The Blues season will end on a disappointing note as they are out of any playoff hopes. A loss and a tie is all they could come up with on their 2 game road trip. Miami Ultras and a few staff met at Fritz & Franz Bierhaus in Coral Gables on Friday night to watch the Charleston Battery vs our Miami FC Blues in a match that was a must win.

For once the US Open Cup is getting it's just due for some hype going into tonight's final. It sure didn't hurt that two of the league's best PR teams are in the final. DC United has done it's best hyping the match against expansion side Seattle Sounders FC. Oh and there's been a fun back and forth thing between the club's front offices.

Attention Miami Soccer Fans! Watch Party time!
As stated on MiamiSoccerFan.com:

"Miami FC will be featured on Fox Soccer Channel one last time this season, Friday at 8 pm. Charleston Battery will host the Blues in a must win for Miami.
Our playoff hopes may be over, but there is still pride to play for.

Sunday, September 6, 2009 –CHARLESTON, SC

The Minnesota Thunder defeated the Charleston Battery 3-1 at a rain soaked Blackbaud Stadium on Sunday.

Charleston's Randi Patterson tallied the only Battery goal of the night 19 minutes into the match.

The Portland Timbers have secured the first seed in the playoffs.
Carolina RailHawks, Puerto Rico Islanders, Charleston Battery will battle in the last round of matches for 2nd thru 4th.
Montreal Impact, Rochester Rhinos, Vancouver Whitecaps will fight for 5th thru 7th place during the final round of regular season matches.

The Minnesota Thunder ended their 2009 season on Sunday with a loss to the Charleston Battery. The team ended up in 8th place in the standings, one spot out of the playoffs. Their final record was 7-13-10.

IMS checked in with a number of players at the end of Sunday's game and asked them to give their assessment of the season and what they planned on doing in the offseason as well as where they stand contractually.

Sunday, September 6, 2009 –CHARLESTON, SC

The Minnesota Thunder defeated the Charleston Battery 3-1 at a rain soaked Blackbaud Stadium on Sunday.

Charleston's Randi Patterson tallied the only Battery goal of the night 19 minutes into the match.

Thunder Players will Wear Pink Jerseys for Breast Cancer Awareness Auction

All Youth 18 and Under Get in FREE by Wearing a Soccer Jersey for Fan Appreciation Night

Thunder and Lightning Game-Worn Jersey Auction Taking Place Online Through September 20

BLAINE, Minn.

Having had the great honor to serve as a color commentator for Miami FC's local broadcasts this season (both on USL Live and local cable), I have seen every USL-1 team in person and broken them down. Here is my analysis of the first round of the playoffs.

#2 Carolina RailHawks (16-7-7, 55 pts) vs #7 Vancouver Whitecaps (11-10-9, 42 pts)

Carolina is just too deep for Vancouver, the defending champions who struggled much of this season.

Three Games took place on Sunday that determined the semifinals of the USL-1 playoffs.

Montreal, Puerto Rico and Vancouver join Commissioners Cup Winner Portland Timbers to fill out semifinal bracket.

Montreal Impact
The Montreal Impact (5th place) qualified for the USL-1 semifinals, with a 2-1 win (4-1 on aggregate goals) over the Charleston Battery (4th place), Sunday at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina.

Thunder Players Will Wear Pink Jerseys for Breast Cancer Awareness Auction

All Youth 18 and Under Get in FREE by Wearing a Soccer Jersey for Fan Appreciation Night

Thunder and Lightning Game-Worn Jersey Auction Taking Place Online Through September 20

BLAINE, Minn.

Blaine, MN MN Thunder-9/20/09
BLAINE, Minn. (Sunday, September 20, 2009) The Minnesota Thunder lost their last match of the 2009 season 3-2 to the Charleston Battery. The first half was full of action with two goals by each team but the pivotal goal came in the second half when Charleston's Dan Antonink scored the game winner in the 79th minute.

Blaine, MN MN Thunder-9/20/09
BLAINE, Minn. (Sunday, September 20, 2009) The Minnesota Thunder lost their last match of the 2009 season 3-2 to the Charleston Battery. The first half was full of action with two goals by each team but the pivotal goal came in the second half when Charleston's Dan Antonink scored the game winner in the 79th minute.

#2 Carolina RailHawks vs #7 Vancouver Whitecaps
Sept 24 at Vancouver – 10:30 pm ET :: Sept 27 at Carolina – 5:00 pm ET
#3 Puerto Rico Islanders vs #6 Rochester Rhinos
Sept 24 at Rochester – 7:05 pm ET :: Sept 27 at Puerto Rico – 6:00 pm ET
#4 Charleston Battery vs #5 Montreal Impact
Sept 24 at Montreal – 7:45 pm ET :: Sept 27 at Charleston – 7:00 pm ET

I say (nearly) because there's one game (Austin at Miami, September 5) with no reported attendance. If you know about Miami, there's a possibility there was no actual attendance, but until I get a number, the chart below gives you a fairly good picture of how things went in USL's top division this year:

Team G Total Avg.

The Minnesota Thunder ended their 2009 season on Sunday with a loss to the Charleston Battery. The team ended up in 8th place in the standings, one spot out of the playoffs. Their final record was 7-13-10.

IMS checked in with a number of players at the end of Sunday's game and asked them to give their assessment of the season and what they planned on doing in the offseason as well as where they stand contractually.

Regular season USL-1 play has now concluded for 2009. The playoffs start tomorrow (Thursday). Sure it would have been nice to see Austin there; but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. We might as well get a head start on looking back.
Both of the league's expansion teams, the Austin Aztex and the Cleveland City Stars, fared poorly in their inaugural seasons, winding up at the bottom of the final standings:
P
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
1 Portland Timbers 30 16 10 4 45 19 +26 58 2 Carolina RailHawks FC 30 16 7 7 43 19 +24 55 3 Puerto Rico Islanders 30 15 8 7 44 31 +13 53 4 Charleston Battery 30 14 11 5 33 21 +12 53 5 Montreal Impact 30 12 7 11 32 31 +1 43 6 Rochester Rhinos 30 11 10 9 34 32 +2 43 7 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 30 11 9 10 42 36 +6 42 8 Minnesota Thunder 30 7 10 13 39 44 -5 31 9 Miami FC 30 8 5 17 26 52 -26 29 10 Austin Aztex FC 30 5 8 17 28 51 -23 21* 11 Cleveland City Stars 30 4 19 7 22 52 -30 19
As you can see, the Aztex escaped the very last spot, if barely.

Three games took place on Sunday that determined the semifinals of the USL-1 playoffs.

Montreal, Puerto Rico and Vancouver join Commissioners Cup Winner Portland Timbers to fill out semifinal bracket.

Montreal Impact
The Montreal Impact (5th place) qualified for the USL-1 semifinals with a 2-1 win (4-1 on aggregate goals) over the Charleston Battery (4th place), Sunday at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina.