As rare as it is for me to say something nice about the USSF-2D/NASL/USL/A-League/USISL and its various media and internet cronies, I must admit that I love the half-throwback/half-modern shirts that Tampa Bay introduced yesterday. Great colors and they've kept the throwback elements subtle while keeping an overall modern look. Click to continue reading...

CHICAGO (Feb. 8, 2010) — The U.S. Soccer Federation has announced the schedule for the 2010 Division 2 Professional League. The regular season will open in the second weekend of April and run until early October, with the playoffs to be contested during the following weeks.

Each of the 12 teams participating in the league will play 30 regular season games for a total of 180 games.

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CHICAGO (Feb. 8, 2010) — The U.S. Soccer Federation has announced the schedule for the 2010 Division 2 Professional League. The regular season will open in the second weekend of April and run until early October, with the playoffs to be contested during the following weeks.

Each of the 12 teams participating in the league will play 30 regular season games for a total of 180 games.

Click to continue reading...

By Clemente Lisi - NEW YORK, NY (Feb 11, 2010) US Soccer Players -- When former Houston Dynamo striker Paul Dalglish was named head coach of FC Tampa Bay last November, it marked the start of a new career path for the journeyman Scotsman with an enviable parental lineage. Indeed, the 32-year-old son of Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish is on a new mission to try and lead the Rowdies to the USSF Second Division title. Click to continue reading...

Well the NASL's Tampa Bay Rowdies have something that a lot of clubs in American soccer don't have and that's an international level player who will be in South Africa this summer after they signed New Zealand international Jeremy Christie. You can read more about it by clicking here.

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There were reports this morning suggesting that Yamada Takuya had joined the Tampa Bay Rowdies, an American soccer franchise, managed by Paul Dalglish, son of Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish.
This is despite several people telling me that Yama Taku had signed a 1 year contract with Thai Port. Click to continue reading...

The USSF confirmed today that the U.S. National team will play El Salvador in a friendly match on February 24th in Tampa Bay. Ticket information is also included in the announcement.

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US Soccer announced today that a friendly match against El Salvador will be held on February 24, 2010 at 7 p.m. at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The game will be broadcast on ESPNClassic and Telefutura. The recent news of Tampa making the final 18 proposed US venues for WC 2018/2022, and the Tampa Bay Rowdies finally learning that they will field a USL team already had the soccer contingent in Tampa buzzing.

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The US Bid Committee has revealed it's list of 18 cities that be be included on the 2018/2022 World Cup bids.

The 18 cities are:

Atlanta, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas, Seattle, Denver, Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Nashville, Kansas City, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington D.

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As a followup to the post on the teams seen by the smallest percentage of fans I thought it would be interesting to see the worst seasons in terms of average home attendance.
year team home avg
2000 Miami 7,460
2003 Dallas 7,906
1998 Kansas City 8,073
1999 Kansas City 8,183
1999 Miami 8,689
1997 Kansas City 9,058
2004 Dallas 9,088
2000 Kansas City 9,112
2000 Tampa Bay 9,452
2001 San Jose 9,635
1997 Dallas 9,678
2005 Kansas City 9,691
2009 Kansas City 10,053
1996 Colorado 10,213
1998 Miami 10,284
1996 Colorado 10,213
1998 Tampa Bay 10,312
2003 San Jose 10,466
2001 Tampa Bay 10,479
2008 Kansas City 10,686
From these numbers, it looks pretty grim for soccer in Kansas City. Click to continue reading...

Even with eight years to go, the U.S. World Cup bid committee for 2018/2022 is still hard at work. On Tuesday, the list of possible host cities will be reduced from 27 to 18.

Tuesday's announcement is scheduled to take place at the ESPN Zone in Times Square. Below is the list of 27 cities that are vying for the 18 spots.

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Even with eight years to go, the U.S. World Cup bid committee for 2018/2022 is still hard at work. On Tuesday, the list of possible host cities will be reduced from 27 to 18.

Tuesday's announcement is scheduled to take place at the ESPN Zone in Times Square. Below is the list of 27 cities that are vying for the 18 spots.

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The U.S. Soccer Federation has brokered a temporary peace agreement between United Soccer Leagues and the North American Soccer League. The USSF announced Jan. 7 it had reached a deal with both sides for a Division 2 professional soccer league to play during the 2010 season. The agreement buys time for the three parties to build a long-term solution for the future.

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The agreement is finally out. The U.S. Soccer Federation, United Soccer Leagues (USL) and the North American Soccer League (NASL) have come to an agreement on the formation and operation of a Division 2 professional soccer league for the 2010 season. The USSF will oversea the operation of the league.

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The big news of the day came early this morning with Kartik Krishnaiyer broke the news that the United Soccer Leagues have filed the first of what could be many lawsuits against breakaway clubs and the NASL itself.
USL sues Rochester, Tampa Bay and Baltimore for Breach of Contract The Kartik Report
USL Files First of What Could Be Many Lawsuits Inside Minnesota Soccer
USL Files Suit Against NASL Clubs Match Fit USA
We will continue to add links to stories and update information of this story as it becomes available. Click to continue reading...

Before I start, I will say. Yes, there is a chance that they're working quietly behind the scenes to get everything sorted out, and that come April 2010 we may all look back and say "Why'd I ever doubt them?", but it really doesn't look that way at the moment.

When it was announced FCNY was treated as a big deal, MLS wasn't in New York City proper, so it was treated as if it were the largest untapped market in the country.

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The TOA already made news today with the announcement that they've added Tampa Bay and Baltimore to their league roster, and while that's pretty big in the world of second division soccer, something...

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According to the Whitecaps website the TOA League is now 11 teams strong!

The addition of Tampa Bay and Baltimore brings the new league to nine teams, as they join the owners of the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

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Just when we were beginning to wonder if this TOA league would really get off the ground with just seven clubs they go and add two more. Yup, now they are up to nine as Inside Minnesota Soccer has learned they have snatched two prime USL teams away with Tampa Bay rejoining the group and now a new addition in Crystal Palace Baltimore.

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The Team Owners Association announced today that they have added Crystal Palace Baltimore and the Tampa Bay Rowdies to their new league. The two clubs brings the TOA's total up to nine, putting to...

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In the search for its first coach for the new USL-1 Tampa Bay Rowdies, the ownership in Tampa dipped into one of the storied families in European football when they hired Paul Dalglish, the son of former Liverpool and Scotland great Kenny Dalglish.
"This sport is my obsession," said Dalglish, who gets his first pro head coaching job. Click to continue reading...

There's all kinds of MLS and soccer lovin' going around this morning in our fine land. Devin Barclay, now a rock star on Ohio State's campus, played parts of five seasons in MLS from 2001-2005. He suited up for Tampa Bay, San Jose, D.C. United and the Columbus Crew before hanging up the cleats and--eventually--picking up some other cleats. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday we found out that the new League was a go and today a number of sites confirm that the TOA will play the 2010 season in a new league.
Teams such as Miami FC, Atlanta Silverbacks, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, Carolina Railhawks and the Vancouver Whitecaps will soon be joined by a St. Click to continue reading...

I've always said that one of the realistic options for the disaffected USL owners was to leave and then just setup their own league away from the USL umbrella. Today, that appears to be what has happened, with everyone bailing on Francisco Marcos and the USL. I have not been following this all that closely, but where does this leave Portland, who has one more year to go before they join MLS. Click to continue reading...

Six ownership groups that were previously part of the USL-First Division have joined forces with St. Louis Soccer United to form a new professional soccer league that will begin play in 2010.

The Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps have joined St.

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Six ownership groups that were previously part of the USL-First Division have joined forces with St. Louis Soccer United to form a new professional soccer league that will begin play in 2010.

The Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps have joined St.

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Because with live in a world of litigation and because people get all bent out of shape over the smallest things (that could easily be explained) and because litigation takes forever and lawyers are expensive (otherwise they wouldn't bother to take forever) and because you can get any kind of suspension lifted while you're waiting for an appeal it appears that Chelsea can do business as usual since the Court of Arbitration for Sport won't be able to set a date for a hearing until February.

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While you're enjoying your crazy-mild November weekend in KC, take some time to sign the petition to bring the FIFA World Cup to town, and invite all your friends. We're now past the 5400-signature mark, in 9th place among the 27 cities bidding to host World Cup matches. Help us pass Dallas, then move toward Tampa Bay and Cleveland. Click to continue reading...

As I mentioned on Monday with the release of our latest podcast, we are making some exciting changes at MLS Talk. One of these changes will be our new "Legends of MLS" series on both our podcast and website. Often times, MLS History is unknown or hardly written for the new fan. We seek to bridge a gap in understanding and recognition of certain players, coaches and clubs.

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Well, it looks like the NuRock v TOA saga is continuing, but only a little bit, while the USL-1 meetings are being held in Beaverton, OR this week. With the following teams certainly there - Rochester, Portland, Tampa Bay, Puerto Rico, FC New York, Cleveland and Austin. The TOA clubs, may or may not be Vancouver, [. Click to continue reading...

Well, it looks like the NuRock v TOA saga is continuing, but only a little bit, while the USL-1 meetings are being held in Beaverton, OR this week.

With the following teams certainly there - Rochester, Portland, Tampa Bay, Puerto Rico, FC New York, Cleveland and Austin.

The TOA clubs, may or may not be - Vancouver, Montreal, St Louis, Miami, Atlanta, Tampa, Carolina, Minnesota.

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The Bucs and Browns are a combined 1-14 this season, while across the pond Manchester United stands second and Aston Villa stands eight in the Premier League standings. I know what some people are thinking, what is the connections between the four teams. The connections is simple The Browns and Aston Villa are owned by Randy Lerner, while the Bucs and Manchester United are owned by Malcolm Glazer (pictured right). Click to continue reading...

There isn't much tonight for the evening links and thoughts. Got some USL-TOA talk and a brief thought about Kevin Payne's fine from the league earlier today.

But first there we gotta go back into the TOA-USL talk that we've been going around and around with for the last few weeks. Reports tonight suggest the TOA and their clubs could very well soon be forming their own league, even as soon as TOMORROW.

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Our new Thursday series looks at classic football programmes, that perfect accompaniment for a trip down memory lane. This week: we go back 56 years, to the first ever floodlight match at Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart lane, with the programme's cover promising Spurs were in for "very attractive visitors" and "very sporting opponents" with the visit of Racing Club de Paris.

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The second in our Thursday series looking at classic football programmes, that perfect accompaniment for a trip down memory lane. Today, England's West Bromwich Albion take on a mysterious "China Eleven" in a 1970s international friendly.

West Bromwich Albion vs.

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We are way behind on posting this, but since the last question answered has become more relevant after the events of the past couple days, it still make sense to post this.
The TBR Mailbag is a bi-weekly feature brought to you by the TBR front office to allow you, the fans, to write in and ask questions about the team, organization, and the return of professional soccer to Tampa Bay. Click to continue reading...

A lot has been made this year over the home struggles of the Chicago Fire and the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Fire are doing much better away (1.64 PPG) than at home (1.29 PPG). The Galaxy were in that same boat, but they've won their last two home games and are now sporting equal marks (1.57 PPG) home and away. Click to continue reading...

Head over to ESPN Soccernet and read a nice piece about one-time Rowdies midfielder, Hugo Perez. The article is by Jeff Carlisle and details the career of one of the better US national team players of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before Claudio Reyna and Landon Donovan, there was Hugo.
He played just two seasons with Tampa Bay and unfortunately his career coincided with the dark years after the collapse of the NASL. Click to continue reading...

There's a month or so left in the 2009 Major League Soccer season, and six clubs (Chivas USA, Houston, Colorado, Columbus, Chicago and New England) still have a chance to win half of the games on their schedule.

Don't laugh. That's more rare than you might think. In the 30-game, no-shootouts era (since 2003), only 11 teams out of 71 have won 15 or more games.

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We all know about the USL drama after the sale to NuRock by Nike, It seems 8 teams will be playing in 2010 under the new structure.
Jeff Rusnak of the Sun Sentinel writes:

The five USL-1 clubs and three other organizations, including 2010 expansion club Tampa Bay, are aligned with the Team Ownership Association (TOA), which wants the clubs to run the league, rather than a management entity such as NuRock.

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