Thanks to a loyal reader for alerting us to our friends, Down The Byline blog, covering this story after they found a nugget of information regarding a potential play for the USL-1 MVP Jonathon Steele:

Here is the story as told by Mike at Down The Byline:

While cruising bigsoccer today, I came across a thread about USL-1 players that could play in MLS.

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Somebody finally stopped the Montreal Impact and it figures that it would be another Canadian team to do it.

The Vancouver White Caps ended Montreal's dream USL season with a 2-0 victory that helped give Vancouver a 2-1 series aggregate victory in the USL playoff semifinals on Sunday.

First-half goals from Jeff Clark and Eduardo Sebrango provided the margin of victory for Vancouver, which received a shutout from goalkeeper Tyler Baldock, who made his first start of the season in place of suspended goalkeeper Jay Nolly.

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RailHawks midfielder and 2008 season MVP has been named to the USL-1 Team of the Year. Watson, who joined Carolina this season from the USL-2 Richmond Kickers, logged 2136 minutes for the RailHawks in League play and contributed 1 goal and 4 assists. The RailHawks midfielder was named to the 2nd team honor squad
Named to the first team honor roll was former Carolina RailHawks midfielder Jonny Steele, who lead the League in assists this season for Puerto Rico Islanders with 11 "helpers" in 26 matches played. Click to continue reading...

The United Soccer League named it's All-League Teams on Tuesday. I know I don't report nearly as much about the USL as I should, especially given the league's recent success in the U.S. Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League, but here is a chance to get a look at the best the USL has to offer.

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Will this be the week when a Major League Soccer club finally experiences a victory in the CONCACAF Champions League? Both D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo will have a crack at restoring some of the league's credibility in the group stage, though a lot of damage has been done already.
First up, Houston will go on the road Tuesday night to face Pumas in Mexico City. Click to continue reading...

Here are the all-time average attendance standings (1994-2008) for each of the 47 different clubs in USL-1 (and the A-League/APSL prior to that): ALL-TIME USL-1 ATTENDANCE BY CLUB (Active Clubs in Gray) Club G Total Avg. Rochester Rhinos 192 1,962,192 10,220 Montreal Impact 191 1,316,637 6,893 Syracuse Salty Dogs 28 185,806 6,636 Portland Timbers 114 712,789 6,253 Puerto Rico Islanders 71 333,802 4,701 Vancouver 86ers/Whitecaps 204 928,634 4,552 Carolina RailHawks 29 129,768 4,475 Colorado Foxes 50 178,703 3,574 Minnesota Thunder 173 591,538 3,419 Los Angeles Salsa 10 33,405 3,341 Charleston Battery 170 566,825 3,334 Seattle Sounders 209 686,989 3,287 Hershey Wildcats 72 229,615 3,189 Pittsburgh Riverhounds 71 216,978 3,056 Milwaukee Rampage 88 264,089 3,001 Long Island Rough Riders 68 180,995 2,662 El Paso Patriots 102 267,218 2,620 Carolina Dynamo 14 36,474 2,605 Richmond Kickers 128 302,244 2,361 Toronto [. Click to continue reading...

With all of this week's CONCACAF Champions League matches played, several teams established themselves as early front-runners to advance to the next round of the region's most important tournament.

In D.C. United's group, Marathon took the top spot with the 2-0 win against the Black-and-Red. Click to continue reading...

It was another good night for USL teams and another disappointing showing for MLS teams in the CONCACAF Champions League.

The Montreal Impact faced Mexican power Atlante on Wednesday and posted a 0-0 tie to stay in a tie for first place in its group with Atlante.

D.C. United's night wasn't quite as fun.

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While the USL-1 boys from Puerto Rico were huge in thumping Mexican's Santos Laguna 3-1 in the CONCACAF Champions League, yet another MLS team, Houston, stumbled, only getting a draw 0-0 at a very weak San Francisco team down in Panama. Houston should have stuffed them, and yet they barely mounted a real threat. Click to continue reading...

Champions League play resumed yesterday with three goups in action. In United's Group A, Cruz Azul thrashed Saprissa 4-0. The Black-and-Red will look to earn points tonight on the road against Honduran side Marathon. The game will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel at 10 p.m. ET.

The other MLS representative, the Houston Dynamo, played a scoreless draw with Panama's San Francisco to earn a road point.

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Just in time for today's story about the Puerto Rico Islanders' dual runs to the USL regular-season crown and the CONCACAF Champions League group stage, they go out and beat Mexican power Santos in pools of standing water Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Houston traveled to Panama's Rod Carew Stadium and eked out a 0-0 draw in what MLSNET's Dylan Butler notes is the first of four Dynamo games in four countries over the next 12 days.

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The second matchday of the Group Stage is underway, so let's go!San Francisco 0-0 Houston Dynamo 65'Puerto Rico Islanders 3-0 Santos Laguna 65'Cruz Azul - Saprissa 1900 (UTC -7) 1827: Watching the San Francisco-Houston match...San Francisco is laying back and holding out for counterattacks. Dynamo are seeing more of the ball but can't manage to hold it for very long. Click to continue reading...

Soccer America points out today that Columbus is the first team to qualify for this seasons MLS playoffs! See more in Columbus Crew section.

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Which big money MLS player has been a bigger disappointment this season: Dulio Davino, Marcelo Gallardo or Claudio Lopez?

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A TV pundit in Germany has referred to Juergen Klinsmann as "the white Barak Obama". Click to continue reading...

Cruz Azul hosts Saprissa in what is probably the best game of this round tonight. The other Group A game is tomorrow night as DC travels to Honduras to face Marathon. I hope their defense learns how to stop a counterattack between now and then, otherwise the Green Monster is going to kill them...

Houston makes their debut in the group stage, traveling to Panama to face San Francisco. Click to continue reading...

The CONCACAF Champions League continues tonight with three group stage matches. In United's group, Saprissa travels to Mexico to take on Cruz Azul. The Costa Rican giant currently sits atop Group A, while Cruz Azul lost their first game 0-2 against CD Marathon (Honduras). Galavision will air this game live at 10 p.

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The USL-1 Regular Season concluded this past week and the playoffs are set. The Puerto Rico Islanders (pictured above) have won the Regular Season title, and gained the #1 seed in the playoffs. This gives the road weary Islanders a bye in the first round and a chance for now to focus on the CONCACAF [. Click to continue reading...

With the final results of the USL-1 season coming in Sunday night, Carolina is now officially the sole owner of 8th place in the USL-1 table. Atlanta did indeed lose on Sunday night, the result that the RailHawks would have needed to make the playoffs, if only Montreal could have drawn with Minnesota on Saturday, we would have secured a playoff spot. Click to continue reading...

Champions League play continued last night when Honduras' CD Olimpia visited Mexico's Atlante. Playing only four of their regular starters, the home team defeated the visitors 1-0 to put themselves atop Group C along with Impact de Montreal. Read the full report over at concacaf.com.

All teams will play their second matchup of the tournament between Sept 23-25.

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The Islanders have won again. Click to continue reading...

Virtually unknown CFR Cluj beat Roma 1-2 on the road in the UEFA Champions League yesterday! Wow!


CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CONCACAF website
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All televised games shown on FSC.
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Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 16
DC United 0-2 Saprissa - Sap goals by Walter Centeno & Jairo Arrieta. Click to continue reading...

It says a lot about the UEFA Champions League and a lot more about the global stature of Manchester United that for many in Los Angeles the most important game of the week does not involve the Galaxy or Chivas USA, but today's 11:30 a.m. game on ESPN2 that has the Red Devils facing Jozy Altidore's Spanish team Villareal.

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Following a horrendous display in the Preliminary Round, MLS clubs continue to be outclassed by their CONCACAF opponents in Champions League play, as D.C. United became the latest to suffer defeat, 2-0 at the hands of Deportivo Saprissa on Tuesday night.

Saprissa struck on each side of halftime, with Walter Centeno opening the scoring in the 32nd minute. Click to continue reading...

Match Day 1San Francisco FC - UNAMDC United 0-2 SaprissaPuerto Rico Islanders 2-1 TauroWhat a long day at work...I just returned home in time to see the final five minutes of DC United - Saprissa. It's going to be like this, unless I manage to get home early, which of course means that I get to work early. Click to continue reading...

D.C. United is taking on Costa Rican power Deportivo Saprissa tonight in CONCACAF Champions League action at RFK Stadium, while USL-1 force Puerto Rico Islanders are taking on Tauro FC (the same club that eliminated Chivas USA). If you are watching either of these matches, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

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Well as I sit here watching both Chelsea and Liverpool beating on their French opponents in the UEFA Champions League, I must point out that over here in North America the group stage of our own Champions League is starting tonight. After both the New England Revolution and Chivas USA were eliminated in qualifying the only MLS teams left are DC United and the Houston Dynamo. Click to continue reading...

The last few weeks have forced American soccer fans to take note of the Puerto Rico Islanders. The USL-1 side accomplished a feat no MLS side has in eight tries: get a result on Costa Rican soil and defeat a Costa Rican team to advance in a CONCACAF competition. Kendall Jagdeosingh and Cristian Arrieta scored goals [. Click to continue reading...

Well done by an ex-FCD coach. Click to continue reading...

Did you see what happened in the CONCACAF Champions League?

Embarrassing.

New England got beat 6-1 (!) aggregate to Joe Public, a team from Trinidad and Tobago. Chivas USA lost too.

I'm almost thinking the teams threw the games to focus on MLS play. Especially the Revs, one of the best. Click to continue reading...

Following last night's second leg of preliminary round games in CONCACAF Champions League play, United's three opponents in Group A are now set.

CD Marathon (Honduras) came from behind to defeat El Salvador's AD Isidro Metapan 2-1 last night to advance to group play 4-3 on aggregate, while Cruz Azul of Mexico handed Hakook Verdes (Belize) its second seconsecutive 6-0 walloping to advance 12-0 on aggregate.

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The Islanders used two late goals to advance Wednesday Night

Tropical Storm Hanna has reaked havoc on Haiti and it also delayed the start of tonight's CONCACAF Champions League match between Puerto Rico and Alajuelense. For the first time ever a Costa Rican club has been eliminated from a CONCACAF tournament by an American club with the USL-1 side doing the honors.

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D.C. United won the MLS-USL showdown over Charleston in the U.S. Open Cup last night on a goal of true professional quality -- Clyde Simms slipped a long pass through a dummy to Fred, who finished into the sliver of space that Dusty Hudock allowed. (Check the highlights in MLSNET's recap.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

It took a dozen years but D.C. United finally added a second U.S. Open Cup trophy to its loaded trophy case.

The four-time MLS Cup champions downed USL side Charleston Battery 2-1 in the U.

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Below are the collated results for the Preliminary Round of the 2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League. Ties are a two-match, home-and-away series, higher aggregate score wins, and away goals count. If aggregate and away goals are level, a 30-minute extra time period is played with penalties if necessary. Click to continue reading...

A day after amazing achievements for USL-1 sides in CONCACAF Champions League action Major League Soccer continued its pattern of showing that they don't get it by rejecting New York's $200,000 bid for Macoumba Kandji according to Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives. The apparent stumbling block: MLS does not believe any player in USL could possibly be worth $200,000.

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Personal note: Can someone out there - anyone out there - hook me up with a ticket to see Rage Against The Machine on Wed Sep 3 here in Minneapolis, at the Target Center. I very much want to see this. Anyone. Please. Thank you.



Total heartbreak for Oguchi Onyewu yesterday as this team Standard Liege lost 1-0 in the Champions League at Liverpool, giving up the winning goal in the 118th minute. Click to continue reading...