We have been able to confirm that the City Stars have not changed ownership. Our sources tell us that there has been little movement recently and that talks have reached a standstill.
We spoke with Portland Timbers striker Mandjou Keita before he left for his loan assignment at Salgaocar Sport Club in India’s first division. Keita literally has a world of experience with time spent with Guinea’s U-23 National Team, Malaysia’s Perak FC, and Brunei’s DPMM FC. He also had stints in Vietnam, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. His experience in India should only add to his development. The striker is poised to play a key role in Portland’s final season in USL-1. Our sources
The addition of Tampa Bay and Baltimore to the NASL certainly helps the cause of the North American Soccer League. The league now has nine clubs, which is one more than the required eight. Each club must be able to sign at least 12 professional players, which shouldn’t be a problem whatsoever. Our sources are confident a decision will be made in the next four weeks. This will give each league some time to get “their house in order” before the beginning of preseason training. I
Several stories have surfaced regarding the Cleveland USL franchise. They range from a guaranteed drop to USL-2 or even dropping out of USL altogether. All sources point to a new ownership group bringing the club back in USL-1. We have been told that the new owners have “deep pockets” and are willing to spend money to improve the team. All indications suggest that the franchise will be run as a business with less emphasis on non-profit ventures. The league office is fully committed to
As we reported, a major announcement was expected this week and to our surprise we received two important press releases. Both can be seen below. Yet another press release is expected from the TOA as a whole within the next few weeks.
United Soccer Leagues issued the following elaboration regarding Wednesday morning’s CKAC Sports radio interview with USL CEO Alec Papadakis concerning the status of USL-1 teams. “While the statements made in the earlier interview are accurate in that we have ceased negotiations with the Team Owner’s Association (TOA) as a group, we remain in dialogue with certain individual TOA teams about their possible participation in USL-1 for 2010. We are open to the return of the Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps to
“Following the press release issued earlier by the USL, I would also like to confirm there are still ongoing talks between ongoing talks between the Montreal Impact and the USL,” declared Montreal Impact President Joey Saputo. “The negotiations are not over. We continue to work on various options, including the possibilitiy of seeing the Impact in the USL-1 in 2010.”
Former Blackpool and Accrington Stanley winger Rory Prendergast will be providing our visitors weekly news from the home of the beautiful game. “In His Own Words” will follow Rory as he begins a new journey to join the ranks of professional soccer players here in the U.S. It will literally be in his own words as the name suggests. Prendergast has drawn interest from numerous USL clubs and even a few MLS teams. There is no doubt that he has the skills to
We have been told by a source close to the USL/TOA situation that an important press release is expected on Tuesday. This is much sooner than expected as we were not anticipating much news before November 20.