South Florida Soccer News: WPS, Strikers, MLS and more.

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers continue to make noise in our community this time with a successful charity event where a large crowd helped raise money for the Red Cross relief efforts in Japan.

Stars of the ATP Tour in Miami to play the Sony Ericsson Open joined with the NASL's Fort Lauderdale Strikers to help raise funds and awareness for Japanese relief. The exhibition soccer match ended in a 5-2 Striker victory. The goals for the tennis stars were scored by Marcos Baghdatis and Andy Murray. The Tennis stars were captained by Novak Djokovic.

You can read more at www.strikers.com
Other news sources covering this event follow:
ESPN
NY Times
ATP (Picture)
Sony Ericcson Open
and even the Bangkok Post
More pictures at DEPORTadas (Spanish)
NASL 

MLS
We have all heard about Chad Ochocinco and his latest tryout with MLS side Sporting Kansas City. But did you know he was practicing with the Strikers before his tryout?

The first true test came when Ochocinco joined several of the Strikers players for a friendly kickaround at their stadium. Suffice to say, he didn’t disappoint despite going up against the likes of central defender Zach Kirby, a former Los Angeles Galaxy draft pick, and veteran goalkeeper Nic Platter, who’s faced his fair share of players during six season in division two soccer in the U.S.

Read more about Ochocinco's MLS Tryout
To view his tryout Live go HERE

WPS
News out of MagicJack (Formerly Washington Freedom, we think?) is almost hard to come by. The season is set to start and details are still sketchy. We know the team will play in Boca Raton at FAU but no real marketing has taken place. We were able to stumble on the following:

Potomac Soccer Wire was fortunate enough to catch up with Borislow in Richmond, Va. last Sunday, where his “other team,” the Palm Beach MagicJacks 96/97 side which features his daughter Kylie, won top honors in Under-14 competition at the Jefferson Cup youth tournament.

Following is the video:





We will try to give you further information once we get it.
The possible roster of the team can be found HERE

Celebrity Soccer Match. Tennis Stars vs Ft. Lauderdale Strikers

This Wednesday March 23, at 7.PM. the Fort Lauderdale Strikers will play in an exhibition match against World tennis stars such as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokic, David Ferrer and more! (See the flyer below). All proceeds will go directly to the Red Cross and their rescue efforts in Japan. The match will be held at Ransom Everglades High School 3575 Main Highway Miami, FL 33133, admission is free with requested donations to the Red Cross.

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Soccerthon and fan video.

Soccerthon was a fun event organized by the Fort Lauderdale Strikers this past weekend. Following you will find pictures as well as a fan video made by Miami Ultra Mitch Rivera.

All pictures by Mitch Rivera
More pictures can be seen on MiamiSoccerFan.com

MLS Futbolito in Miami, Strikers sign Abe Thompson and more...

MLS Futbolito is coming back to South Florida!
MLS Futbolito is the official 4 vs 4 tournament of Major League Soccer. It consists of a fun soccer tournament that involves 13 communities across the country. This years event in Miami will take place on Sunday May 22, 2011 at Kendall Soccer Park.
Last year yours truly, Miami Ultra member Uncle Ed was invited to play in the celebrity game that was live on Univision's Republica Deportiva. Uncle Ed played with one time Mexican national team player Francisco "Paco" Palencia, ex Mexico goalie Felix "El Gato" Fernandez , Republica Deportiva's Presidente Fernando Fiore and of course the lovely Senadoras, among others. Check out the pictures and video from last years event and check out my ugly mug!
For more details check out last years website and be on the look out for the new website to see what other cities futbolito will stop at. Go HERE

Strikers sign Abe Thompson

The Strikers website announced the signing of last years top scorer Abe Thompson. Here is what they had to say about it:

“Anytime you can bring back a MLS veteran who was your leading goal scorer last season it’s a positive move for the team. We will look to Abe for veteran leadership and hope he will find the same success he had last season.” Said Head Coach Daryl Shore.

You can read more at Strikers.com

Martyn Lancaster's Blog
Fan favorite Martyn Lancaster has a new gig! He will periodically write pieces about life as a Fort Lauderdale Striker. Already he has given fans a couple of gems that will embarrass his teammates ranging from a bad hair cut to skinny-dipping in a public pool!
Be sure to also check out and listen to Martyn's interview on 640 AM.
Looks like Martyn will be a broadcaster and blogger after his soccer career. Read more about it HERE

Strikers Soccerthon
This weekend is the Strikers Soccerthon it will be a 12 hour event with a Strikers pre-season match at 3:30 pm. Following is the Soccerthon Timeline.
Saturday March 19th
Ft. Lauderdale Stadium

8 AM- Public Schools Match (Field 2) 7v7 two 25 min halves
9 AM- Staff Match (Field 2) 7v7 two 25 min halves
10 AM- College Cup (Fields 1,2,3) 11v11 two 45 min halves
2:30-330 PM- Law Enforcement Match (Field 2) 7v7 two 30 min halves
3:30 PM- Strikers Exhibition Match (Field 3)
5:30 PM College Cup 2nd round games two 45 min halves (Field 1,2,3)

Player Pictures by Robert Scorca
Futbolito Picture by Zach Reese

MagicJack gears up for the WPS season.

Very little is known about the new WPS team based out of Boca Raton. MagicJack, as the team is reported to be called, was once the Washington Freedom and has moved to Boca Raton where they will play at the new Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Stadium.

The only information we have been able to gather is what we get off of the WPS site.
Following is some intresting information about the team:

One notable is magicJack's inclusion of two goalkeepers after mutually terminating rights with Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod. Jillian Loyden, formerly of the Chicago Red Stars, and Brett Maron, formerly of the Atlanta Beat, have joined the Florida-based team. Both have backed up magicJack's Hope Solo in goal—Loyden in St. Louis Athletica and the U.S. WNT, and Maron in Atlanta.

The pre-season Roster of MagicJack looks as follows:

Shannon Boxx
Diane Caldwell
Amanda DaCosta
Marian Dalmy
Omolyn Davis
Lisa DeVanna
Tina Ellertson
Ashlee Elliott
Katie Fraine
Sarah Huffman
Meghan Klingenberg
Jillian Loyden
Brett Maron
Nikki Marshall
Ella Masar
Rebecca Moros
Shannon Myers
Christen Press
Christie Rampone
Johanna Rasmussen
Becky Sauerbrunn
Sophie Schmidt
Meghan Schnur
Hope Solo
Lindsay Tarpley
Abby Wambach
Kacey White

From the looks of it MagicJack has a formidable line up with many Womens World Cup stars.
We hope to have ticket information soon.

Soccer Movie of the Month--- Goal 2 "Living the Dream"

This months movie is Goal 2 "Living the Dream". The Second of a Trilogy.
The first episode we showed on this blog back in April of 2010. You can  go HERE to see it.
This second part continues to follow Santiago Muniz (Kuno Becker) in his dream of being a professional footballer. Living in East L.A., he makes his dream come true when one day he is given the chance to try out for Premiership club Newcastle United. This time he has his big chance with Real Madrid. You see him try to deal with his new found fame and finally meeting his mother and little brother.

You get to see glimpses of Real Madrid stars Iker Casillas, Iván Helguera, Sergio Ramos, Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, Raúl González, José María Gutiérrez (Guti), Zinédine Zidane, Ronaldo, Robinho and many more
See IMBD for more info. Following is the full movie: 

Fort Lauderdale Strikers at the Saint Patricks Day parade.

Regrettably, I was not able to attend the Fort Lauderdale St. Patricks Day Parade. The Strikers had a float (Truck) at the parade and Miami Ultras members Mitchell Rivera and Pabony Rivera were kind enough to send us the pictures you will see below. The video was provided by Flight 19 member Derek Reese and features drum maestro Cesar Sfreddo.

More pictures of the event can be seen at Miami Soccer Fan.

Tickets for the Strikers 2011 are on Sale Now! Call today for pricing and availability. Founding Season Ticket Holder Specials Available! Call 954.606.0400 or e-mail info@strikers.com or go to www.strikers.com