MLS Futbolito Miami, Strikers watch party and MagicJack

MLS Futbolito is here in Miami and it starts this Sunday May 22.
Come out and check out this great 4 vs 4 tournament! It's at Kendall Soccer Park located at 8011 SW 127th Ave Miami, FL 33183. This event will have many sponsor booths, activities and you will also be able to be part of Univision's Republica Deportiva TV show. Last year I was able to participate in the celebrity match representing the Miami Ultras. Check out the picture below.

 If you didn't sign up for a team you can always come out and support the Miami Ultras soccer supporters group as we will have a team in the tournament. To honor our current NASL team The Fort Lauderdale Strikers we have decided to wear red and gold.

For those curious, the Ultras line up will have the following players:
Kyle "Train wreck" Kaly prime candidate to get red carded.
The Reece's pieces bros:
Derek "Chocolate" Reese and Zach "Peanut" Reese
Jorge "representing the 561" Marquez
David "The Judge" Ito
Mr. Colombia Alan 'G'
and our benefactor organizer and main Futbolito nut Mr. Mitch "Ultra Cool" Rivera
Coach will be yours trully Uncle Ed
Assistant coach will be Burrito (If they allow pets)

Strikers vs Silverbacks Watch Party 
The Strikers will visit the Atlanta Silverhawks for the second time this season in hope of also getting their second victory against them.
The united South Florida soccer supporters (South Florida United) are hosting a watch party at The Fox and Hound located at 4812 North Dixie Highway, Oakland Park, FL 33334-3929 (954) 491-8869 ‎The game starts at 7:30 pm but fans will be there earlier. You can also see the game streaming live by going to www.strikers.com 
We hope to see everyone out there! Go Strikers!

MagicJack vs Western NY Flash 
In case you didn't know it the MagicJack website is up and running! Just in time for their WPS match versus the Flash which will be televised this Sunday at 7:30 PM live on Fox Soccer.
The two best teams in the league will finally meet to see who will remain unbeaten!
Follow the team on Facebook for the latest information and you can also check them ot on their YouTube page.

Miami MLS Champions League Final watch party, MLS Miami videos and more...

Our good friend and Miami Ultras member Brian Corey has started a new MLS Meetup group with the intention of catching big MLS games and tonight happens to be one of those days as Real Salt Lake will attempt to be the first MLS team to win a Champions League Final. Come join us at Mickey Byrnes tonight, Wednesday at 10 PM. Please come join us and join this awesome group: http://www.meetup.com/Miami-Major-League-Soccer-MLS-Fan-Club/ .

Talk about MLS... I've never won anything before so when I received an envelope in the mail the other day I was surprised I had won a Major league Soccer T-Shirt. Here is how I won it:

Hey Ed, Thanks for pledging to watch Tuesday night's opening match of the MLS season. I'm happy to report that you were one of the first 2,000 fans to take the pledge, so your free t-shirt is on its way! Russ Findlay Chief Marketing Officer Major League Soccer

MLS asked the winners to post a picture of yourself with the T-Shirt on so I decided to wear the T-Shirt to a Strikers game and sent it in. MLS put the picture up on their facebook page! Check it out below:

The push for MLS to Miami continues and it is being talked about in Bigsoccer and other forums not to mention blogs and other media.
Following are videos of recent mentions of MLS Miami, both in Spanish. This one is from ESPN's Jorge Ramos y su banda. They even mention the Miami Ultras.


This video is from an MLS game transmitted on Galavision, one of the Univision channels. They constantly mention MLS Miami in their broadcasts.


Do you want to help bring MLS to South Florida? Then join, follow or visit these sites:

Website: http://www.mlsmiamibid.com/

Blog:  http://mlsmiami.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mlsmiami

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MLSMiamiBid

Email us to: info@mlsmiamibid.com

Don't forget to support your local soccer teams WPS team magicJack and the NASL's Strikers!

Strikers road trip to Atlanta and MagicJack season opener Saturday.

First off we begin with South Florida United's road trip to Atlanta in support of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. In case you didn't know, South Florida United is the umbrella group for all South Florida Soccer supporters groups in our area. So far 5 groups are part of the effort to unify everyone who loves the beautiful game. If you have a supporters group join SFU!
Members of the Miami Ultras and Flight 19 took it upon themselves to organize this first road trip of the season, which also happens to be the first visit of any visiting supporters group to Atlanta.
The Strikers supporters left last night and will enjoy their stay in the greater Atlanta area vising a few cool tourist sites and meeting up with the Atlanta Silverbacks supporters group Westside 109.

Following are pictures of the trip so far.

 

 You can see more pictures and info about the trip by trending on twitter #SFUWorldTour
or follow the following SFU members:
@pabony

@jyjellyfish77 

@Flight_19
The Atlanta Silverbacks will play the Fort Lauderdale Strikers Saturday at 7:30 PM. You can watch the game online by visiting www.strikers.com

MagicJack
WPS team MagicJack starts off their season this Saturday, as they challenge the Boston Breakers in Boca Raton.        MagicJack was set to start their season last week but a thunderstorm canceled the game.
Regrettably very little has been released from the team, notably the website is not even up yet... But what we do know is that MagicJack has a great team that should, at least in my opinion fight for the championship. The team will be playing in Boca Raton on the campus of Florida Atlantic University.
Following is the full home schedule:

Home Schedule
Sat April 23 Boston Breakers 7:00 PM
Sun May 1 Philadelphia Independence 4:00 PM
Sun May 8 Atlanta Beat 4:00 PM
Sat May 28 Atlanta Beat 7:00 PM
Wed July 27 Sky Blue FC (NJ) 7:00 PM
Sat July 30 Boston Breakers 7:00 PM
Wed Aug 3 Sky Blue FC (NJ) 7:00 PM
Wed Aug 10 Western New York Flash 7:00 PM
Sun Aug 14 Philadelphia Independence 4:00 PM

For ticket information visit The FAU womens soccer website
or CALL 1-866-FAU OWLS or 1-866-328-6957

A Day to Remember

It was a Wednesday like no other. Jam-packed with soccer action and news and unfortunately, you won't see any of it on ESPN's Sportscenter.

First off, let's just say that this 4/20 was awesome!

The day began with the Benny Feilhaber saga. Here in the states you see, clubs don't buy players, the league does, then assigns them accordingly. Chivas USA were next in line for a player acquisition, but passed up on Feilhaber. Philly passed up too, leaving the New England Revolution no choice but to become instant title contenders. The MLS is shaping up quite nicely as now New England, New York and DC all have star quality to match the big names on the West Coast.

But back to the soccer on the field. First up was a pair of Premier League matches and the Arsenal-Tottenham game didn't disappoint (unless you are either an Arsenal or Tottenham fan). With title hopes and Champions League qualification on the line, neither team helped their cause in the 3-3 stunner at Tottenham's White Heart Lane.

Then came the Copa del Rey final, otherwise known as the second chapter of the 'Clasico' quartet. Over the weekend Real Madrid and Barcelona tied 1-1 in their league matchup. This matchup was also tied at the end of regulation, but Real Madrid took advantage of the slim chances when Christiano Ronaldo got onto a Angel DiMaria cross and headed home the 1-0 winner. The next two installments will be home and away Champions League semi final games.

And speaking of Champions League, Real Salt Lake took a huge step in becoming the first MLS team to make it to the annual FIFA World Club Cup with a dramatic 2-2 draw in Mexico. RSL came back twice and got a glorious 89th minute equalizer from Javier Morales to give themselves more than a fighting chance to become champions of North and Central America.

All in all it was just as exciting as the World Cup with multiple games going on, news breaking and speaking of things breaking, Real Madrid went back home after the game, boarded a bus, started driving around Madrid with their new trophy and then dropped it and watched the bus run right over it. Classic.

The soccer gods were smiling down on us today!

South Florida Soccer News: WPS, NASL, MLS and more.

We start our weekly review of everything soccer in South Florida, with our also weekly Blog Talk Radio show called Miami Ultras Alive hosted by Pieter Brown and yours truly, Uncle Ed. The show has now been extended to one hour and will be moved starting next Monday to 10 pm. This will happen every week until you get tired of us. We will cover any subject from MLS, WPS, NASL, the U.S. national team and anything you, the listeners, want to talk about relating to the beautiful game.
You can listen to yesterdays show below while you read the rest of this blog. Be sure to leave your comments and tell us if you think we suck or if you have an idea to improve the show.

Listen to internet radio with Miami Ultras Alive on Blog Talk Radio

WPS - MagicJack
One of the first things we spoke about on the show was South Florida's new Women's Professional Soccer team called MagicJack. The team was set to start it's season this past weekend when they visited the Philadelphia Independence but the game was postponed due to a thunderstorm.
MagicJack will now play its season opener at 7:00 pm this Saturday April 23 at FAU Soccer Field in Boca Raton versus the Boston Breakers.
Not very much is known about MagicJack. For some reason details about the team has been limited, but fear not, their website seems to be under construction so that is a good sign... I think.

What we do know is that the teams roster is full of U.S. national team players. On paper, MagicJack's roster is impressive. With players like Abby Wambach, Shannon Boxx, Lindsay Tarpley, Goalkeeper Hope Solo (Who is suspended for comments made on twitter last season) and Australian Lisa De Vanna just to name a few.
For more information visit MagicJack
NASL - Strikers
www.strikers.com has highlights of their April 16th game against NSC Minnesota Stars.



Following is a fan video that depicts the final moments of the game from the supporters section. It gives you a feel of what it was like to be at the game.




MLS - Watch Party
South Florida United invites all soccer fans to join them for the CCL finals at Mickey Byrnes in Hollywood this Wednesday @10pm when Real Salt Lake takes on Mexicam side Monterrey in the first of two games seried to determine the Champion of Central and North America.

The following day there will be another viewing party at Mickey Byrnes, hosted by MLS Miami Bid members, it's Thursday at 8pm between DC United vs. NY Red Bulls.

You want MLS to return? Support our efforts in bringing MLS to South Florida. Follow our MLS Miami Bid. You can help by spreading the word. Email your friends and send them the information below.

Website: http://www.mlsmiamibid.com/

Blog:  http://mlsmiami.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mlsmiami

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MLSMiamiBid

Email us to: info@mlsmiamibid.com

NASLGuru
Don't forget to join www.naslguru.com the new NASL game.
This week the Guest Guru is the President of the Miami Ultras Pieter Brown. 
Follow NASLGuru:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/naslguru
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASLGuru
Share this game with your friends! Find the Guru inside you!

Timbers Army Sing National Anthem

I stayed up a little late last night to catch the opening minutes of the Portland Timbers as they played their first home game ever as an MLS side. To my complete giddiness and satisfaction, the Portland supporters (aka the Timbers Army) performed the national anthem and it was awesome!

Click here if you missed it.

For us Striker Likers, just having the Strikers back in town has been a huge accomplishment, if not a wish come true. But now we must focus and keep bringing that passion we showed last week to each and every Striker home game. We can have an MLS team again if we can prove we will support it.

Let's show the States what the Striker Likers are all about. See you all tonight, let's beat up on Minnesota!

One more thing, in the ASL/APSL days of the Strikers, when the national anthem was sung, we used to always it end off with, "and the home of the STRIKERS!" I did it last week in homage, and I'm gonna do it again tonight, who's gonna join me?

We Americans May Be On To Something

Sometimes, ok most times, we are mocked around the world as not being part of the pure soccer tradition that exists planet wide. Because soccer is overshadowed by other professional sports in America, any involvement we have with the world's game is deemed insignificant.

But alas, take a real look at the history and at the state of the game today and try and tell me that Americans haven't had their influence on world football.

Performance wise, the USA finished third in the inaugural World Cup and in 1950 staged the biggest upset ever in the game.

Moving forward to the NASL of the 70s, we introduced "the Galacticos" a team of stars from around the world. That concept is commonplace these days, but the Cosmos did it first, so there.

Another gem to the world was the NASL ball, star studded for a reason, notice now how the UEFA Champions League has taken the concept for its annual tournament of club champions.

We statesiders deserve some credit, so with the launch of the new NASL (amazing logo by the way) and the re-introduction of classic NASL sides (Vancouver Whitecaps, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and now of course the Fort Lauderdale Strikers), history is coming full circle and the dark ages of American soccer shall be no more.

This rant is really just a reason to put out the thought that the new NASL should play with a cool looking ball. Anyone have any idea what they will be using?

Miami Ultras in New York. Fans visit MLS and watch USA vs Argentina.

ALERT: Be sure to listen to Jorge Ramos y su Banda on ESPN Radio 1450 AM in Miami or go HERE to listen online as Jorge Ramos will have a chat with MLS Commissioner Don Garber. Jorge will be asking Don about a future MLS team in South Florida among other MLS related subjects. Be sure to check it out starting at 4PM and call in to 1 800 Deportes You can also follow and send questions on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ESPN_JorgeRamos
Radio address if anyone wants to go is: ESPNDeportesRadio
 Alhambra plaza - 9 floor Coral Gables, FL 33134
Ultras in New York
Miami Ultras were spotted this past weekend in New York City. A group of Ultras, led by Mitchell Rivera visited the Big Apple to watch the USA vs Argentina match that took place this past Saturday.



But before the USA game Mitch decided to visit MLS digital where he was greeted by David Agrell. The Ultras were given a quick tour and were told that we are the first supporters group to visit MLS Digital. David did tell us that FutbolMLS (The Spanish version of the MLS website) will soon get its own front page link. Mitch asked where does MLSsoccer.com, get the most hits outside the US. David replied that it was from Europe and the Middle East only because gambling is legal and they find that MLS is unpredictable and there is parity in the league.

As you will see in the pictures below there is a collection of scarves there. We found that the Miami Ultras scarf was already amongst the MLS supporters scarves. We don't know how they got it, perhaps from Garber's last visit and meeting with the Ultras in January, but either way it's a good sign of things to come. (Click picture to enlarge)

Below you can see more pictures at MLS, the USA game and around New York.

You want to help bring MLS to South Florida?
Visit our website www.mlsmiamibid.com
You can also follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MLSMiamiBid
and Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/mlsmiami
Have suggestions and want to be part of the group send us an email to: info@mlsmiamibid.com

Former River Plate Star Coudet Joins Strikers

Eduardo "Chacho" Coudet has recently signed with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers which gives a little more meat to the hungry Striker Likers out there waiting for opening day. Coudet, a bleached-blonde defensive midfielder is known for his take out the legs and ask questions later attitude. He peaked back in 2000 when he was an integral part of River Plate's early millennium success.

Most recently he's been a journeyman, last year spending the season with MLS debutantes Philadelphia Union.

One thing's for sure, his hair will continue to be bleached. Just kidding, expect to see some hardcore River supporters out there, and many other Argentines. Coudet played for a total of 5 Argentinean clubs including River Plate, San Lorenzo, Rosario Central, Platense and Colon.

Not a star signing by any means, but should be fun to watch as he throws elbows, goes into tackles with both feet and yells at the referees constantly.

South Florida Soccer News: WPS, Strikers, MLS and more.

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers continue to make noise in our community this time with a successful charity event where a large crowd helped raise money for the Red Cross relief efforts in Japan.

Stars of the ATP Tour in Miami to play the Sony Ericsson Open joined with the NASL's Fort Lauderdale Strikers to help raise funds and awareness for Japanese relief. The exhibition soccer match ended in a 5-2 Striker victory. The goals for the tennis stars were scored by Marcos Baghdatis and Andy Murray. The Tennis stars were captained by Novak Djokovic.

You can read more at www.strikers.com
Other news sources covering this event follow:
ESPN
NY Times
ATP (Picture)
Sony Ericcson Open
and even the Bangkok Post
More pictures at DEPORTadas (Spanish)
NASL 

MLS
We have all heard about Chad Ochocinco and his latest tryout with MLS side Sporting Kansas City. But did you know he was practicing with the Strikers before his tryout?

The first true test came when Ochocinco joined several of the Strikers players for a friendly kickaround at their stadium. Suffice to say, he didn’t disappoint despite going up against the likes of central defender Zach Kirby, a former Los Angeles Galaxy draft pick, and veteran goalkeeper Nic Platter, who’s faced his fair share of players during six season in division two soccer in the U.S.

Read more about Ochocinco's MLS Tryout
To view his tryout Live go HERE

WPS
News out of MagicJack (Formerly Washington Freedom, we think?) is almost hard to come by. The season is set to start and details are still sketchy. We know the team will play in Boca Raton at FAU but no real marketing has taken place. We were able to stumble on the following:

Potomac Soccer Wire was fortunate enough to catch up with Borislow in Richmond, Va. last Sunday, where his “other team,” the Palm Beach MagicJacks 96/97 side which features his daughter Kylie, won top honors in Under-14 competition at the Jefferson Cup youth tournament.

Following is the video:





We will try to give you further information once we get it.
The possible roster of the team can be found HERE

Strikers vs Red Bulls in pictures.

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers played their first scrimmage yesterday at Lockhart Stadium against the New York Red Bulls. For a team that has only been working together for less than a week they played well against a Red Bulls team stacked with stars such as French forward Thierry Henry and Mexican defender Rafael Marquez. In the end the score was 2-0 in favor of the Red Bulls. Read more about the game at www.strikers.com  or go to newyorkredbulls.com
You can also read an article written by Jeff Rusnack of the Sun Sentinel 
Here is the complete game video courtesy of MLS.com:




Following are a number of fan pictures and video:

Special thanks to Miami Ultras Mitchell Rivera for the pictures.
You can also visit the following sites and view their pictures of the Strikers vs Red Bulls game:
http://fllstrikers.net/
http://www.thepursuitofvictory.com/2011/02/strikers-vs-red-bulls.html
http://www.newyorkredbulls.com/content/friendly-red-bulls-v-strikers
http://www.miamisoccerfan.com/Soccer/Home/Entries/2011/2/28_Strikers_preseason_game_1.html