always a given.

For Yohance Marshall, it's a parallel he knows very well.

Congratulations to Vardar, the 2009-2010 Development Academy U-17/18 National Champion!

Here's the final installment of our academy update from The Home Depot Center, complete with highlights of the championship game.
Here's the full championship match report, and for all the other U-17/18 placement matches, click here!

The much anticipated USSF D2 meeting on Monday took place in New York without much fanfare or negotiations according to sources involved with teams that participated. The meeting was in general amicable and US Soccer did allow discourse.

Those attending the meeting from the Federation were Sunil Gulati, Dan Flynn, and Brian Remedi.

Inside Minnesota Soccer - USSF D2 Update; New Standards Set for League, Current and Future Owners

IMS has been told the standards that US Soccer presented to the team owners on Monday and that were passed by the Federation board on Tuesday will be released in the next several days.

By TRAVIS CLARK

Once again, the Portland Timbers couldn't hold on to a lead. After coming from behind to take the lead on visiting NSC Minnesota, the Timbers defense conceded again, tying 2-2 as a result.

Granted, they were down a man, but in front of a boisterous crowd at PGE Park, the Timbers should hope to achieve a better result.

By TRAVIS CLARK

A busy weekend of Division 2 soccer saw a new team jump to the top of the table.

The red-hot Rochester Rhinos won their fourth straight game, defeating the Montreal Impact by a 2-1 margin, taking over top spot in the league in the process. Isaac Kissi scored a late second-half goal, breaking a 1-1 tie and securing all three points for the Rhinos.

By TRAVIS CLARK

With the summer winding to a close, the margin for error is growing smaller and smaller for teams on the peripheral of the postseason picture.

Minnesota and Tampa Bay each were in dire need of a win over the weekend, but neither could deliver the goods against Portland and Vancouver respectively.

We are nearing the end of the season and Rochester still maintains it's tenuous grip on first place, with a two point lead over Austin, but the Aztex still have three games on hand, and have a good chance to regain the top spot. Once again, Montreal has made a late season push (and the bad teams are doing what they do best, losing) and moved up into seventh place.