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USL Pro Week 6: A Look Back

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By JOHN BOSCHINI

Try as they might, the Wilmington Hammerheads couldn’t stop a Richmond Kickers side that is starting to look unbeatable early in the 2011 USL Pro season.

Two second-half goals from Richmond canceled out an early goal from Wilmington as the Kickers got the better of a match-up between two unbeaten teams.

Antigua Barracuda FC also continued its red-hot run of form with a pair of narrow victories over the struggling River Plate Puerto Rico. Antigua extended its winning-streak to six games while River Plate slumped to its third loss of the season.

Orlando City nabbed a victory over the Dayton Dutch Lions to keep pace with Richmond while Charleston fell to Rochester and could only manage a draw against Pittsburgh.

Here is a look back at the weekend’s action in the USL Pro.

Charleston Battery 0, Pittsburgh Riverhounds 0:Evan Taylor’s ejection eight minutes into the second half halted Charleston’s offensive attack and neither team could capitalize on their handful of chances.

River Plate Puerto Rico 0, Antigua Barracuda FC 2: Christopher Harvey opened the scoring in the 60th minute and Stefan Smith provided some insurance with his fourth goal of the season.

Wilmington Hammerheads 1, Richmond Kickers 2: Ivan Becerra provided the perfect start for Wilmington with a goal in the third minute but goals from Gerson dos Santos and Matthew Delicate gave Richmond the win.

Charleston Battery 0, Rochester Rhinos 1: Tony Donatelli scored in the 25th minute to capitalize on one of the few chances for either team.

Orlando City 1, Dayton Dutch Lions 0: Orlando extended its unbeaten streak to five games thanks to a goal from Max Griffin.

Harrisburg City Islanders 1, FC New York 1: A goal from Kyle Hoffer put FC New York up early but a goal from Jose Angulo denied the expansion side its first win.

River Plate Puerto Rico 0, Antigua Barracuda FC 1: A goal from Orlando Mitchum was enough for Antigua to defeat River Plate for the second time.

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What did you think of this weekend's games? Can anyone stop Richmond? Still optimistic about Wilmington's season? Impressed with Orlando City?

Share your thoughts below

Comments

  1. did you fully read my first post? i was saying maybe one division of the “2nd” level should be so international that perhaps it shouldnt even technically be a US league. Imagine the division w/those 3 PR teams having 2 or 3 other caribbean teams and 2 or 3 florida teams, and technically being PR league with invitees (like TFC & Van in MLS)- though they would play the US division. And while the other division may be strictly US sanctioned, the non-US division would get a CCL invite since they are not primarily US. Makes sense to me. MLB technically has 2 leagues who play each other. I’m proposing the same thing, except one of those leagues would primarily non-US.

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  2. You want CONCACAF to give an automatic berth in the Champions league to a minor league team? Can you imagine UEFA doing that?

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  3. yes, obviously orlando, rochester, and possibly charleston are much better attended teams, and puerto rico. these teams should probably be at the 2nd division and not 3rd. however, i still think there’s some possibility for other regions to grow their soccer through leagues we help form (canada, puerto rico, perhaps other parts of caribbean). i’m really thinking how usl or nasl can help other areas be stronger for more exciting CCL play. The fewer teams at the 2nd div, the better they’ll do in CCL competition. in fact, i think having one division of primarily caribbean and florida teams where concacaf gives the winner of that group a ccl slot would be great for regional growth.

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  4. Both of these leagues (NASL, USL Pro) are ill-conceived. Until they get on the same page with USSF and work together, it’s not going to work. How can you have LA playing in the same division as these Caribbean teams? It desperately needs to be regionalized to minimize costs.

    The USSF tried to force these guys together, and implement higher requirements, but ended up just letting NASL in as the 2nd division.

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  5. you mean that it will fold? that sounds about right. Antigua is too dirt poor to provide thousands of fans to a game unlike PR Islanders. The other PR teams are getting around 150 people to the game. Thats pathetic. I dont see any solid leagues forming in caribbean, which is super bad for CCL long term. USL or NASL should only try areas that have a per capita income of over 20k like PR, T&T, and Martinique. Maybe since most of these are territories of other countries (US, France), perhaps Fifa will look the other way if you have 2PR teams, 2 or 3 strong T&T teams, a team from Martinique, and 2 or 3 Florida teams as one international division of north american league. The other division would have US & Can teams (and Mexicali, why not). Maybe on paper it would be offically T&T league w/invitees…just not called T&T, and be like MLB where the 2 divisions are technically their own leagues. That might replicate atmosphere of CCL…which is what I guess NASL & USL are going for anyway.

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  6. Antigua is making the international Division look interesting. Appears that it will be a fight between them and the Blues to see who tops the division. I imagine that the Division collapses after this year though, which would be unfortunate for a talented Antiguan side.

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