Category — general soccer

Despite the recent euphoria from soccer’s boosters, bloggers, executives and others, how much progress has the sport really made in the public imagination in this ballyhooed “Summer of Soccer?”

Not much, according to Jonathan Zopf of the Gainesville Times, who speaks to soccer aficionadoes local and beyond in painting a gloomier picture than what’s been touted elsewhere.

Indeed, to most Americans, soccer remains “a beautiful bore,” and National Soccer Hall of Fame historian Roger Allaway sums it up thusly:

“People talk about ‘have we turned the corner.’ In my mind, there is no corner; it’s a curve and we keep going further around it.”

Zopf examines the American player development system — youth associations organized unlike anywhere else in the world — as a source of the problem, and this is not a new suggestion.

Neither is the problem of getting Americans to watch their own domestic leagues when the most glamorous club teams and national teams are criss-crossing our shores. Says Woodstock soccer fan Travis Dexter:

“I don’t even watch the MLS and I live in this country. I’d rather watch the overseas clubs. Soccer is never going to grow where we watch the MLS.”

There are other critics of the “Summer of Soccer” meme as well.

And here’s a sobering fact about the Rose Bowl throng of 93,137 that watched Barcelona defeat the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 in a friendly on Friday night: Not only is it the biggest soccer crowd in America since the 1994 World Cup, it also had more far more people watching than the other six MLS weekend games combined.

Would a greater eye toward style help?

I’ve posted some new items over at Beyond The Touchline as another extremely busy week of soccer in America comes to a close:

• The CONCACAF Gold Cup and the World Football Challenge both reach their culminations this weekend. Are events like these overloading an already gluttonous soccer schedule on these shores? One leading American soccer writer, who really, really loves the game, thinks so.

Soccer fans in Atlanta and Baltimore who have been starved for these events to come to our cities may beg to differ.

• Is an American soccer TV star in the making? I’ve linked to a profile of Fox Soccer Channel’s Christopher Sullivan, who’s truly a worldly observer of the game. If you’ve wondered about the source of his distinctive speaking style, you’re in for an interesting surprise.

• And finally, I round up the David Beckham brouhaha by posing this suggestion — and I’m not quite sure of the answer yet — maybe “The Beckham Experiment” is working after all. In some very unexpected ways.

Visit Beyond The Touchline for more on these stories and the game of soccer around the world.

The motion had barely been seconded when all five green bulbs lit up at once: Kennesaw State University’s ambitious plans for a $20 million soccer complex were given the unanimous approval of the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The 5-0 vote Tuesday morning rezoned nearly 90 acres of KSU Foundation-owned land off George Busbee Parkway, Busbee Drive and Big Shanty Road for a facility that includes an 8,500-seat stadium, six other soccer fields, walking trails and picnic areas.

The stadium location has been mentioned as a possible home for the newly revived Atlanta Beat, who will begin play next spring in the Women’s Professional Soccer League.

The commissioners approved the rezoning request without comment — their action was expected following a similar vote by the Cobb planning commission.

But the Beat still has not commented except to say that no decision has been made about a venue. The team did not have a representative at the zoning meeting.

“Where are we going to play? We don’t know yet is the official answer,” Beat general manager Shawn McGee told youth coaches at a Saturday meeting of the Georgia State Soccer Association. “It’s not a big secret that there have been talks with Kennesaw State, but we’re still looking at other options.”

Beat owner T. Fitz Johnson, a Cobb resident, has said he wants his team to play in Cobb, which is among the youth soccer hotbeds in metro Atlanta. Neither he nor McGee has elaborated on any other possibilities.

KSU is expected to begin construction later this year with the intention of having the facility ready for the spring. The complex will also be the home to the school’s women’s soccer program.

Take a gander at the Atlanta-based “Who Ate All the Cupcakes?” which is alive with new material after a hiatus.

There’s lots of sharp observation here, mostly about American soccer.

A post from earlier this week is about Santino Quaranta, yet another American former teenage wunderkund who nearly disappeared from the sport.

I don’t know whether Quaranta can ever become the player he was projected. But I’m glad he’s making a comeback.

Just like Cupcakes. I hope they both stick around for a long time.

Crunch time for two of Atlanta’s three developmental level soccer teams comes this weekend as the Atlanta Blackhawks and the Atlanta Silverbacks play their regular season home finales.

The Atlanta Blackhawks of the Professional Developmental League play host to the Missisippi Brilla Friday at 7 p.m. at Alpharetta High School. The Blackhawks are 2-8-1 with 12 points in the Southeast Division of the PDL, which is in the United Soccer Leagues umbrella.

Atlanta knocked off division-leading Bradenton last weekend and has the chance to play the role of spoiler again with Mississippi chasing a post-season berth.

After the game fans are invited to join team members and coaches at Jeffrey’s Sports Bar and Grill, 11585 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta.

Also on Friday, the Silverbacks women of the USL’s W-League will attempt to secure the Atlantic Division crown against the Charlotte Lady Eagles. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Silverbacks Park. The Silverbacks are 9-8-1 with 24 points, four clear of Tampa Bay, with three regular season games remaining.

On Saturday, Atlanta FC of the National Premier Soccer League plays at Pumas FC.

Like PDL, the NPSL is a developmental circuit that is affiliated with the U.S. Adult Soccer Association. Atlanta FC and Pumas are locked in a three-way battle for second place in the Southeast Division with Chattanooga FC.

My former AJC colleague (and soccer aficionado) Mark Bradley wrote yesterday about the unusual and respectable across-the-board showing of Atlanta pro sports teams and how this might mean (jokingly) that “I might not have a job much longer.”

If a sports columnist doesn’t have a bad team to rip, what’s he good for?

Tucked away among the reader rants about Bobby Cox, Georgia Tech football, et al, was this reminder from a soul with the online handle of “All I’m Saying Is . . .:”

“No one paid any attention to the one championship team we did have which was the Atlanta Chiefs of the North American Soccer League.”

That was the extent of the comment. In 1968, the first year of the NASL, the league crowned the Atlanta Chiefs, coached by Phil Woosnam, who later became the NASL commissioner. It would be nearly three decades before the Atlanta Braves won their only World Series title.

From georgiaencyclopedia.org, courtesy of Phil Woosnam

I just saw Phil a couple weeks ago at the Atlanta Beat announcement. After living many years in New York, he returned to Atlanta to marshal the Olympic soccer venue in Athens and now resides in Marietta. He provided the photo to the right of the victorious Chiefs for the Georgia Encyclopedia.

He probably didn’t see this comment on Bradley’s blog, but I’m sure if he had, it would have brought that wry Welsh smile to his face.

Last fall Decatur resident John Turnbull penned this piece on Chiefs star Ron Newman, who had a long coaching career in the United States, including with the Kansas City Wizards at the birth of Major League Soccer.

One of the key members of that Chiefs title team, Kaizer Motaung, returned to his native South Africa in 1970 and founded the Kaizer Chiefs, one of the most popular clubs in the country that will play host to next year’s World Cup. He’s still in charge of the club, which is based in Soweto.

He’s been gone from Atlanta for a long time, as have the Chiefs, but the rich memories live on.

The frequent speculation about the creation of a major soccer complex at Kennesaw State University is quickly turning into a reality.

The $20 million proposal calls for a cluster of facilities, including an 8,500-seat stadium that is the likely home for the newly revived Atlanta Beat, as well as additional fields.

On Tuesday the Cobb Planning Commission took up a rezoning request that will get the formal process started.

And it gave approval as easy as a penalty kick; the Cobb Board of Commissioners is expected to act on July 21.

Yet Beat owner Fitz Johnson remains shy about saying specifically where in Cobb he wants to locate his new Women’s Professional Soccer franchise.

C’mon, Fitz!

In addition to writing about the Atlanta soccer scene here, I round up and comment on news and views from the world of soccer on Beyond The Touchline. I’ve included the latest posts from that site on the sidebar here on Atlanta Soccer News.

Here’s what I wrote today about an amazing summer for American soccer fans — and how it’s just getting warmed up. There’s also a roundup of latest transfer news and its implications for soccer economics and finance, the travails of Bobby Convey and Landon Donovan’s harsh assessment of David Beckham’s impact on the Los Angeles Galaxy and Major League Soccer.

Enjoy these links, and I’ll be back next week with fresh news about the latest soccer developments in the Atlanta area.

Happy Independence Day!

The first international soccer match at the Georgia Dome may not fill the indoor arena, but it should provide the setting for an electric atmosphere.

Soccer United Marketing, which is promoting a U.S. tour of the Mexican national team, reported on Wednesday that nearly 30,000 tickets have been sold for next Wednesday’s (June 24) friendly between Mexico and Venezuela.

The game is less than a week away, but a full slate of promotional events, including an appearance by El Tricolor legends Luis Hernandez, Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Manuel Negrete is on tap this weekend, when real grass will be laid down in the Dome for the first time.

The timing of the Mexico-Venezuela match also is important for organizers of Atlanta’s World Cup venue bid, who were notified this week by the U.S. Soccer Federation that the Dome had made the first cut of potential sites to be considered should the U.S. get either the 2018 or 2022 event.

It has a different name and home on the Web, but the author is still the same.

For those of you who remember Off The Ball, an Atlanta-oriented soccer blog I began while at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I’ve started my own independently written and managed site on the same topic.

After taking a recent buyout from the AJC, one of my primary ambitions was to serve the vast, vibrant Atlanta soccer scene in another way. Atlanta Soccer News is my attempt to pull together that community, from the pro and college levels to youth, adult recreational and international concerns.

(Here’s a selected archive of the Off The Ball.)

What you see is a barebones start for Atlanta Soccer News, but this site will evolve and grow as I go along. It looks a little plain right now, but the writing will always be lively and compelling. I do appreciate your patience and your feedback as I go along.

And what a time to start a new Atlanta soccer site! The Mexico-Venezuela match at the Georgia Dome on June 24 will be the first international soccer match at that venue, which has made the cut for the next round of the U.S. Soccer Federation’s bidding process for the World Cup in 2018 and 2022. And on July 22, AC Milan and Club América will meet in the Dome.

In addition to those developments, I will track the seasons of the Atlanta Blackhawks and FC Atlanta as well as the Silverbacks women’s team. The Women’s Professional Soccer league will be fielding a team in Atlanta next season, and the franchise is getting busy this summer in preparation.

Plus there is the run-up to the Atlanta Cup youth tournament over the Labor Day holiday and countless other youth and amateur leagues, tournaments and events going on in the metro Atlanta region.

And on the sidebar on this site I will include links from the world of soccer that I find interesting and that I hope you do too.

Please feel free to contact me at atlantasoccernews@gmail.com with questions, concerns, tips and story ideas.

And welcome again to Atlanta Soccer News!