LD Update: NASL Semifinals Game Night; Molinari re-signs for Pioneers

Just as expected, the opening legs of the two semifinal series proved to be tight affairs, with only one goal total being the difference on the night. The defending league champion Minnesota Stars and reigning regular season champion San Antonio Scorpions played to a stalemate while the second-seeded Tampa Bay Rowdies return home with a one-goal lead over the Carolina RailHawks. The two semifinal series conclude next weekend with a game each on Saturday and Sunday.

LD Update: NASL Semis Preview; NASL Commish retires; MISL signings

Be prepared for the next two weekends of semifinal play of the North American Soccer League postseason to be close contests as they play out their two-leg series. In the eight previous matches this season in the two pairings, only one game saw a team leave victorious - and that was via a late penalty kick in a 1-0 decision. Low scoring is also likely as six of the other seven results between the teams finished in 1-1 or scoreless draws with one lone 3-3 exception. The regular season champion San Antonio Scorpions take on the defending league champion Minnesota Stars, who are looking to repeat as winners from the lowest seeded position. Meanwhile, the second-seeded Tampa Bay Rowdies are facing last season's regular season champion Carolina RailHawks, who are looking to get past the semifinals after falling to Minnesota a year ago.

LD Update: NASL Playoff Results; Phoenix announces first signing

The first round of the NASL Playoffs proved to be a break from form as the defending champion Minnesota Stars posted their first-ever win in Puerto Rico to advance and the Carolina RailHawks, 0-2-2 against the Strikers this season, scored three at home for a third time this season against Fort Lauderdale, this time keeping the visitors from doing the same. The Stars move on to face the regular season champion San Antonio Scorpions while the RailHawks take on the Tampa Bay Rowdies in a pair of two-leg, aggregate score series.

LD Update: NASL Playoff Preview; Edmonton dumps coaches; ACC set for 2013

Amway Canadian Championship: The Canadian Soccer Association announced Friday that the sixth edition of the event will kick off on April 24 with the semifinals next season, utilizing the same format as this year with the three MLS clubs and FC Edmonton of the NASL.

NASL News: Matt Horth of the Atlanta Silverbacks was recognized as the Player of the Month... Last place FC Edmonton announced it has cut ties with coaches Harry Sinkgraven and Hans Schrijver, due to budgetary reasons according to the release. 

LD Update: NASL weekly, season honors; MISL signing, combine news

CCL News: The Puerto Rico Islanders finished off their Champions League schedule with a 3-0 victory over Isidro Metapan, avoiding a winless campaign. The victory put them in second and clinched the quarterfinal berth for the group-leading LA Galaxy. Hector Ramos scored twice with Gregory Richardson adding the third. LA and Metapan play in the final match with Metapan having a chance to move back ahead of the Islanders for a second-place finish in the group, though only the winners advance to the quarterfinals.

LD Update: NASL Game Night; NASL playoff pairings set

All knotted up. That was the final weekend of the NASL season as Sunday duplicated Saturday's results with two more draws, leaving everyone right where they were in the league table going into the weekend.

The opening round of the NASL postseason is next weekend with the Carolina RailHawks playing host to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers Saturday and the defending champion Minnesota Stars, who won the title as the lowest seed last year, looking to repeat history as they travel to Puerto Rico Sunday. The two winners move on to face San Antonio and Tampa Bay in the Semifinals.

LD Update: NASL Game Night; Super-20 First 11; Sesay to Wave

A pair of draws in the first half of the final weekend of play kept everything as is in the top half of the NASL table heading into the final week with Tampa Bay's stalemate in Carolina locking the Rowdies into second and giving San Antonio, playing Sunday, the regular season title while also locking Carolina into fourth as they were unable to pass Puerto Rico, who played to a draw versus visiting Atlanta.

LD Update: Puerto Rico out of CCL; Tampa Bay clinches playoff bye

CCL News: The Puerto Rico Islanders were eliminated from Quarterfinal contention despite playing the visiting Los Angeles Galaxy, comprising mostly reserves, to a scoreless draw Wednesday evening. They have one game remaining versus Metapan at home next Thursday, just days before their opening round playoff game Sunday. - MORE

Atlanta Silverbacks 3 :: 1 San Antonio Scorpions - Perhaps a bit on cruise control having locked up a first round bye, the Scorpions dropped their second consecutive game and have now gone five games without scoring more than at least one goal. Atlanta's Danny Barrera was the star of the night, setting up all three goals. He delivered a corner for a Willie Hunt header three minutes in and sent a free kick off Blake Wagner's head for an own goal in the 41st. Leading 2-1, he connected with Pedro Mendes in the 75th to secure the win. - MORE

Tampa Bay Rowdies 1 :: 1 Carolina RailHawks - A Luke Mulholland corner kick 13 minutes in found the head of defender Andres Arango for the lead and Arango's back line allowed just one RailHawks goal, a strike from Ty Shipalane in the 61st minute, as the Rowdies held on for the sole point needed to clinch the remaining first round bye. - MORE
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LD Update: CCL for PR; NASL honors & final week

CCL News: The Puerto Rico Islanders resume Champions League play Wednesday with a second consecutive game against the LA Galaxy, who were victorious 4-0 three weeks ago. The Islanders have zero points at the midway point while the Galaxy are perfect.

NASL News: The league announced midfielder Ty Shipalane of the Carolina RailHawks as the Offensive Player of the Week and Puerto Rico Islanders defender Anthony Vasquez as the Defensive Player of the Week.

LD Update: NASL Game Night

It was a good night for the road teams Sunday, even if it was at the cost of the league-leading San Antonio Scorpions, who had already clinched a bye to the semifinals. Tampa Bay took advantage of a match against the last-placed side, using a big win in Edmonton to take command in the race for the second first round bye. Meanwhile, the Carolina RailHawks kept themselves within range of that second spot - five points back - with a victory against the Scorpions.

LD Update: NASL Game Night; NASL loans to & from

With just a few games remaining for each team in the NASL season and the playoff field set, all that is left is to determine is who will join San Antonio in the semifinals with the other first round playoff bye. The table went largely unchanged Saturday evening with the eliminated Silverbacks getting a win as well as the  Puerto Rico Islanders.

Atlanta Silverbacks 1 :: 0 Fort Lauderdale Strikers - Though eliminated midweek from postseason contention, the hosts took the lead in the 11th minute of the contest and held on against the Strikers. A streaking Matt Horth received the ball 30 yars from goal via Lucas Paulini, diving toward the box and firing inside the post. Fort Lauderdale's attempt for a rally was handicapped with 15 minutes remaining when Alfonso Motagalvan saw back-to-back yellow and red for dissent and abuslive language toward the referee. - MORE

LD Update: Rowdies extend lease; CSL match-fixing report statement

Wednesday - FC Edmonton 2 :: 2 Carolina RailHawks - Despite elimation from playoff contention the night before, the hosts did not give up after a fifth minute strike from Nick Zimmerman. Kyle Porter evened terms just four minutes later and gave Edmonton the lead four minutes after intermission. Zimmerman, however, put away the rebound of his own shot in the 56th minute for the draw. - MORE

NASL News: The Tampa Bay Rowdies will continue to play in a baseball stadium in St Petersburg, signing a new four-year deal to continue leasing Al Lang Stadium.

CSL News: The league released a statement in regards to a recent CBC report focused an alleged match-fixing incident that occured in 2009 and further attempts to affect the outcome of matches for European betting interests.

LD Update: Possible Atlanta name change - an homage or offensive?

The Atlanta Silverbacks are considering a name change, giving fans the option to re-brand the team as the former NASL name Chiefs or even as something completely different. The polling will run until the US Presidential Election Day.


The previous Chiefs were founded in 1967 and were original members of the previous NASL, winning the inaugural league championship in 1968.

Though it is obviously an attempt ride the retro branding wave around the league, the move is particularly surprising in a sports era in which teams and schools are moving away from and changing the verbiage used in regard to names and mascots. And particularly so considering the city's Atlanta Braves are one of the most cited teams, aside from the NFL's Redskins and MLB's Cleveland Indians, for being offensive.

LD Update: NASL honors & midweek games

The Canadian Soccer League issued a statement today regarding fixture conflicts with national team matches - a matter that has plagued soccer in the United States for many years, whether it be professional clubs scheduling games at the same time as the national team(s) or local soccer organizations not scheduling in an effort to maximize support of the professional team.

LD Update: Battery win USL Pro title; Cunningham gets first NASL goal

Charleston celebrates title | courtesy Charleston Battery

Two rookies led the Battery, the playoff team with the most losses on the season (10), to the franchise's fourth championship in 20 years as Charleston defeated the Wilmington Hammerheads for the USL Pro title.

Meanwhile, in the NASL it was all ones... nearly. Three of the four matches concluded in 1-1 draws with the fourth finishing with just one strike between the two clubs.

LD Update: Bixler retires; USL Pro award winners; MISL sched released

USL Pro News: Veteran Harrisburg City Islanders defender Dustin Bixler, a three-time All-League selection and 2007 USL Second Division championship MVP, announced his retirement... The expansion club in Arizona announced it will play as Phoenix FC, unveiling Wolves as the mascot and prominent feature of the new logo... The league announced the season award winners at the championship banquet, honoring Kevin Molino (Orlando) as MVP, Adrian Heath (Orlando) as Coach of the Year, Troy Roberts (Rochester) as Defender of the Year and Jose Cuevas of the championship finalist Charleston Battery as the Rookie of the Year.  

LD Update: NASL adopts split season; USL Pro award finalists

The big news of the day was the announcement from the North American Soccer League that it is altering its competitive structure to a two-season format in which the spring season will be held from March to July 4 followed by a 3-4 week break before the fall season commences.

LD Update: USL Pro All-League honors; NASL honors; Blues to play Pachuca

LD News: Orlando City of USL Pro is loaning Jamie Watson to the NASL Minnesota Stars for the remainder of the season.

NASL News: The league recognized Matt Horth of the Atlanta Silverbacks as the Offensive Player of the Week and Frankie Sanfilippo of the Tampa Bay Rowdies as the Defensive Player of the Week... The Carolina RailHawks duo of Nick Millington (Guyana) and John Krause (Puerto Rico) have been called in for national team camps in preparation for World Cup qualifiers and the Digicel Caribbean Cup (qualifiers for Gold Cup).

LD Update: NASL Game Night

Home clubs were winless on the night, but with the playoffs looming all the attention is on positioning in the table. The Tampa Bay Rowdies joined the San Antonio Scorpions in the playoff field with a road win against state rival Fort Lauderdale that also allowed the Carolina RailHawks to jump into a tie for fourth with the Strikers with a victory over the Puerto Rico Islanders who only sit two points ahead of the duo in third. Defending champion Minnesota missed out on a chance to pull away and virtually lock up the sixth and final berth, but played to a draw against the league-leading San Antonio Scorpions.

LD Update: USL Pro semis tonight; PR pounded; player availability news

The USL Pro championship finalists will be determined tonight with both semifinals kicking off around 7:30 pm ET. The reigning two-time regular season champion and last year's league winners Orlando City play host to the Wilmington Hammerheads, the only team to hand them a loss in their amazing 17-1-6 campaign, while longtime foes Rochester Rhinos and Charleston Battery square off in New York.

Both matches will be streamed on USLnation.com.