Being a Rowdies season ticket holder, I can vouch that the July and August matches are usually either incredibly hot or subject to lengthy rain delays, and as much as the late Fall games would be fun from a climate standpoint, I don't think this is an altogether great idea for a couple reasons. Firstly, the Spring champion is automatically awarded hosting rights for the championship match. Where's the motivation for that club to do anything in Fall besides remain healthy? Secondly, while eliminating playoffs appeals to the hardcore soccer purists, I'm not quite sure this league is at a point where it can afford to tell the fanbases of 77% of it's clubs that their games are essentially pointless. If this is going to be the format, then homefield should be awarded to the season winner with the most aggregate points. Make the Spring winner stay competitive to secure the extra home game/revenue.

Nice win for the Rowdies, getting 3 points on the road by beating a team they should beat, keeping their focus late and bagging a deciding goal. Club is heading into a huge week starting tomorrow, when they go away to Jacksonville for a US Open Cup match, then "welcome" Minnesota to town on Friday, and, pending the result of the Jacksonville match, hosting the Colorado Rapids next Tuesday...

well, Montreal is definitely well outside a spot now, 7 pts behind Tampa Bay and Ft. Lauderdale. After FCTB conceded yet another stoppage time equalizer last Wednesday, the Strikers traveled to St. Petersburg and saw their seven game unbeaten streak shattered by FCTB in a 4-2 loss that was not as close as even that scoreline indicates. Next up, FCTB travels to Puerto Rico before hosting Bolton Wanderers in an exhibition on July 14

If FCTB gets their issues in the attacking third sorted out, they should move up the table fast - they held possession and controlled much of the game at Montreal in poor conditions, the defense is much improved over last year, and GK Sattler has 2 clean sheets and one defender of the week award in the first 3 weeks of the season. Puerto Rico was impressive when they played here and looks like the best team in the league right now. After that, it's wide open, but Montreal has really underwhelmed. As a FCTB fan, I'm eager to see what's going to give this weekend - Atlanta's D, which has conceded the most goals, or FCTB's O, which has scored the least.

I'm a season-ticket holder for FC Tampa Bay and Saturday's match showed that the money was well spent. Field and atmosphere was great, can't wait to go back this Sunday!

Kuyt is a monster - seriously, he could be shot and killed, but he'd be back on the pitch in 3 weeks. Getting him back will be a huge boost for LFC going into the Chelsea match if that's the target.

As much as I loved Landon's goal(s) (and Bradley's, that was an amazing put-in) I have to say my favorite moment was watching Ghana crash out the way they did, which I considered karmic payback for the horrible way they conducted themselves in the last 20-30 minutes of the game vs. USA

I have no interest in, and won't be, watching, but here's the thing - ESPN stands for "Entertainment Sports Programming Network." The name alone makes it clear what kind of product it is aiming to present, and this shlock seems to dovetail perfectly with that.

It would be nice, Thumper, but the projected capacity of the new USF stadium won't accomodate what the Rowdies are averaging now, nor what they hope to draw in the future. Seemed like a good idea to me though - since the Rowdies said their stadium wouldn't require any taxpayer money, they could have shared costs w/USF on a larger capacity soccer-only stadium. I'm assuming there's some sort of limitation due to available space...

Is that the first time USF has swept a home and away series in BE play?

Geez, Jay Crawford sounds like an idiot (surprise!) in the transcription - "You led the nation in scoring last month, how'd you do that?" Would have loved for DJ to answer "Well, Jay, I scored more points than everyone else." Almost as dumb a comment as Joe Buck's "The Vikings haven't won a conference championship game since their last Super Bowl run" gem. New rule - people named Jay should not be allowed on television.