As in the guys that aren't Mr Kasey Keller. Due to injuries Keller played essentially all competitive matches. Next year with the potential for a dozen more matches in the season and Kasey passing 40 in just a few days the back-up keeper will be much more important. While he does feel healthier at the end of this season than in the past, he made many statements that it was due to the nature of MLS playing basically once a week.

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We're coming around the final turn of the season, 75% complete. Time for a final mid-season review.
Goalkeeping: Things haven't changed much in goal from the midway point. Pickens has been solid but not spectacular, Burpo's a capable backup, and Ceus took the Charlotte Eagles to the USL-2 championship before losing in the final. Click to continue reading...

uslsoccer.com
For one hour on Saturday night, the Charlotte Eagles looked poised to erase the memory of their previous two defeats in the 2006 and 2008 USL-2 Championship match. Both times, the Eagles had fallen behind early and despite late rallies, they had come up short twice. This time, the Eagles scored first but were unable to hold off the surging Richmond Kickers, as Edson Elcock equalised in the 63rd minute and John DiRaimondo and David Bulow scored in the final 7 minutes of the match to claim the match and the championship with a 3-1 victory. Click to continue reading...

USL News Release Saturday, August 29, 2009

RICHMOND, VA – After trailing for nearly an hour, the Richmond Kickers rallied in the second half with 63rd minute equalizer and two more in the final seven minutes to down the Charlotte Eagles 3-1 in the USL Second Division Championship.

In their last two championship appearances last year in Cleveland and 2006 in Richmond, the Charlotte Eagles found no consolation in scoring a late goal in a 2-1 loss and were looking to reverse the script Saturday night at the University of Richmond Stadium in the rematch of the 2006 final.

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USL News Release Saturday, August 29, 2009

RICHMOND, VA – After trailing for nearly an hour, the Richmond Kickers rallied in the second half with 63rd minute equalizer and two more in the final seven minutes to down the Charlotte Eagles 3-1 in the USL Second Division Championship.

In their last two championship appearances last year in Cleveland and 2006 in Richmond, the Charlotte Eagles found no consolation in scoring a late goal in a 2-1 loss and were looking to reverse the script Saturday night at the University of Richmond Stadium in the rematch of the 2006 final.

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D.C. United midfielder Johnny DiRaimondo is set to play in the USL-2 final as a member of the Richmond Kickers. DiRaimondo will join the Kickers Saturday on loan as they face the Charlotte Eagles in the third division's championship match. The game will take place at University of Richmond Stadium at 7:30 p.

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STARTERS
Soccer By Ives Twitters: "Michael Bradley is suspended for today's Moenchengladbach's match after his reaction to being pulled at halftime last week."
-Is Michael Bradley a total psycho just waiting to explode or what? He seems to be getting worse.
USL SECOND DIVISION
FINAL
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 29
Richmond Kickers v Charlotte Eagles - 10pm Central on FSC
BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES
-Sat Aug 29
Manchester United v Arsenal - 11:15am Central on FSC
Milan v Inter - 1:30pm Central on FSC
-Sun Aug 30
Roma v Juventus - 11am Central on FSC
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Official Web Site, and video highlights from all the games. Click to continue reading...

Charlotte Eagles veterans Dustin Swinehart and Ben Johnson have announced they will retire at the end of the 2009 season.

Dustin Swinehart has been the cornerstone of the Eagles offense for the past twelve seasons. As the Eagles' all-time leading scorer on the field and an integral part of the Charlotte Eagles' organization off the field, he will truly be missed.

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We're at the halfway point of the season. Much like I did at the quarter point, lets see how we're looking so far.
Goalkeeping: Matt Pickens has done a good job in net. He doesn't make the big amazing save very often, but I can't think of a single blunder he's made. The only thing lacking is that I can't think of a game we really won because of his play. Click to continue reading...

The Dynamo will face the Charleston Battery tonight in a U.S. Open Cup contest. While brushing up on our opponent, I noticed they have a Houstonian on their side. He is Nelson Akwari. Maybe you know him. Or maybe he's that neighbor you've never introduced yourself to.

Nelson Akwari #2
Position: D
Height: 6-0
Weight: 180
Birthdate: 2/4/1982
Hometown: Houston, TX
College: UCLA

Nelson Akwari returns to the Battery for a second season after an impressive year in 2008.

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The Colorado Rapids have loaned three players to USL clubs.

Goalkeeper Steward Ceus has gone to the Charlotte Eagles of the Second Division for the remainder of the season. Ceus made his debut for the Eagles on June 20 in a 2-2 draw with Richmond.

Defender Ty Harden will join the First Division's Rochester Rhinos until July 25.

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From the front office of the Seattle Sounders FC, the team placed forward Kevin Forrest on waivers and signed goalkeeper Terry Boss.
Forrest, 24, did not play in any MLS games but did play in the May 26 U.S. Open Play-In game against Colorado, scoring the game's only goal. He signed as a Senior Developmental player on March 24. Click to continue reading...

The soccer pyramid was impossible to climb in first-round Open Cup games Tuesday. We had one upset that really wasn't, given their league forms and the narrow gap (if any) between the NPSL and PDL. Another USASA team came close to beating a nominally pro team, while history-rich Rochester needed a late goal and penalties to beat USL2 opposition. Click to continue reading...

The Harrisburg City Islanders sit top of the USL 2 two consecutive victories, including two against close rivals at the top of the league. A 3-0 win over Charlotte Eagles saw David Schofield come on as a substitute with 17 minutes left, but he had little to do. This was followed by an impressive 3-2 [. Click to continue reading...

When: Today 5:30pm ET
Where: Charlotte Christian High School (Charlotte, NC)
Plenty of women's soccer action in Tampa Bay this summer, even if there isn't much in the way of men's action. This time, I introduce you to the W-League's Tampa Bay Hellenic. Click to continue reading...

Once again I'm getting an update out early, which means that there will be an update to this post after tonight's MLS (KC-DC, RSL-LA) and Nutrilite Canadian Championship games (TFC-Vancouver).
MLS
Nick Garcia - San Jose Earthquakes - Started and played 90 minutes in the Earthquakes 1-0 loss to Chivas USA. Click to continue reading...

PR ISLANDERS FC - PRESS RELEASE

April 2, 2009

Bayamon, PR

The Puerto Rico Islanders announced today that they have come to an agreement with midfielder Domenic Mediate (pending league approval) and goalkeeper Chris McClellan for the 2009 season. Forward Fabrice Noël will return to the Islanders for 2009 as well.

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But first, a poem - because any collection of words that includes the phrase "the high arc of midsummer" deserves to be repeated today.  (As pretty much always, this is from The Writers Almanac): First Cutting by Susie Patlove (from Quickening) What is the hayfield in late afternoon that it can fly in the face of time, and light [. Click to continue reading...

Here's the press release:

Commerce City, CO (Sports Network) - The Colorado Rapids have signed midfielder Kwame Sarkodie, the Major League soccer team announced Tuesday. Per league and club policy, details of the contract were not disclosed.

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Official press release from the Colorado Rapids:
The Colorado Rapids today announced the signing of midfielder Kwame Sarkodie. Per league and team policy, details of the contract were not disclosed.
Sarkodie has played with the Rapids Reserves in their past two matches both in the midfield and as a defender. Click to continue reading...

Major League Soccer rosters were frozen in place today, meaning today was the last chance for those teams with sputtering playoff ambitions to add new talent or throw dead weight overboard. Several teams took advantage of the last-minute deals available throughout the league, so here's a rundown of the latest transactions. Click to continue reading...

Photo by ISIphotos.com

The New York Red Bulls have completed the acquisition of Crystal Palace Baltimore midfielder/forward Matthew Mbuta, sources with knowledge of the deal confirmed late on Friday.

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Soccer by Ives is reporting that Red Bull New York is close to signing Puerto Rico National team and Charlotte Eagles goalkeeper Terry Boss. Boss was recognized as USL-2's goalkeeper of the year in 2008, leading the league in wins (11), and shutouts (9) while posting a goals against average of 0. Click to continue reading...

The Carolina RailHawks are getting the July 4th weekend started a day early with a soccer doubleheader on Thursday night. The festivities start at 4pm on July 3rd as the Carolina RailHawks Women take on the high-flying Charlotte Eagles, who currently sit 2nd in the Atlantic Division with a 9-1-1 overall record. Click to continue reading...

Last night is the perfect example of why I enjoy the US Open Cup so much. Seeing all these underweight teams try to out punch MLS sides really is enjoyable. Sure, the MLS teams see this as little more then a reserves match, but it is still good fun.
As bad as it is that MLS teams dropped three of the eight games last night, it is actually much better then last season when five top teams fell. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA:
*Lost yet again Tuesday in the U.S. Open Cup (and for the second successive year) against the USL Seattle Sounders, falling 2-0 in the Pacific Northwest.

*Had the experienced likes of Claudio Suárez, Jesse Marsch, Carey Talley and Francisco Mendoza on the bench. Striker Ante Razov and defender Bobby Burling (Loyola Marymount) remained in Southern California after picking up minor knocks over the weekend.

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- Seattle Sounders 1, Arizona Sahuaros 0
- Atlanta Silverbacks 3, Austin Aztex 2
- Crystal Palace Baltimore 2, L.A. Legends 1
- Minnesota Thunder 4, St. Louis Lions 1
- Rochester Rhinos 2, RWB Adria 1
- Pittsburgh Riverhounds 4, AAC Eagles 0
- Harrisburg City Islanders 5, Yakima Reds 1
- Miami FC Blues 4, Bradenton Academics 2
- Cleveland City Stars 2, Michigan Bucks 1
- Charleston Battery 3, ASC New Stars 0
- Carolina Railhawks 1, Brooklyn Knights 0
- Charlotte Eagles 5, Clearwater Galactics 2
- Hollywood United 3, Portland Timbers 2
- Western Mass Pioneers 2, Boston Olympiakos 0
- Richmonds Kickers 3, Fredericksburg Gunners 0 Click to continue reading...

The first round is all but done (one game was rained out) and things pretty much went as expected as the team in the tougher league won every match except one. So what underdog sunk a higher division side? None other then Hollywood United (USASA) who dropped the Portland Timbers (USL-1) in Portland. Click to continue reading...

Perhaps disproving the notion of a USA TODAY jinx, Hollywood United was the only amateur team to advance in 15 U.S. Open Cup games last night, winning 3-2 at Portland. You can catch a free replay at usllive.com

The 16th game was stormed out -- New York Pancyprian Freedoms will wait until Friday to take their shot at Ronald Cerritos and Real Maryland.

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As promised, in MLSR's effort to help in the task of giving our country's oldest knockout competition and out National Cup some exposure we are providing the following links to watch or listen to tonight's games. Some are carried on Video others on Radio or Online Audio. We are hoping to provide a centralized "one-stop" to listen or watch tonight's 94th US Open Cup First Round. Click to continue reading...

The longest running club cup competition in American soccer roars back to life again tonight as the first round of the US Open Cup kicks off. Thirty-two teams from across the county have earned the right to play in this opening night. These teams range from the rag-tag best of the adult leagues to the, "hay we are only one level below MLS" USL First Division. Click to continue reading...

Saturday, August 18, 2007
Charlotte Eagles @ Richmond Kickers – 7:00 pm ET
The Kickers have become a USL-2 powerhouse mainly due to the quality injection of talent often produced by their PDL squad the Richmond Kickers Future. The Eagles - the New England Revolution of the USL-2 - look to make it 2 out of 4 as their last Championship win came in 2005 sandwiched between 2 losses in the final - 2004 and 2006. Click to continue reading...