The Aztexan

This is it, today's the day! The first Aztex game ever!

Okay, granted that since we're in our first season (for the second time; this year it's the USL-1 team), we get to have lots of "firsts". We'll get to have another one with the first league game, but that's still more than a month away.

For now, this is it: the first official public game to ever be played by the Austin Aztex USL-1!

The opponent tonight is MLS' New England Revolution, who have been in town all week, training in the warm Texas sunshine. The Revs and the Aztex scrimmaged at least once this week, with the Aztex winning or drawing all 3 30-minute matches.

Supporters group Chantico's Army has a nice match preview, which includes details on lots of the Aztex players who are not yet officially signed. And News 8 Austin has a short video on the Aztex's preparations for the game. As they note, this is the first of a 3-week exhibition home stand. Next week we'll see the Houston Dynamo. The week after that the Columbus Crew will be in town.

Though we've had highs in the 80s the last couple of days, a cold front came in overnight. Highs today will be in the 60s, but temps during the game are forecast to drop from mid 50s to high 40s.

Kickoff tonight is 7:30PM at Nelson Field. Individual tickets are $20 or $30. Chantico's Army folks are gathering at La Palapa at 5:00, and then heading over to the stadium. I unfortunately won't be able to join them, but it's open to anyone, fans of either team. I will be at the game, hope to see you there!

Update: rosters for both teams on the Aztex website.

Labels: exhibition, gameday, MLS, USL-1

It's been a couple of months since we met the first of the PDL expansion teams the Aztex U23s will be playing this year: Midland's West Texas United, aka The Sockers. Now let's turn our attention south, and I mean really south; about as far south as you can get in Texas. There we'll meet the other 2009 PDL expansion team, rounding out the Mid South Division as an all-Texas division: the Rio Grande Valley Bravos.

The team was announced on November 14.

[Director of Business Development Miguel] Puente indicated that the new RGV franchise will look to the tremendous talent that exists locally to build the foundation of the team, and that the organization will also work with the local academies and soccer leagues to implement a reserve youth system.

Less than a month later, the club unveiled their name, logo and new technical director. The colors are good, and the name is excellent (especially compared to the Fockers, er, Sockers).

Prior to Moreira's presentation, the RGV announced that the club will be named RGV Bravos F.C. and unveiled the club’s badge, which has a traditional look and whose theme is representative of the area’s Mexican heritage. The team colors will be blue and gold.

... [Ismael Moreira Braga] played for legendary Brazilian clubs Botafogo, Flamengo and Santos during the 1960's and 70's. In addition, the defender from Rio de Janeiro was selected to the Brazilian National Team on various occasions from 1967–70. ... During his playing career, Moreira played with and against legendary footballers Pelé, Zico, Jairzinho, Gérson, Sebastiao Leonidas, Zé Carlos and Paulo César.

According to the team's website, they will be playing their home games at Valley View High School's Tiger Stadium, in Hidalgo-Pharr, TX (a 5.5 hour drive from Austin).

The new team has been busy with tryouts, on both the U.S. side and the Mexican side of the border.

Over 150 players attended the RGV Bravos FC open tryout held Saturday, February 14 at Reynosa’s Unidad Deportiva Solidaridad, where the USL Premier Development League first-year club wrapped up the first phase of ... putting together the Valley's first professional soccer team.

Mexican soccer players from Reynosa and around the Mexican Republic arrived at the sports complex several hours before the official 9:00 AM registration time. All players were given an opportunity to be observed in game situations by "Moreira" and Assistant Coach Javier "El Gato" Navarrete.

"It was great to see how well the residents of Reynosa responded to the Bravos," said Bravos FC General Manager Miguel Puente. "The true meaning of 'Passion Without Borders' was manifested through hundreds of people waiting in line for the opportunity to showcase their talent."

The border city’s government assisted in coordinating the open tryout in conjunction with Bravos FC.

The seventh PDL squad in Texas, and third on the border: welcome to the league, Bravos!

Just think, some of this year's Bravos (and Heat, Leones, Patriots, etc.) players may be in a good position next year to join the San Antonio USL-1 team that people are starting to talk about...

Labels: rivals, U-23

Here's one for the newer fans of pro soccer in the U.S. It's a topic the die-hards among us take for granted, but which is surely confusing to many casual fans. After I'd explained it to my wife for the thirteenth time, I thought perhaps it was worth writing up.

She never asks it this way, but the question boils down to: Where do the Aztex fit in the soccer landscape in the U.S.? It turns out to be a pretty complicated answer.

You could answer that the Aztex play in the United Soccer Leagues (USL). That would be correct, if not especially meaningful to most people.

That's partly because most people, if they've heard of pro soccer in the U.S. at all, have heard of that other league: Major Leauge Soccer (MLS). Both USL and MLS are professional soccer leagues, but they're totally separate, without much of any official relationship between them (and certainly no system of promotion and relegation). MLS is clearly higher up the scale of what we expect pro sport to be: more fame and more fortune. For example, MLS has players like David Beckham (maybe), Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Juan Pablo Angel.

As I've written before, I personally think a more formal relationship between MLS & USL should be hammered out, but I'm not holding my breath.

When you hear about the Aztex's upcoming preseason exhibition games against MLS teams, that's who they're playing. Even better, the 3 teams coming to town — the New England Revolution, the Houston Dynamo and last season's champs Columbus Crew — are among the best MLS has to offer. (By the way, if you're even remotely considering getting Aztex season tickets, be sure to get them before Feb. 23 to get in on a great package that includes those MLS games.)

Okay, the Aztex play in the USL, that's great. But the next source of confusion is that the the USL itself is made up of not one, not two, but five separate soccer leagues. There's a youth league ("Super-Y"), a women's league ("W-League"), a developmental amateur league ("PDL") and 2 levels of pro league ("Second Division" and "First Division"). Sometimes there are connections between teams in these different leagues, but most of the time they're completely separate.

Here in Austin, as of 2009, we'll have teams in two of those USL leagues. They're both run by the same organization: Austin Aztex FC.

One team is officially called the Aztex U23s, and they began play in the Premier Development League (PDL) last year.

Because PDL teams are mostly college players keeping their game up during the summer break from school, the season is short, lasting from May through July. And PDL players aren't paid; if they were, they would lose their amateur status and be ineligible to play college ball.

The PDL is divided into 8 regional divisions, to minimize travel. This year, the Aztex will be playing in the all-Texas "Mid South Division", against such teams as the El Paso Patriots, the DFW Tornados and the Laredo Heat. The Heat are a formidable team: they were national champs in 2007, and they just barely fell short of a repeat last year, losing in the league final to Ontario's Thunder Bay Chill on penalty kicks.

The schedule for the 2009 PDL season has been announced, but the locations of the Aztex U23 home games haven't been yet. I've heard most will be at Round Rock High School's Dragon Stadium, and that some may also be played in other cities around Austin, in an effort to draw in more fans.

The other Aztex team is new this year, and will be the team most people mean when they talk about "the Aztex" from now on. They will play in the USL's First Division (USL-1). This team didn't "move up" or get "promoted" from last year's U23 squad (though a few of the players did). Fielding a team in this league was the plan ever since the Austin Aztex FC was announced, and the club has been working on building to this since early last year.

The players on this team are not amateurs, they are paid professional soccer players. There may not be superstars with the household name recognition of a Beckham or a Blanco, but the teams are nevertheless stocked with a high level of talent, drawn from all over the world. This is especially true of the Aztex, whose global reach has already brought on six international players, and counting.

The 11 teams that make up the USL-1 span the country, from Miami FC in Florida to the Portland Timbers in Oregon. In fact, 3 of USL-1's teams hail from beyond U.S. borders: the Puerto Rico Islanders, the Montreal Impact and the reigning champions, the Vancouver Whitecaps. The USL-1 season stretches from April to September.

All 15 Aztex home games, plus those 3 preseason MLS games, will be played at Nelson Field. Some USL-1 games, though not all, are televised on Fox Soccer Channel. Online streaming video (for a fee) may be available again from USLLive.com this season to cover the rest of the games.

Hopefully this helps clarify where the Aztex fit in the bigger picture of U.S. (and Canadian) soccer. If nothing else, I can give the link to my wife the next time I need to explain it.

Labels: MLS, U-23, USL-1

Remember: the Aztex USL-1 tryouts are being held this weekend at St. Edward's University (map). Fans are welcome, so come get a preview of some of the talent that will make up the Aztex's first season squad.

There are morning sessions Saturday & Sunday, 9:30 to noon, and an afternoon session on Saturday , 1:30 to 4:00.

Following Saturday's afternoon session, the Chantico's Army supporters group will be meeting at Opal Divine's Penn Field location (right by St. Edward's on Congress Ave.) at 4:30. This will be the first "official" organizational meeting:

Things to chat about are officer elections, by laws, formation of crews, etc. So come down after the February 7 USL1 Tryouts, have a pint, and be a "Founding Father" of Chantico's Army!!

Hope to see you there!

Labels: players, supporters, USL-1

This is fantastic.

Pablo Martinez Pascual, a fan from the Spanish 2nd division team Elche CF, has gotten in contact with Aztex fans here in Austin. Elche is where recent Aztex signing Gifton Noel-Williams played in 2007-08, and apparently he had some loyal fans there.

Following is Pascual's message to us about Noel-Williams. First, in English, excerpted from the email he sent to Chantico's Army (available on the Noel-Williams' player page):

Dear friends at Austin Aztecs:

We’re a group of supporters from Elche Soccer Club, the last team when played Gifton Noel Williams, one of the last players arrived to your team.

Elche is an industrial city in the south east of Spain, at southern Europe, near the beaches of the Mediterranean sea. Our local team plays in the spanish second league, in a country that holds the probably hardest soccer league in Europe, together with italian and english teams.

Here, Noel Williams quickly won a place in the heart of a part of Elche’s supporters because of his permanent fight and great responsability in the field, because of his loyalty and, speciallly, because he scored the most important goal in al the regular season and, probably, in the last ten years of the history of our team: the one that let us win our worst rivals, the heatful Hercules de Alicant, at their own home.

Because of all these reasons, some of Elche’s most faithful fans created a way of love and admiration through the player, than even turned into a kind of local new religion: the noelism. He was soon wellknown as the Mesias, and we made t-shirts showing the historical moment of the goal, where you could read I believe in Noel Williams. One of these t-shirts were given to the own Noel Williams as a present, as your can see in the photograph [at top of post]

So, we would like to be in contact with the fans of his new team, as we did also do with the ones from Yeolvil Town, his last team in England, in order to talk about soccer and, specially, be informed about his sure progression in your team. We think it would be nice to show in Spain the soccer in USA through you and Noel. And, if it’s possible, we would also like to have a photograph of Noel Williams with his new team shirt’s, to show it at our internet’s forum, specially dedicated to him. We’ll be looking forward.

We would also like you to show these letter to Noel Williams, as he can know than, even the club responsibles at Elche have been horrible to him, a great part of the fans have a great memory from him and we even miss him.

A great hi’ from Spain.

The Noelist Church.

And in Spanish, as posted to the Aztex forum on BigSoccer.

'Estimados Señores:

Somos un grupo de fieles seguidores del Elche C.F. El último club de España donde jugó uno de los últimos fichajes realizados por su club, los Austin Azteks: Gifton Noel Williams.

Elche es una próspera ciudad industrial, situada en el Sureste de España (Unión Europea), a orillas del Mar Mediterráneo, y cuyo equipo juega en la 2ª división de la liga española, una de las ligas más potentes de Europa, junto a la Premier League inglesa y el Calcio italiano.

http://www.elchecf.es/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elche_CF

Noel Williams se ganó rápidamente el corazón de un numeroso grupo de aficionados por su gran entrega y profesionalidad, por su lucha y lealtad a nuestros colores, y sobre todo, por haber besado nuestro escudo después de marcar un gol que nos dio la victoria en el estadio de nuestro máximo rival, el Hércules de Alicante.

Como consecuencia de estos acontecimientos, se creó en Elche una corriente de afecto y cariño hacia el jugador,que desembocó en la creación de una nueva religión: El Noelismo. A Noel se le bautizó como 'El Mesías' y 'El Profeta', y se hicieron camisetas conmemorativas donde se podía leer 'Yo creo en Noel Williams'. Una de esas camisetas fue entregada al mismo Noel Williams como regalo. (Véase la entrega de la camiseta en la foto que adjuntamos en nuestro foro)

[photo above]

Por ello nos gustaría entablar lazos de amistad con su club, estar en contacto con ustedes, cambiar impresiones, hablar de fútbol. Sería bonito dar a conocer en España el fútbol de los Estados Unidos de América a través de ustedes y de Noel. Y, si fuera posible, que nos enviaran alguna foto dedicada de Noel con vuestra camiseta para ponerla en nuestro foro. Nos haría mucha ilusión.

Nos haria también mucha ilusion, que de algun modo, le hagan llegar a Gifton Noel Williams, este e-mail, para que conozca que en españa, sigue teniendo a muchos seguidores.

Un saludo desde España.'

fdo: Iglesia Noeliana.

Now that's something cool that you won't see in the NFL.

Labels: internacional, players, USL-1