By Charles Boehm – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 9, 2023) US Soccer Players - The USL Championship kicks off its 2023 season, its 13th in its current iteration, this weekend. Eleven matches across the country will raise the curtain, with 24 member teams in all pursuing the league title currently in possession of San Antonio FC. Next week the 12 teams of its third-tier sibling USL League One get their . . .
Producing elite soccer talent in the USL Championship
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Apr 28, 2021) US Soccer Players - American soccer has taken undeniable strides when it comes to player development. With that comes an increase in the reputation of the young American player in the hallowed halls of Europe's biggest clubs. It wasn't that long ago that getting players from the United States into high-level European environments turned on the . . .
A new project in San Francisco, US pro soccer’s most elusive frontier
By Charles Boehm – WASHINGTON, DC (Apr 1, 2021) US Soccer Players - From its history and location to its name to the fact of its very existence, Treasure Island is a curiosity. Carved out of shallow water next to Yerba Buena Island in the mouth of San Francisco Bay to host the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, it's a monument to the ambitions of the New Deal. Over the decades, the . . .
Why MLS, USL, and other leagues are taking such risks to get back on the field
By Charles Boehm – WASHINGTON, DC (Jul 2, 2020) US Soccer Players - Over the decades, MLS has lent itself to a lot of comparisons. A startup company. A legacy software program. Don Quixote tilting at windmills. The proverbial 800-pound gorilla, and so on. As the league plunges ahead with its MLS is Back tournament amid a steady stream of positive COVID-19 tests among the players on-site in . . .
Beasley plans to join USMNT alums in the USL
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (May 20, 2020) US Soccer Players - Most soccer cultures take their older generations for granted. The deeper the history of the game in a given place, the greater the number of former players who influenced the sport in their post-playing lives. The matriculation of retired players into positions that impact the game in the places they come from is so natural as to . . .
USL tries its hand at improving American youth development with new league
By Charles Boehm – WASHINGTON, DC (May 8, 2020) US Soccer Players - This week the United Soccer League announced details of its USL Academy League, a new national youth competition more than a year in the making which will debut next spring. It's the next step in the league's slow build at the youth level. While its conception predates the closure of the US Soccer Development Academy, it's a . . .
Mark Lowry on El Paso Locomotive’s unexpected year one success in USL
By Charles Boehm – WASHINGTON, DC (Nov 7, 2019) US Soccer Players - The USL Championship postseason is down to its final four as the Conference Finals play out this weekend ahead of the league’s cup final on November 17. Back-to-back defending league champions Louisville City are in the mix, as are familiar names like 2017 regular-season winners Real Monarchs SLC and Indy Eleven. Then there's the . . .
FC Dallas and USL League One
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Dec 5, 2018) US Soccer Players - On Thursday, FC Dallas will unveil the name, logo, and first signing of a new United Soccer League entry run by the Major League Soccer club. The lower division side will bring FC Dallas into line with a majority of MLS teams who operate a team at the USL level to serve as a stepping stone between their academies and the first . . .
Growth, but in what direction? Pondering USL’s future
By Charles Boehm – WASHINGTON, DC (Nov 16, 2018) US Soccer Players - Last week the USL marked the conclusion of its eighth season of existence. On the field, they got a hard-fought championship final between Louisville City and Phoenix Rising in front of a packed crowd at the University of Louisville's Mark & Cindy Lynn Soccer Stadium. The home team edged Didier Drogba & Co. 1-0 in a . . .
USL D3, NISA, and the Third Division
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Aug 15, 2018) US Soccer Players - As deadlines go in American soccer, the one that comes Wednesday isn’t like to get much attention outside of a very small cadre of nerdy soccer wonks. It’s not a transfer deadline. It won’t deliver immediate clarification on a rule or roster. For all intents and purposes, it doesn’t even apply to roughly 50 professional soccer clubs . . .
