NPSL Midwest, Week 6: Preview
Wednesday:
Dakota Fusion FC vs Minneapolis City SC: 7 PM - Jim Gotta Stadium, Moorhead, MN - Magnitude Sports Network
The Crows roll into Moorhead on a tear and any result other than a Minneapolis City win would be a big shock, but the game is played on turf - not on paper - so the handful of spectators braving the heat will be hoping for something more competitive than the 6-0 drubbing handed out at Edor Nelson Field.
La Crosse Aris vs Joy Athletic Club: 7 PM - Logan High School Stadium, La Crosse, WI - No Stream Announced
Aris welcome in the team against whom they have had their best result of the season and they will hope for a repeat, but if Joy avoid the lapses in concentration that led to that tie, they should head back to St Louis Park with all three points.
Sioux Falls Thunder vs Med City FC: 7 PM - McEneaney Field, Sioux Falls, SD - Eleven Sports
Med City visit South Dakota having dropped their first points of the season to Minneapolis City last time out and will have to be careful not to fall foul of a buoyant Thunder side who knocked off Duluth FC last time they played.
Saturday:
Joy Athletic Club vs Minneapolis City SC: 7pm - St Louis Park High School Stadium, St. Louis Park, MN - CCX Media
The latest club to join the fray as derby opponents for the league leading Crows begin their face to face history with a matchup in St Louis Park. Joy Athletic Club will be looking to maintain their momentum following a solid victory in Wisconsin but undefeated Minneapolis City will surely be a tough match and their fans are also expected to be a marked presence on this shortest of road trips.
Duluth FC vs Dakota Fusion FC: 7pm - Duluth Denfield Stadium, Duluth, MN - Eleven Sports
Duluth FC need to try and wrestle some rhythm from their slow schedule to this point and the arrival of the bruised Dakota Fusion should provide Sidney Warden's club with that very opportunity. Fusion on the other hand will step onto the field trying to prove that their defeat to Minneapolis City is not illustrative of their quality as a whole.
Aris La Crosse SC vs Sioux Falls Thunder FC : 7pm - Arcadia High School, Arcadia, WI - Eleven Sports
Thunder heads out to Arcadia attempting to pile on the miseries for their hosts and to prove themselves closer to the playoff spots than the basement of the North, after a dispiriting defeat to Med City and a red card last time out.
Carpathia FC vs Panathinaikos Chicago: 6pm - Carpathia Club, Sterling Heights, MI - Eleven Sports
Carpathia will be looking to separate themselves from their immediate neighbors in the table and apply some pressure on the unbeaten Torrent above them. Both teams achieved close wins last time they played but the hosts beat PAO in their last meeting head to head.
FC Milwaukee Torrent vs FC Columbus: 7pm - Hart Park, Wauwatosa, WI - Eleven Sports
The unbeaten hosts will be looking to reinforce their lead in the division with a win against a Columbus club with a 1-3 record, who also lost their last match up head to head.
NISA's Chicago House AC pays groundbreaking solidarity payment
Six years after US Soccer and MLS went to court to defend their right not to pay amateur or youth clubs after their players are signed by professional clubs, Chicago House AC has decided to do things differently.
The incoming NISA club announced today that it has paid a solidarity payment, believed to be the first in US soccer history, to Joliet, IL's Steel City FC (guests on a recent episode of our podcast) when their player Damien Almazan was signed by CHAC.
Such payments are a universal and very much routine part of the global soccer landscape where players come through youth systems and clubs at lower levels of the pyramid before moving to larger clubs. The mechanism is slightly different, in that it is triggered when a professional player is transferred to another professional club, any club that has contributed to his education and training receives a cut of the transfer fee.
The W League is back
Today, in a move which had been suggested by The Athletic, USL announced a new women's amateur league with an old name.
The new USL W League was unveiled with a Selection Sunday-style stream, together with 8 founding members and a strong trend of organizations whose men's sides are within the professional tiers of the USL system. The old W League folded in 2015.
The eight founding clubs are:
- Minnesota Women's Soccer, a brand-new club which will be more fully unveiled this weekend but which already promises "a women majority owner which will be paired with a unique element of community and supporter ownership" and ownership independent of current organizations.
- Kaw Valley FC will be debuting its women's side in USL W. It's men's side currently compete in the USL League Two's Heartland Conference.
- Chattanooga Red Wolves, currently compete in the Southeastern Conference of the WPSL and are the sister of the USL League One side.
- Greenville Triumph, who have a women's academy but no existing senior women's side, and are the sister of the USL League One side.
- Hartford Athletic, another club debuting its women's side in the new league. It's a sister to a USL Championship side.
- Queensboro FC, has yet to debut in either men's or women's soccer but are slated to begin play in both USL Championship and USL W next year.
- South Georgia Tormenta FC, has a female co-owner but no senior women's side at the moment. It is the sister to a USL League One side.
- Washington D.C., heralded as a former member of the original W-League, DC United also has women within its front office.
The league has projected that there will be 30 members of the inaugural season. Stay tuned for more details, especially with regards to our regions.
What is the Unity Cup? - A Q and A with MapleBrook's Jean-Yves Viardin
The 2021 Unity Cup : MapleBrook 58ers and Friends vs Joy Athletic Club takes place at Maple Grove High School Stadium at 5pm. Admission is free.
Q: What is the Unity Cup?
A: Joy Athletic is coached by a friend of mine and I'm very familiar with the organization and I respect that organization. I run the youth club over here in Maple Grove called Maplebrook. We had a UPSL team. We took a year off because of Covid.
Because it is Joy Athletic's first year in the NPSL. We share players. We had planned to have a game. A friendly game. When all the bad stuff happened in Minneapolis and then we decided not to play in our league it didn't look like we were gonna be able to do it but a date popped open for them and we said “Hey, would you be willing to have a game with us?”
What's really been the hard part with Covid is in the soccer community, we didn't get to see our friends. We're all in different communities, Maple Grove, Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park wherever...
And then all the stuff happened with Daunte and George Floyd and I said I'm gonna do something fun for my community and you know we share a lot of common things with Joy Athletic.
Long story short, I'm gonna start a tradition. We're going to play them, 1 year here, 1 year there. We're gonna have a cup, it's gonna be called the Unity Cup. The whole spirit of the event is to get two communities which have a lot of similiarities, and eventually grow it to a point where we can raise money for charity or scholarships for kids to play soccer.
I didn't have my team, that's why you see Maplebrook 58ers and friends, we invited people from the different clubs in the Cities. They are all people who we feel represent something positive in the community, in and out of soccer – who they are as human beings. Everybody who is on my team is there for a specific reason, above and beyond that they are good soccer players. The fact that we partnered with Joy Athletic is for a specific reason, above and beyond that they are good soccer players. It's a Cup to celebrate Unity, here and in Minnesota and to have an excuse to spend time together. We hope to raise money for good causes and we got picked up by Sanneh Foundation – Tony is a friend of mine. Planet Soccer, our local soccer vendor and the mortgage company that I work for said “Hey, we love what you are doing”
We're doing it in conjunction with our youth tournament, that's gonna be going on during the weekend. It's an opportunity for kids to come watch high level players, we have a whole bunch of ex-pro players on our team that we're part of Minnesota soccer history
A bunch of guys are coaches so their teams will come and it's kinda unifying four or five youth clubs in the area.
Q: Is there any concern that you're gonna impact Joy's NPSL season?
A: No, not really. They have enough players, I'm sure it's a good opportunity for them to pick the younger players and it's really a friendly game. It's not about the score and the result. Our team is on the old side. I think half our roster is 45. It's really an exhibition game, more than anything.
Q: What are the plans for the MapleBrook 58'ers UPSL side going forward?
A: When the UPSL was cancelled, the organiser of Vlora FC – Adi, he organized the Goals Cup. We won that and then after that our boys went back to school so we didn't participate in the Fall season. UPSL was gracious enough to let us carry over our “tuition”, if you would call it that, until next year. So, we will be back next year for sure. We just needed a year off to recover from financial hardships. These teams don't make money. I lose money on both the teams every year, I do it because I love it and it lets me be around people I wanna be around.
Q: The Fury WPSL side were scheduled to play against Dakota Fusion last weekend, was the postponement due to an issue with your side or theirs?
A: I believe there was a Covid issue with Fusion but we are looking forward to playing them this weekend at Maple Grove and have rescheduled the game in Fargo for June 25th.
Q: Are there any players that we should keep an eye out for?
A: We have a pretty good team. We finished in a 3 way tie with Salvo and Mankato during the 2019 season.
Marie Sennes is a good player. Claire Odmark plays for Wisconsin Badgers as a forward. Haley Landrus is also a good player. We have a good squad.
Q: There are no playoffs in the WPSL this season. So why play a team?
A: I considered it because of no playoffs but my commitment is to get these players ready for college. We have alums from our youth clubs that have somewhere to play in Summer between college seasons. I believe 80% of our squad is from our youth clubs. The most fun part is we can show the young kids what they will be able to do next , like in Europe where everyone has their hometown team, whereas in college people can't do that because they are all scattered around.
NPSL Midwest Week 4, Where to Watch
Friday:
Med City FC vs Joy Athletic Club: 6:45 PM - Rochester Regional Stadium at RCTC, Rochester, MN - MyCujoo
Saturday:
La Crosse Aris vs Duluth FC: 4 PM - Arcadia High School Stadium, Arcadia, WI - No Announced Stream
FC Columbus vs FC Indiana: 6 PM - Roberts Field at The Wellington School, Columbus, OH - No Announced Stream
Milwaukee Torrent vs Carpathia FC: 7 PM - Hart Park, Wauwatosa, WI - No Announced Stream
Dakota Fusion vs Sioux Falls Thunder: 7 PM - Jim Gotta Stadium, Moorhead, MN - Magnitude Sports Network
*Note – All Times CDT
NPSL Round Up, Great Lakes and North Divisions - Week 3
NPSL Great Lakes Conference
Panathinaikos Chicago vs FC Columbus
Panathinaikos Chicago came into their second home match of the season on an 0-0-2 record with zero points in the conference. FC Columbus meanwhile came off the a week long break following a 2-0 defeat by Milwaukee. The Nike Sports Complex in Naperville, IL would however see the home side drop their third match of the season by a score of 3-2. Host PAO Chicago will have a bye week this week before facing FC Indiana on the road on June 5th. FC Columbus will host FC Indiana this Saturday night at Roberts Field at The Wellington School.
FC Indiana vs FC Milwaukee Torrent
Great Lakes Conference leaders Milwaukee Torrent headed down to Indianapolis to continue their two match win streak against the Lions of FC Indiana. The Torrent looked appeared to be putting the Lions through the ringer with Tony Doellefeld scoring in the 5th minute before Emiliano Caballero scored 9 minutes later. FC Indiana's Andrew Revanales scored in the 22nd minute which cut the lead down to 2-1. Both sides would score just once more each, Milwaukee on another Doellefeld goal in the 40th and FC Indiana's Ricardo scoring the only second half goal in the 60th.
NPSL North Conference
Dakota Fusion FC vs Med City FC
The home opener for Fusion could not reverse the recent form for either squad as Med City forced the pace through Peter Lange-Nielson's goal in the 2nd minute, but it was Lucas Hart's pressure which secured their second win of the season, with an assist for Lange-Nielson and two goals ( one from a penalty decision which was unclear even after multiple viewings). Any chances for Fusion to fight back were ended when Huseyin Celik was shown a second yellow card, having been booked for unsporting behavior. Mazeed Aro-Lambo completed the scoring.
Duluth FC vs Joy Athletic Club
Duluth opened their season with a late winner in an instant classic. The home team led 2-0 after 20 minutes through James Westfield and Sidney Warden but Joy fired right back through Philip Capudo and had leveled the game before the half-time whistle through Emanuel Iwe. The team from St. Louis Park then took their own lead shortly after the hour mark after an own goal. The final swing of the pendulum saw the BlueGreens tie the match through Dylan Sumner in the 70th minute and Warden then stepped up to cap the comeback and seal the win only 4 minutes from time.
La Crosse Aris SC vs Minneapolis City SC
What could have been a tricky road trip for the Crows, playing against an Aris side which fought back for a tie against Joy on a field even further flung than usual in Arcadia, WI, turned out to be another paragraph in the continued strong start to the season for Minneapolis City. The goals came courtesy of a double from Justin Oliver in the 16th and the 46th minutes and late goals by Kevin Andrews in the 80th minute and Arthur Parens in the 90th. It also featured a City Futures goalkeeper as striker at one point.
Standings after Week 3
The NPSL's Midwest region is made up of three very different conferences, both in geography and length. The NPSL's format typically has most conference playing a double round robin, this results in varying lengths of seasons depending on the conference. That results in the Great Lakes and Rust Belt Conferences playing a 10 game season while the North plays a 12 game schedule.
In the westernmost conference, the North, Minneapolis City leads with 9 points through three matches. Med City FC and Duluth FC have 6 and 3 points respectively, giving all three sides 3 PPG, which is how the playoffs are seeded.
In the Great Lakes conference FC Milwaukee Torrent has 9 points and a 3-0-0 record while Carpathia has a 2-0-0 record and six points, both good for 3 PPG and the two spots the Great Lakes will have in the NPSL Midwest Playoffs.
Lastly is the Rust Belt Conference where just a few teams have started play. On points however FC Buffalo has 3 points after winning their season opener in Rochester while Cleveland SC has a single point after drawing their home opener against the same Rochester Lancers.
-
Where to Watch: USL League Two Week 3
USL League Two Week 3
Friday:
Grand Rapids FC vs Kalamazoo FC: 6:30 PM - Midwest United Complex, Grand Rapids, MI - No Stream Announced
Saturday:
Oakland County FC vs Kings Hammer: 6 PM - Clawson Stadium, Clawson, MI - MyCujoo
Dayton Dutch Lions vs South Bend Lions: 6 PM - Dayton Outpatient Center Stadium at West Carrollton High School, West Carrollton, OH - No Stream Announced
Green Bay Voyageurs vs Chicago FC United - 7 PM - Capital Credit Union Park, Ashwaubenon, WI - MyCujoo
FC Wichita vs Kaw Valley SC - 8 PM - Stryker Sports Complex, Wichita, KS - No Stream Announced
Sunday:
Fort Wayne FC vs Toledo Villa - 2 PM - Shields Field of Bishop Dwenger High School, Fort Wayne, IN - Fort Wayne FC TV
Where to Watch: NPSL Week 3
NPSL Week 3:
Friday:
Panathinaikos Chicago vs FC Columbus : 8 PM - Nike Sports Complex, Naperville, IL - MyCujoo
Saturday:
FC Indiana vs FC Milwaukee Torrent : 4 PM - FC Indiana Stadium, Lafayette, IN - No Stream Announced
Dakota Fusion FC vs Med City FC : 7 PM - Jim Gotta Stadium at Moorhead High School, Moorhead, MN - Magnitude Sports Network
Duluth FC vs Joy Athletic Club : 7PM - Duluth Denfield Stadium, Duluth, MN - MyCujoo
La Crosse Aris SC vs Minneapolis City SC : 7pm - Arcadia High School, Arcadia, WI - No Stream Announced