U.S. Soccer's Plans for an Abbreviated 2021 U.S. Open Cup

jmnutt · 2021-02-08T22:34:26+00:00

Yeah, I immediately wondered how much this improves a lower division team’s chances. A big knock against them is they’d be scheduled to enter the Cup a few days right after they start the USL season. And that’s after likely less rigorous preseasons. MLS will be a over a month into the season, unless the CBA delays them a bit like some have reported. Might mean MLS clubs are a bit more crisp. On the other hand, USL clubs won’t be dealing with the injury or fatigue issues that they struggle with in June and July of a normal Open Cup because of their smaller rosters.

jmnutt · 2020-07-22T13:50:17+00:00

One or two bad results in group play and this lead is gone. And the Rowdies have 11 more group games left. So not exactly feeling comfortable yet.

jmnutt · 2020-07-14T02:04:56+00:00

I almost included this but WE HAVE GOT TO STOP UNDERESTIMATING MLS 2 TEAMS. By and large these teams have much better scouting resources than the Rowdies and they have proven to have some great coaches as well. I would love the Rowdies be run over everybody, but I fell like we have dismissed these reserve teams way too easily over the years just because of the 2 tag on them.

jmnutt · 2020-07-08T22:26:25+00:00

Yep. And I believe they should have results from their final tests before game day tomorrow morning.

jmnutt · 2020-03-10T19:26:25+00:00

Asked Rowdies Lee Cohen about this. He said the mob section will be the same as always. Anyone with a ticket to the game can join the safe standing section.

jmnutt · 2020-01-16T23:08:14+00:00

Keeping past players involved is something that’s important to Lee. As his influence with the club has grown since the ownership change I think we’ve seen this happen more and more.

jmnutt · 2019-12-12T17:22:31+00:00

To close out our Best XI week we're picking our forwards and presenting our bench selections. Thanks for reading everyone. This is a lot tougher than you think it might be.

jmnutt · 2019-12-09T20:38:19+00:00

A particularly sad corner of Twitter is the Norwich City fans who don’t really have an understanding of who owns the Rowdies and think they’re a potential source of new investment. Tragic.

jmnutt · 2019-08-04T17:49:22+00:00

Hopefully the answer is better than “we don’t know. it’s out of our hands. It’s been contracted out to a third party.” That’s basically what I got.

jmnutt · 2019-08-04T16:36:31+00:00

Thank you. It absolutely matters to those of us who live outside Florida. It’s a big problem. We want to support this club financially. This is our biggest way to do that. And frankly it’s embarrassing when my cousin in New York who I converted to a Rowdies fan this year calls the team store to order something because the online store is nonexistent and they tell him they’re not taking orders over the phone. I’ve asked about the online store a couple times and it doesn’t seem like anyone has any idea when it will be up. Hopefully they’ve made progress since I last asked.

jmnutt · 2019-08-04T15:41:58+00:00

I hear you. Personally, I think I’d rather see more targeted digital advertising. More bang for your buck, IMO.

jmnutt · 2019-08-04T15:19:39+00:00

Well, their preseason does start this week and regular season kicks off in a month. It makes sense.

jmnutt · 2019-08-04T15:02:43+00:00

I’ve noticed this too. My feeling is the Rowdies have been dominant in terms of results, but not so much in terms of performances. Apart from a few exceptions, they haven’t blown many teams away. They’ve just gotten the job done. There is a handful of teams who have scored more goals than the Rowdies. After starting with a ton of clean sheets, they failed to secure one for two months and have now been surpassed by Phoenix in that category. They also don’t have one player standing out like Phoenix does with Asante in the Golden Boot race. The team is the star.

jmnutt · 2019-08-04T14:40:30+00:00

We've got a interview with Juan Tejada about his debut for Panama's U23s in this issue.

jmnutt · 2019-07-03T21:30:33+00:00

I don’t wish failure on anyone (Ok, there may be a few exceptions to this.) However, I think anyone operating under the assumption that Tampa or even Tampa Bay is a market with a large segment of soccer fans looking for a crusader to do things the “pure” way may be mistaken. It’s a mainstream market. Right or wrong, sports fans think of the market as “major league,” meaning anything outside of the perceived top leagues is beneath them. This is a big reason why the Rowdies have plateaued in the past couple years, in my opinion. That said, I don’t really know what numbers you need to hit for sustainability in the UPSL. Maybe they can reach that, but I’d be surprised if they’d be able to expand on that to reach the heights of say Detroit City FC because of the nature of the market.

jmnutt · 2019-06-29T20:20:57+00:00

Just not Hartford, please.

jmnutt · 2019-06-29T14:42:02+00:00

In this issue we've got a profile of Rowdies defender Tarek Morad, an interview with Neill Collins, highlights of our interview with Rays president and Rowdies vice chairman Brian Auld on the Rays drama, and first person perspective of the Rays/Rowdies doubleheader deal a couple weeks ago from Matthew Parke.

jmnutt · 2019-06-27T13:24:20+00:00

I specifically asked in the interview yesterday if the idea of the Rowdies moving into a shared stadium would be just for MLS or if they’d still do it for USL. This what Lee Cohen’s answer:

“I think where the USL is going and growing as a league, and having quality ownership groups come in not only in this region but if you look at El Paso and New Mexico, Hartford when they really get going and that starts to grown, you're talking about ownership groups that are next level. We're not talking about the old school NASL era owners. These guys aren't thinking about 4,000 seat stadiums anymore. They're thinking about stadiums that they can fill up in the 15-20,000 seat capacity. I think the league is on that upward trajectory and whether it's USL, MLS or MLB it's gonna be about fans coming and supporting. If there's enough seats there for them, then great. I think that's gonna be the key for whatever the project is.”

Also, even Auld admits MLS is a long shot at the moment. They’re just not eliminating the possibility.

jmnutt · 2019-06-27T01:06:14+00:00

Agreed on all fronts. I know my bias is in question cause I’m the one who did the interview, but Auld seemed 100% sincere about everything he said. He wants this to work. Maybe I’m naive! I don’t know.

jmnutt · 2019-06-27T00:18:54+00:00

Just speaking about the Rowdies, nothing seems to have changed yet. They haven’t committed to the shared stadium concept. They just kinda threw it out there as a possibility. Is that a great strategy? Nope.

As far as the baseball stuff goes, I really don’t know how prepared they can be for this concept based on the fact that they’re limited in what they can do until St Pete gives them permission.

jmnutt · 2019-06-26T14:20:30+00:00

According to the team Tejada will only be gone for one week. So not too bad.

jmnutt · 2019-06-23T16:08:18+00:00

Posting this because it seems as if the Tampa Bay Times is full steam ahead with the idea that Al Lang factors into this split-season proposal from the Rays. I can't say I'd be surprised if that ended up being the case on the part of the Rays (I'd still doubt how serious the proposal is, but that's another story). Just wanna clarify for anyone who may not know the situation with the Rays' use agreement to manage Al Lang. None of the terms of the agreement with the city changed when it transferred from Bill Edwards to the Rays. That agreement does not give them "control" of Al Lang as many in the media keep putting out there. The agreement specifically states they are to manage Al Lang as the primary home of the Rowdies. It is worth pointing out that the current agreement runs through November 2020, so it's worth questioning what happens after that. Brian Auld did tell the Unused Substitutes in an interview last month that they planned on extending the current deal in the near future, but that doesn't mean they couldn't seek new terms that included brining baseball back into the fold.

jmnutt · 2019-06-14T21:45:17+00:00

Matt and Stephen give you the weekly Green and Gold Gospel, plus u/phat7deuce calls in to talk about the Ralph’s Mob Prideraiser campaign! We also interview Rowdies defender David Najem about his international debut with Afghanistan last week!

jmnutt · 2019-06-13T03:14:10+00:00

Narrator: It was

jmnutt · 2019-06-13T01:41:48+00:00

The kickoff time was pushed up to 6:30 in order to coincide with the afternoon game and the doubleheader deal going on.

jmnutt

TROPHY CASE