Tuesday’s edition of the Set Piece Analysts’ Daily Podcast is a special distribution. In association with Richard Farley and World Soccer Reader’s podcast – Inside the Six – SPA brings you this round table discussion about the status of the second division league (leagues?) in North America.
As most of our readers know, USL-1 has been fractured in the wake of Nike’s sale of the league to NuRock Holdings. A group of owners – forming the Team Owners Association – broke from USL in an attempt to forma new league. That league has adopted the North American Soccer League (NASL) brand and has assimilated a number of USL-1 franchises. Sitting with ten teams while USL-1 sits with four, it would appear the NASL is likely to be our second division in 2010.
Those appearances are deceiving, says the panel, which includes Set Piece Analyst Kartik Krishnaiyer, Inside Minnesota Soccer’s Brian Quarstad, and Pasion Naraja’s Kristian Vazquez. In this long and detailed assessment of the current stage of North America’s second division, our panel discusses why, despite momentum seemingly moving towards the NASL, we may still be far from a resolution.
Set Piece Analysts’ daily podcast features the site’s best talent talking about all the news in the football world. You can get it via iTunes, from the site’s archive, in the Flash player (top and to the right) or from the inline player below.
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[...] SPA Daily Pod: TOA/USL Situation broken down [...]
[...] This ongoing battle for control between the Team Owners Association (TOA) and the United Soccer Leagues (USL) seems to get more interesting with each twist and turn. However, soccer supporters seems to feel it’s time to get this dispute resolved and the United States Soccer Federation is in agreement. After allowing the two sides to resolve their differences, the USSF has stepped in and most likely will make a decision soon regarding the battle for second division soccer in North America. Even though the momentum seems to be moving toward the NASL in the way of public support, you might be surprised to hear what all panelist agreed will be the outcome. Please go to Set Piece Analysts for the Podcast. [...]
I’d rather have NASL team management freedom, than the 2018 or 2022 Olympics, because that will mean higher visibility for soccer in the US in the long run
[...] their hands. It looks as if the USL has the upper hand legally in this issue and as reported in the podcast I appeared on yesterday, that the USL may win this because of the [...]
[...] America. For a fascinating, wide-ranging discussion of how we got here and where we might end up, listen to this podcast in which Quarstad and Krishnaiyer are joined by host Richard Farley and fellow guest Kristian [...]
Jake: I honestly don’t know how much of a chance the U.S. has at the World Cup in 2018. That’s going to Russia, from what I know, and then 2022 could very well go to Japan or Qatar. I think the U.S. only gets one of these if the “new” nations can’t put together a good bid. I just don’t see Japan not putting together a strong bid, should they put their best foot forward.
While I think USSF is concerned, I don’t think FIFA cares much about the US minor leagues, especially when it comes to a World Cup bid. They know the US can put on a good World Cup, if they need to, they’ll come here regardless of what the USL or NASL or MISL or whatever are doing.
I think Richard is right, though, I think they want to go to Russia in 2018, and if they don’t go there, they’ll go to England. For 2022, the Qatar thing has to be very interesting to them, but if they don’t believe it will work (and some of that may be how newbie South Africa pulls it off this summer), they’ll give it to the US.
On the other front, you have to think US soccer wants to see MLS reign supreme here and have everything directly under them if they can help it. They’ve forced the MLS teams to start Academies (at a higher cost than many people realize), and want that to be the developmental system for their young players. I don’t think they want any part of competition with that right now. We’ll see how that plays a role in the proceedings.