yazan07

I heard a rumor that the girls made it all up to teach gingers a lesson about believing everything they read on twitter haha.

I mean, I don't imagine Hunter Jumper is that much better than Chad Barson, but still one of them is a college player and the other isn't. Even if they are reserve team players, they still train regularly with the first team and they get reserve matches. College players have much shorter seasons and aren't playing at as high a level. The talent might not be too different, but it seems like it should be. If anyone followed the Open Cup action last night, there were a lot of upsets. 14 of the 16 MLS teams played last night and 7 were eliminated by lower competition. Chicago lost to the PDL Bucks, Columbus lost to Dayton Dutch Lion of USL Pro, FC Dallas lost to Charlotte Eagles of USL Pro, Houston lost to the San Antonio Scorpions of NASL, The Carolina Railhawks of NASL beat LA, NE and Harrisburg City Islanders of USL Pro tied at 0, NE went up three in OT, then let three go past, and then lost in PKs. Finally, after paying to have the game moved to their home stadium, Real Salt Lake lost their match to the Minnesota Stars of the NASL. When top tier teams go down to lower competition, it begs the question "why don't they take this tournament seriously?" But then you can't say a team who pays to have the game moved isn't taking it seriously. It's a berth to Champions League, I would think the teams would put forth their best effort.

Wow, a PDL side beat an MLS team.

Michigan Bucks and Chicago Fire are tied at 2 a piece as the 90th minute approaches in Open Cup play. Any idea if any of our guys are playing?

It's not referencing 20/20 vision as in perfect vision, it's referencing Vision 2020, Akron's strategic plan through the year 2020

So it's MLS supporters week and MLSsoccer.com is doing a special on players and editors' favorite players of all time. I think they are adding them as the week progresses. So far the players that have been recognized are Carlos Valderrama, Brian McBride, and a less conventional pick by Matt Doyle of Sinisa Ubiparapovic. Glad to see the guy get some recognition.

There are seriously people who only show up here when a thread of this type pops up, so that they can offer their expert forecast on why soccer will never be a big sport or even a real sport in the US. They never come to actually discuss Akron soccer, just why soccer doesn't matter and everyone who cares about it is only pretending to care about it.

Woah, Jay Göppingen used to play for Orange County Blue Star! and if you don't know who that is, look it up, it's an interesting fun fact.

Nano started against FC Edmonton in the second leg of the semi final of the Canadian Championship. He was subbed off for Sebastian LeToux in the 70th minute who scored two goals. Mattocks came on for Eric Hassli in the 74th minute and also scored a goal. Whitecaps advance to the final to play TFC.

Well with all of the outgoing players, the roster was looking pretty thin. The only real impact I think players leaving and these players coming in is that the team will be able to run 11 v. 11 practices. I don't expect too much from these guys who weren't on the radar and are just now showing up. Of course I wouldn't mind if they surprised me. It seems like there has been a lot of guys coming in for a year, redshirting and practicing with the team, and then moving on with four years of eligibility. I think it gives us college level players for practice, and gives them a high level of training before they go to another school. It's a mutually beneficial relationship and so I'm not complaining. Also I hope I'm not selling anyone short, that's not what I'm trying to sound like. If a local kid who came out of high school unranked can stick with Akron and work his way into the lineup, again I think that would be awesome.

Well that explains why I saw him in the stands during the last game. Have to wonder if Cristian Arboleda is also leaving since he was in the stands with Akiel.

@sprtswtr: Villanova will serve as the host school for the Men's College Cup to be held on Dec. 13-15 at @pplpark in 2013.

Darlington Nagbe focuses on MLS with international future still yet to be decided

Well Porter has said in the past that the personnel dictate the formation. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we'll have three really good center backs. Maybe he figures with three really good CBs, they can basically be the backline and Dr. Dre doesn't need to track back as much to defend. Porter's right back has always been more of an attacker than a defender, so is this that much of a tactical change? Then, with a four man midfield, some good wingers and a quality center forward, I think maybe we could out-Barcelona Barcelona. Obviously it's very attack-oriented, probably leaves the defense exposed and depends on really good defenders. Really, I don't mind giving up goals as long as we're scoring more. Ideally I'd rather concede none and score a bunch, but scoring goals is fun to watch, especially when Akron is doing it.

Well, we know Mayer, Murrow, and Bonilla are out. Word on the street is Ponikvar has graduated or is graduating this Spring and even though he has a year of eligibility on the table, I think he is just going to move on. We saw McAdams play, so I have to wonder if that was Porter testing him to see what he is capable of as the #2. I haven't heard anything about Jake Fenalson, but I've heard JP is transferring, and I did see him at the game in regular clothes and not on the bench. I think if we had three keeps, Meves, #1, McAdams #2, and Pena redshirt, that would be satisfactory. I also saw Akiel and Cristian at the game in the bleachers. I know they played this Spring season, and I was wondering what was up with them watching the game from the stands. Honestly, all of those players are in my opinion pretty disposable. I think when the freshmen get here, we'll have about 13 or 14 field players who are good enough to start. Porter doesn't ever play more than 13 or 14 field players anyway, but I'd imagine he would want enough players to have two full teams.

I also think the idea that you need to have a British announcer for the game to be more authentic is absurd. That being said, Arlo White does a fantastic job of calling the games for NBC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=playe...;v=umtFT0FkiBk#!

SBI article on Nagbe

That is really good that we have such versatile players. We've seen Brenes at right wing, left back, and last season at defensive midfield, what a great asset to have. Really, Stevenson has been the same, although I think he shines much better in an attacking role than as left back. I think what that means for these guys though, is they probably come off the bench to fill in just about anywhere, or are maybe spot starters.

What did the lineup look like without the guys who were in U-20 camp?

That's not a captain's armband, that's from last season, it was the game where they all wore armbands in tribute to the passing of someone, I don't remember who. They have been passing an armband around though. Captains in the first game were Barson, Caldwell, Gallego, and in the second game were Barson, Caldwell, Trapp. Wasn't there tonight, was someone else a captain?

Don Garber has made it pretty clear he is committed to making NY2 the 20th team. He has visited other cities and met with supporter groups, but I just get the impression that he really wants a second New York team and any other city would just be potential expansion after that in a few years. I would like to see a team in the southeast somewhere since that are has no teams.

I think this team is going to be excellent. Seems like we have so many good pieces, hope it all comes together well. I really don't see how we aren't going to have some real talent sitting on the bench this year with as deep as it sounds like we are. I didn't realized Omari Morris passed up a pro contract (even if it is just TFC) to come to Akron. Really excited for the team this fall when all the new kids show up.

That question around 2:50 about "is there anything you learned in the off season..." anybody want to take bets on the question was referring to? I'm sure Porter doesn't want to talk about that.

Alright, well I tried about ten times to be fancy and just embed the video but I couldn't figure it out so here is the link: