LD Update: St Louis Soccer Hall and Preseason friendlies

Club America Coming to Laredo: A week after a very early preseason contest against the Houston Dynamo first team that finished 5-0 to the MLS club, the Laredo Heat of the PDL announced a preseason friendly against a team that is a bit more of a peer, Club America’s U20 side. The match is set for April 24 at the Texas A&M International University Soccer Complex. Expected to be with the visiting side Mexican U20 goalkeeper Carlos Aurelio Lopez and a handful of other players that have played on Mexican youth national teams and have made appearances with the first team. Club America has dominated Mexico’s U20 flight with three straight league titles and currently are second.

Glavin Going into St Louis Soccer Hall: It is perhaps a little overdue, but the owner and head coach of the PDL St Louis Lions, Tony Glavin, was announced as a member of the upcoming Class of 2012 for the St Louis Soccer Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be held September 27. Glavin’s American career began in the NASL with the Philadelphia Fury, but became a St Louis fixture starting in 1980 when he joined the MISL St Louis Steamers.

“I moved to St Louis in 1980 for five months to play for the St. Louis Steamers and I have been here ever since. I love it, it is now my home. I didn’t know too much about the indoor game or St. Louis at the time, but I wanted to keep playing throughout the offseason.” said Glavin “After three months in St. Louis the Steamers offered me a long-term contract and I jumped at the opportunity to stay in St. Louis.”

Glavin scored 157 goals in 150 appearances with the Steamers from 1980 to 1985. He was a three-time MISL All-Star, the 1982 MISL League MVP and the third MVP in the 1981 MISL All-Star Game.

Between 1985 and 1988 Glavin served as an Assistant Coach and Head Coach for the St. Louis Steamers. At the end of the 1988 season, Glavin was hired by the Kansas City Comets to serve as a Player/Coach where he appeared in 29 games. Glavin later went on to coach the Dayton Dynamo of the NPSL in 1990-91 the season. Glavin enjoyed a stellar professional career and had so much more to contribute in the game, so he started his own local youth club in St. Louis.

In 1994 the Tony Glavin Soccer Club was founded in Cottleville, Mo. in St. Charles County. In 2006, Glavin saw a need for another level of soccer in St Louis and he founded the St. Louis Lions. The Lions are the highest-level amateur team in St. Louis, playing in the PDL. The team is comprised of college players between the ages of 18 and 23.

W-League Preseason Under Way: It was not the first game of the preseason for the W-League – LA Strikers defeated Loyola Marymount University 2-1 recently – but the Seattle Sounders are certainly the most talked about team heading into the 2012 campaign due to the five US Women’s National Team stars on the roster. Monday night they cruised to a 5-0 victory against Seattle Pacific University. 

NASL Weekly Honors: The second division league announced its weekly honors, announcing former MLS stiker Andy Herron (Fort Lauderdale Strikers) as the Offensive Player of the Week and ex-MLS netminder Ray Burse (Carolina RailHawks) as the Defensive Player of the Week.   

LD Update: MLS signings and friendlies

Dynamo blank Laredo Heat: In the midst of an off week, the Houston Dynamo broke from intra-squad play to face the USL PDL’s Laredo Heat, picking up an easy 5-0 win – rosters not available – at the Houston Amateur Sports Park.

Not a lot can be gleaned this far before the season for a USL PDL team because the college players do not report until May 1, but the Heat are one of a handful of teams that tend to have a number of older players. “Under normal circumstances we would not be playing teams such as the Dynamo so early in the preseason,” General Manager J.J. Vela said. “However, because of their schedule and the start of their season we welcomed the challenge to firstly help them out with an exhibition game and also to see what we have in order to secure the best players for our Premier Development League season.

The Dynamo, “ramped up a bit” following the loss at Seattle according to Brad Davis were expected to utilize much of their squad.  “I think we’ll mix it up,” Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear said about his planned approach to Thursday’s match. “We’ll probably make a lot of changes like we’ve done in preseason.” 

Philadelphia Union to play affiliate Reading: The MLS club and its affiliate, Reading United AC, will continue their series of friendlies with a third installment. The Union will face the PDL club Saturday, June 9 at Albright College’s Shirk Stadium. Last year the two clubs played to a 1-1 draw at the end of May.

Battery bring in Sanyang: There seems to be an unexpected pipeline between Seattle and Charleston, SC. The Sounders have signed two former Battery players in Osvaldo Alonso and Alex Caskey over the years. Now it looks like it is a two-way path as former Sounder Amadou Sanyang was added by Charleston along with University of Washington product Taylor Mueller.

Despite only being 20, Sanyang has already been around MLS for three seasons having originally signed with Toronto FC at the age of 17. The Gambia youth international spent last season with the Sounders.