Last night in U.S. Open Cup play, the two remaining Cinderella clubs fell by the wayside at the quarterfinal hurdle. Saint Louis FC and New Mexico United — both of the second division USL Championship — couldn’t overcome MLS opposition, but not before issuing a firm statement on what makes the oldest ongoing competition in the United States so special.
Prior to the start of the 2019 season, the USL launched its new league brand as the organization looks to expand its reach over U.S. soccer. The USL was renamed the USL Championship, a new USL League One (third tier) was created and the Premier Development League (PDL) was rebranded as USL League Two — straight out of the FA playbook in England.
And while expansion across all three tiers will continue, the USL's next focus is formalizing academy competitions for the next generation of players.
This past week MLS announced that expansion was formally approved to hit 30 clubs over the coming years. In a country with a relatively young soccer community, interest continually growing, and a number of small to large sized untapped markets, expansion is a fundamental part of the soccer landscape. Not just for MLS but across all the leagues.
Here is a brief look at the new clubs set to debut in 2020. Expect this list to double by the time we reach November.
Major League Soccer held its annual Board of Governors meetings in Los Angeles this week. Along with allowing MLS clubs to collect solidarity payments in the future, one of the major outcomes of the meetings was the announcement that MLS expansion will increase the league to 30 teams in the near future.
MLS announces plans to expand to 30 teams in the coming years. More: https://t.co/P71gdJhogy pic.twitter.com/mlnLDNd7x1
Without having ever made the jump to MLS, 31-year-old Colombian striker José Angulo has been a constant source of goals in the USL Championship over the years, including a league MVP and Golden Boot-winning campaign back in 2013.
Angulo has bounced around the American lower divisions for 10 years now, but he’s currently on the books at Hartford Athletic, a club enjoyed its inaugural season in the USL.
Hartford has suffered six defeats in its first six matches, but Angulo registered his first goal for the club yesterday during a 3-1 loss to the Pittsburg Riverhounds.
Promoting a club in the United Soccer League can be tricky. It’s always an uphill battle for any lower-tier sports team, especially in soccer. But Austin Bold FC has what may be the greatest (or maybe worst, we’re not sure yet) promotion we’ve ever seen to get fans into the stadium.
The 106th U.S. Open Cup will kick off next week with 84 teams from MLS to the amateur ranks dreaming of lifting the trophy. Last week we looked at where the participants this year are coming from and the announcement that the entire tournament will be available on ESPN+. On Wednesday, the first 38 clubs to enter the competition found out their opening-round draw.
With FC Cincinnati joining the fold, the 2019 Major League Soccer season consists of 24 teams. Next year, that number will grow to 26 with the debuts of Inter Miami CF and Nashville SC. By 2022, it’ll be 28 teams with Austin FC already one of the confirmed expansion sides. There are many cities vying for slots 28 and beyond, and the current frontrunners seem to be Sacramento, St. Louis and Detroit.
Youth soccer in America is changing. Over the past few years, U.S. soccer has moved to profoundly address the exclusivity of high-level grass roots play. Talented footballers at the high school age can get offered to play for a program known as a Development Academy (DA). Both Major League Soccer and other youth clubs all over the U.S. have Development Academy teams, from the high school age all the way down to U-12.
The long march toward the existence of Inter Miami CF technically began over a decade ago. David Beckham arrived in MLS in 2007 to much fanfare, a new designated player rule, a massive contract — and an option to be an expansion franchise for $25 million after he retired. That last piece went from interesting expansion topic to reality in late 2013 when Beckham and Simon Fuller came forward as owners for a new team based in Miami-Dade County.