Now that the thrilling Women's World Cup is over, its time to re-focus on the three professional American soccer leagues. While we've been away cheering on the American Women's Team, changes in the league standings of the three leagues have taken place.
In the MLS, our beloved DC United have fallen to a pitiful 6th place in the Eastern Conference while attention was focused on the WWC, despite being unbeaten in their last five games. That's soccer for you-- sometimes you do everything right, and still you lose or fall in the standings, as so poignantly displayed by the US Women's National Soccer team. DC United's next match is tonight against the New England Revolution at RFK Stadium.
In the NASL, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers are likewise in 6th place in the eight team league, desparately trying to stay out of the bottom two so as to make the playoffs. The Strikers are also playing tonight, at 8 pm against the second-place Puerto Rico Islanders at the Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel in PR. This is their fourth and final match agasint the Islanders this season, coming off yet another a tie last Wednesday against the 7th-place yet MLS-bound Montreal Impact. With a 3-9-4 season record, the Strikers have more tied matches this season than any other NASL side.
Finally, in the USL-PRO league, the Charletson Battery is in a respectable 3rd place in the American Division. Their next match is on Saturday July 23d agaisnt the Dayton Dutch Lions at the Miami Valley South Stadium. The Battery is thus currently the best positoned of any of the Jedi Soccer sides this blog site follows, to actually challenge for a championship. The Battery is also scheduled to play an international exhibition match against Portsmouth FC, a former English Premier League side that was relegated to the second division after the 2009-2010 season, next Wednesday July 27 at Blackbaud Stadium.
For DC United and the Strikers, the objective is simply to avoid elimination and make it into the playoffs. For the Batter, there is still a shot at taking their Divisonal Championship. Go Jedi Soccer!
“LIKE A JEDI KNIGHT— no, better than that— A TEMPLAR KNIGHT. This is a FLASH OF PURE INSPIRATION, and let me tip my hat to the genesis of this goal: Ibarra. Lionel only absolutely LIGHTS IT UP here, he LIFTS OFF IT, FLAMETHROWERS IT PAST poor Reny Vega. It’s just as well Reny didn’t get a hand to that because it would have TAKEN IT OFF HIS WRIST. Superlative football and an out of this world BERNINI SCULPTURE of a finish." GOL TV Commentator Ray Hudson
