With the news that Steve Nash and Greg Kerfoot are seriously pushing an upcoming MLS slot for the Vancouver Whitecaps', Canadian soccer fans must be wondering what year it is. After all, it was 1978 when Vancouver saw a record crowd of 30, 811 fans arrive at Empire Stadium to watch a first-round NASL playoff game against the Toronto Metro-Croatia. Click to continue reading...

I've enclosed a link to an article from ESPN ad its been widely reported that MLS will add 2 more expansion teams in 2011 and it seems like the front runners are Montreal and Vancouver. I've written about this before and I stand by my opinion that I think it would be a really good idea to add teams in Montreal and Vancouver, assuming that MLS will have the same type of impact in those cities that its had in Toronto. Click to continue reading...

With all the hype surrounding West Ham's arrival to face off against the MSL's 'best' this week, it's fun to remember the days Toronto could get Juventus to play our rinky-dink NASL club, a team that could barely draw four thousand fans to a home game. This was May 30 1983 and the NASL was in its last death throes. Click to continue reading...

Do you want to know something truly disturbing? (Before I share, I need to tell you how this got started. You need to know this part, so you don't get the wrong idea.) I was researching the background on yesterday's Giorgio Chinaglia mob story. And my google searches took me back to his [...] Click to continue reading...

Allegedly at least, according to some Canadians. Now everyone repeat after me: "We are NOT the NASL. We are NOT the NHL. We are NOT Starbucks." Click to continue reading...

Former New York Cosmos player Giorgio Chinaglia may be a lot of things, but you can't accuse him of lacking audacity. If you saw the movie "Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos," he was the one with the biggest ego. And back in the 1970s, he [...] Click to continue reading...

It's tempting to think the NASL came out of the blue in 1968 as money-men in North America, mesmerized by England's win in '66, finally decided to give that Euro-frippery a try. The reality is decidedly messier, featuring a kind of convivial merger and acquisition in which Toronto's own Steve Stavro, a grocer with an eye for the beautiful game, played an integral role. Click to continue reading...

My new friend, Chris Courtney from Letters From Vagabondia, has written a great piece tracking the evolution of the American player in Europe. Chris had the enviable job of actually getting paid to cover US Players in Europe as a writer and reporter for Soccer Times! He has done a great job of capturing the trends and key names in his Part 1 post (1980s to the mid 1990s). Click to continue reading...

While players are now reporting to their European clubs' preseason training camps, we're all still following the movement of American players between various clubs. This got me thinking that after 20 years of following the fortunes of US players in Europe (9 of them as a reporter), its hard not to notice the evolution of the American presence in the European game. Click to continue reading...

Like the Visigoths sacking Rome, Toronto's barricade-breaking fans probably weren't aware their violence would herald the end of an empire. Following their second game, best-of-three series 3-2 loss to the Chicago Sting on October 3rd, 1984, pitch-invading Toronto Blizzard fans caused so much disruption at Varsity Stadium that the trophy presentation was forced into the Sting's dressing room. Click to continue reading...

So wrote Globe and Mail soccer columnist Allen Abel of Toronto Blizzard's home opener at Exhibition Stadium, Sunday April 8 1979. The game, a 2-1 defeat to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, was played amid total chaos. A Home Show near the stadium created some massive traffic snafus, and an estimated 3000 fans were stuck in front of the ticket booths trying to get in the stadium after the game Click to continue reading...

In my earlier article "MLS in Atlanta? Why Not Make it a Double?" I brought up quite a few areas that warrant further exploration. Several of the discussion points centered around how to make soccer in America as popular a spectator sport as it is a participation sport. My ideas I'm sure are not new, but there seems to be a paucity of information out there for the interested, yet unknowing, average American sports fan. Click to continue reading...

It is one of the joys of world football that six-hundred Croatian-Canadians could find a reason to drunkenly sing the praises of a Mozambique-born Portuguese superstar in a cultural centre on an industrial street in Toronto. Eusebio, high on champagne and the recent memory of a massive footballing heist, had only two days earlier scored the first of three Toronto goals to upset the Minnesota Click to continue reading...

But it wasn't Sgt. Pepper teaching the band to play; it was the fat lady singing for one of the historic names in American soccer. On July 8, 1988, the Chicago Sting threw in the towel after 10 outdoor seasons in the NASL and four more* indoor after that in the MISL. We have a tendency to [...] Click to continue reading...

This is priceless. Kudos go to the idiots (affectionately speaking of course) over at DCU's Big Soccer boards, as well as Metro11's post on Metrofanatic.com. Priceless!

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If you're Florida resident who has been saving their vintage ring-necked Crazy George t-shirt for a special occasion, I think I've got something that may interest you. The word out of Tampa --incarcerated stripper capital of the world-- is that USL-1 will resurrect the Rowdies name & colors from the NASL graveyard for the 2009 season. Click to continue reading...

Soccer America's Paul Gardner worked closely with Jim McKay when they commentated on the NASL for ABC. He wrote a kind remembrance this weekend. But that's not the word — serious — with which to end this short memory of Jim. He had a great sense of humor, quiet, non-flashy, like the man himself. In one [. Click to continue reading...

Now we all know that USL-1, America's second division, is no sports world juggernaut. Hell, our first division isn't quite there yet. But cold calling people to pitch your league's expansion potential seems a little gauche to me, even by minor league sports standards.

According to the guy who maintains the Tulsa Roughnecks website, USL's Director of Franchise Development called him out of the blue yesterday to give him the hype on the upside of a USL franchise in Tulsa. Click to continue reading...

Once in a Lifetime might have appeared in Chicago-area theaters for five minutes or so, but I missed it. Fortunately The Guy heard about it and Netflix came to the rescue. I had planned to blog about my impressions as I watched it. But it was too entertaining for me to engage in [...] Click to continue reading...

When youth fades, it moves to Florida. When glory fades it moves to eBay. And in some rare cases, that once shining youth and glory get a party house in Naples and move in together.

Our man MetroAG pointed out on Metrofanatic this morning that Former NY Cosmos skipper --and current Sunshine State senior citizen-- Eddie Firmani has put his 1978 and 1979 NASL Championship rings up for sale on eBay at the staggering price of $15k & $10k respectively. Click to continue reading...

Pelé Who?
16 Teams That Formed The North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1968

1. Atlanta Apollos
2. Baltimore Bays
3. Boston Beacons
4. Chicago Mustangs
5. Cleveland Stokers
6. Dallas Tornado
7. Detroit Cougars
8. Houston Stars
9. Kansas City Spurs
10. Los Angeles Wolves
11. New York Generals
12. Click to continue reading...

I'm back from the beach. It was new girlfriend-awesome except for an unexpected trip to the local Doctors office. Why was I seeking medical treatment? Because I was bitten on the ankle by some sort of bug that I'm allergic to and my ankle swelled and grew this gumball-sized bag of puss. Seriously, it's like the makeup artist from Sean of the Dead was doodling on my leg. Click to continue reading...