The Death of Soccer in Miami... Again?

There is a song by the Smiths that goes like this:

The death of a disco dancer
Well, it happens a lot 'round here

Well, it's not the death of a Disco Dancer but more like the Death of Soccer in Miami, and it does happen around here quite often! It appears Soccer does not live long and prosper in this town ...

Miami FC may become the latest victim in the endless saga of failed South Florida teams. Not only is the team on the brink of extinction thanks to a failed attempt to buy the United Soccer League by parent company Traffic Sports, but the team is in the midst of an eight game losing streak that included a 9-0 pounding by the Carolina Railhawks only a week ago.

As most of you know USL was recently bought by Nurock Soccer Holdings from Nike and in a press release that came out yesterday Click here, it appears that USL founder Francisco Marcos and Tim Holt remain on board. It was mentioned on other blogs and news sources that another group led by a group of current USL teams had out bid all potential buyers and was on the verge of securing the purchase of USL when suddenly there was a press release stating that Nurock was indeed the winner!

Speculation remains that there was an inside maneuver by USL personnel along with Nurock to secure their bid would succeed (even though it was not the highest bid) and as the press release suggests... well, you can come to your own conclusions.

Now USL team owners are not happy. The Team Owners Association (TOA) has announced that it has accelerated its pursuit of all league options for the 2010 season and beyond. It's no secret most USL teams were not fond of Marcos and Holt at the helm of the league, the two would most likely have been out of USL had the TOA led by the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Vancouver Whitecaps been successful in their bid to take over USL.

If the TOA is looking for other options we can assume they might start a League of their own. But how strong a league could it be? Vancouver is on it's way to MLS in 2010 so after next season another team is out. How can they survive? I would think one option could be via MLS. There is no chance all these teams could be part of that league but the fabled MLS-2 could be an option the TOA might look at. Most of us Soccer fans dream of the relegation idea but that's not going to happen if ever for a very long time. An arrangement could be made however whereby MLS-2 teams could become affiliates of current MLS teams. Maybe rules could be less harsh on the MLS-2 teams where they will not have the restrictions of the single entity structure currently in place for MLS teams for the sake of making MLS-2 attractive to the cities they play in.

In this scenario NuRock would lose the majority of its USL-1 teams. Some may say USL can continue with the few teams remaining and by promoting the USL-2 teams possibly even eliminating USL-2 for now, but, it would nonetheless be a much weaker USL. Will USL survive if it loses so many teams next season?

What if all the teams decide to fold? The loser would be Nurock,which might opt to close the league down before they lose more money. But in reality we all lose. US Soccer would lose the structure that keeps feeding MLS and the U.S. national team. I find it remarkable that Nurock and USL management did not think ahead and try to secure an arrangement with the current USL-1 teams instead creating all this drama that might lead to the end of USL.

For the best up to date information on this situation visit Brian Quarstad at Inside Minnesota Soccer and Kartik Krishnaiyer of Major League Soccer Talk.

For now all I can say to South Florida Soccer Fans is to support Miami FC in these last 3 home games. Let's send a message that we want Soccer in Miami. Lets send a message to Traffic that they need to step up and give us Major League Soccer along with other investors out there such as everyone on the committee supporting the World Cup bid for Miami, like Emilio Estefan, Facundo Bacardi, Bacardi Limited; Peter Dolora, senior vice president of American Airlines; George Feldenkreis, chairman/CEO of Perry Ellis International among others.
Support Miami MLS by going to http://www.miamisoccerfan.com/Soccer/Tickets.html

Blues choked by Railhawks, USL rumors and other stuff

First off, Miami FC received a spanking of unnatural proportions! To say they choked is an under-statement!
This is what the USL site said was the beginning of the end for the Blues:

It started with Daniel Paladini’s free kick in the 30th minute. From 30 yards out, Paladini took the shot as Miami goalkeeper Pat Hannigan was still trying to set the wall. He curled it in at the far post for his sixth goal of the season.

“I asked the ref for 10 yards, and then he backed them up, and he blew the whistle,” Paladini said. “Kupono [Low] was like, 'Take it, take it, take it!' So it just clicked in my head real quick, and the goalie was setting up the wall, and I just put it in the corner.”

As Paladini took off on his celebration, Miami players were irate, and a handful of them charged toward referee Tony Crush. Within seconds, Crush flashed a red card toward the group of players, and it went to midfielder Edwin Miranda.

Losing a man at the 30th minute on what seems to have been a bad call sucks. Playing with 10 players is bad, but for the whole team to fall apart and concede 5 goals in 15 minutes is just plain nuts! It's not like the team didn't have all it's starting defenders either. Carolina had 20 shots, so basically every other shot they scored. Goalkeeper Hannigan, a solid player all year, made 7 saves but couldn't prevent the spanking. Here is more from the Miami Herald

More rumors on the sale of USL has been all over the news and I'm impressed by the level of misinformation that is out there. I don't claim to be the most knowledgeable person on the subject but some people need to do some research before posting something. Here are a few examples:
Miami New Times
New York Times
I think the best response to all this tomfoolery is made by the Kartik Report. Whether you love or hate Kartik (cause I know he has a lot of haters) I think he is usually on the money.

Hulk, please bring your daughter to the Miami FC game! by Burrito

Burrito is happy Hulk Hogan going to be at 2 Miami FC games as he wrestle to beat your property taxes, like he used to wrestle Andre the Giant and Ultimate Warrior!

But Burrito really hope the Hulkster brings his daughter Brooke! She is one hot mamacita! Burrito going to ask Hulk if it ok if Burrito marry her and then we have little Hogan Burritos! If you no think Brooke is muy caliente here are some pictures of her... Ay chihuahua!:
Come out and see Hulk Hogan ...and hopefully his hot mamacita daughter Brooke! ( Not scheduled to appear) next Saturday, Sept. 5th as Miami FC will play against the Austin Aztex @ FIU Stadium (Season Finale at FIU) There will be a Powerade Pre-Game Parade, Celebrity/Media Game and of course the Hulkster!

Pero if you can't make that one then you can see Hulk Hogan on Tuesday, September 8th when Miami FC will play against the Rochester Rhinos @ Lockhart Stadium! Hulk Hogan will also appear!
Support Soccer in South Florida! Vamos Miami FC! Let's go Blues!

We lose again! USL or MLS? Ultras are part of Sam's Army!

It's getting old folks, the losing is getting old. First the Portland game on Saturday where the Blues lost 3-1 and then it seemed we would bring back a point from Vancouver but with only 10 minutes left Miami conceded a goal followed by another a few minutes later that sealed our fate and might keep us away from the playoffs for yet another season. Sure, playing back to back games didn't help. But now the loss versus the Thunder last week at Lockhart really hurts. The Playoffs look unreachable at this stage unless we pull off a miracle streak. If you want to read a little more about the games check out Total Futbol and the Kartik Report.

The question many people have on many soccer discussion boards and blogs is whether Miami really wants a soccer team in MLS. Support for USL side Miami FC has been dismal at both Lockhart and FIU stadiums. I often wonder how it would be if we still had an MLS team. The Miami Fusion averaged over 11,000 their last year in 2001, this compared to the barely 1,000 we get to see the Blues today.

Miami FC's front office was criticized by fans in the beginning of the season for not showing an interest to advertise or market their product. Sure, we know they almost folded, yet still no real effort was made to get the word out. It seemed the head honchos thought that word of mouth would be enough to get people in the Stadium. Cries from fans for billboards or any sign in front of the Stadiums never materialized, the fact is most people in South Florida had no idea there were games taking place and still many people have no idea there is a professional soccer team in South Florida. Only recently as the season is ending have we seen an actual effort with a billboard going up and the new Miami FC Challenge viral campaign. Good stuff guys but very late.

If we go by what we read on the Internet Miami fans want MLS. This town is full of soccer snobs not willing to support a lower league. The fans demand top quality Soccer but while we read their demands I can only wonder if people will actually come out like they did in Seattle and how they are doing in Portland now. Many might argue that when the Barcelona Miami bid was developing that Miami did not rally to support this effort. Yet Claure and Barcelona did not advertise and did not try to get the word out on their own. These potential investors were relying on word of mouth to get the news out. So my question is why does Miami always get these stingy owners who are not willing to commit to this town? Why do they all do a half ass job? I mean if they actually advertise and still they fail then they are justified to close the doors and pack up.

Many Miami haters think the Miami Fusion was a failure. I don't see the Fusion as a failure, it was an owner not willing to commit and a league that was short sighted and who now regrets closing the doors to such a great market. Today, I find it funny that San Jose lost their team only to get it back and possibly lose it again. Move San Jose to Miami! I will further discuss MLS to Miami in future blog posts. For now support the cause to bring an MLS team to South Florida go to: http://www.miamisoccerfan.com/Soccer/Tickets.html

Good news for The Miami Ultras! They are now a brigade of Sam's Army! The Ultras will work closely with SA and all their brigades to grow soccer in our country. We will also join the Sam’s Army® Advisory Board to work closely in growing soccer, SA and the Miami Ultras. To join the Ultras go to Miamisoccerfan.com

Watch Party at Finnegans River! Miami FC vs Portland Timbers 9pm Saturday

Time for a Watch Party folks! Miami FC is on the road and will play future MLS team and the hottest team in the USL, the Portland Timbers, this Saturday, August 22 at 9 pm.

Miami FC will be hosting the Watch Party for all their fans at Finnegan’s River located at 401 S.W. 3 Ave. in the Brickell area downtown. Come out and join us for drinks and an all around good time as we cheer the Blues on as they make a run for the play-offs!

Vamos Miami! Let's go Blues!

Cow Bell gets you 4 free tickets to the Next game! By Burrito

Hola amigos y amigas! Once again Burrito find tickets, bueno, this time Burrito "borrow" tickets from Uncle Ed's season tickets envelope when the vato wasn't looking so now Burrito will give them away! Yeeehaaa!

So here is the deal... The first carnal who shows up to the Miami Ultras Tailgate for the Saturday September 5th game at FIU Stadium, (drinking usually starts at 6 pm) with a Cow Bell will get 4 free tickets to the game! Just look for Miami Ultras Presidente Pieter Brown and tada! You get 4 tickets!

The only condition is you need to drink cervezas with the Ultras and play Cow Bell with the Ultras Drum Maestros during the game! Who knows, maybe you become official Ultras Cow Bell persona!

Don't know how to play cowbell? No problema señor o señorita! See the video and learn!

Hulkamania is coming to town! Check him out at the next Miami FC game!

Yes folks Hulkamania is alive and well! His opponent you ask? He will be wrestling your Property Tax!
Saturday, Sept. 5th Miami FC will play against the Austin Aztex @ FIU Stadium (Season Finale at FIU) There will be a Powerade Pre-Game Parade, Celebrity/Media Game (Uncle Ed will be playing!) and Hulk Hogan!

Then on Tuesday, September 8th Miami FC will play against the Rochester Rhinos @ Lockhart Stadium~ Hulk Hogan will also appear!

So come out and support Miami FC as they make their playoff push and see Hulk Hogan!
For ticket information go to the Miami FC site!

Be sure to make your vote at Miamisoccerfan.com for your favorite Miami FC player! The Miami Ultras, official Miami FC fan club, will be giving out their traditional Fans favorite player award at the final game of the Season. Pick between Zach "Beowulf" Kirby, Pat "The Man" Hannigan or chose a player not listed! GO HERE