NASL/USL

For the past four seasons, the United Soccer League has had tremendous growth, both on and off the pitch, growing from 14 clubs in 2014 to 33 during the most recent campaign. And while attendance in professional sports is a hotly contested topic, there is no denying that the league has seen a tremendous return on its investment. However, as the USL attendance star, FC Cincinnati, heads to MLS in 2019, can the league maintain the current heights? 

On Monday, FC Cincinnati took the next step toward its inaugural 2019 MLS season by unveiling an overhaul to the crest it’s been using since the club’s 2016 debut in the United Soccer League.

The rebrand was headed by Interbrand, the same firm that accounted for the much-debated modernizing of Juventus’s crest.

Out with the old.

In with the new.

If you’ve ever wondered how a Donald Trump presidency would really affect America, just look no further than the Las Vegas Lights cash drop on Saturday night at Cashman Field in Las Vegas.

In a scene straight out of the Hunger Games, the Las Vegas Lights, a USL team, dropped $5,000 in cash from a helicopter onto eager fans pocketing as many Washingtons, Hamiltons and even a few Benjamins on Saturday. 

The Las Vegas Lights are at it again.

The most entertaining club in the world — even when not playing soccer especially when not playing soccer — have come up with an(other) absolutely insane publicity stunt to promote the club, and this one doesn't even include llamas.  

For the Lights’ United Soccer League match against LA Galaxy II on Sept. 8, the club will put $5,000 in cash into a helicopter and then drop it over 200 lucky fans, allowing them to fight over the precious dollars. 

I don’t know about you, but we like our United Soccer League action rowdy. We like the Las Vegas Lights, bangers from Efrain Alvarez and the plethora of ridiculous goals that were overlooked because the World Cup was going on.

North Carolina FC and Charleston Battery played to a 1-1 draw in USL play on Saturday. Ataullah Guerra gave Charleston the lead in the 63rd minute, but NCFC’s Daniel Rios equalized in the 81st.

Seven minutes of second half stoppage time were added as North Carolina went in search of a winner, and it almost arrived in the 97th minute — if not for a goal-line clearance, a shot off the post, a save from the keeper and a myriad of other blocks/scrambles/deflections/madcap instances of defending.

You’re gonna want the sound on for this one, because the commentary delivers.

We get it. The World Cup is eight-straight hours a day of otherworldly goodness that you dare not miss. We’re not asking you to watch anything else (we also know that you’ve got to carve out some time to eat, sleep and potentially bathe in your life), but we’ve witnessed some bangers in the U.S. Open Cup, NWSL and USL over the past week that’ve been hugely overlooked because of the world’s greatest sporting event.

Here’s a little roundup of seven sensational goals that’ve been buried deep in the news cycle by the blitz of footie action over in Russia.