Pittsburgh Riverhounds End Affiliation with Dynamo

They also signed Anthony Obodai who with Ngwenya has past Dynamo ties.

Out of last year's roster the following are confirmed for this season- Angulo, Arteaga, Blum, C'deBaca, Costanzo, Dallman, Flunder, Gilstrap, Katic, Kutney, Marshall, Seth, Vincent.

Kutney is also the CEO of the Hounds. He only played in 1 or 2 games last year. Idk if he's going to move into the FO full time or still try to play some.

McCarthy is a local kid out of the Academy who did a special non professional contract before he went to college. I imagine he'll be back but probably on the U-23 PDL team they just created.

A couple of those guys aren't coming back. Amoo is the only one for sure that I recall off the top of my head. Seamon has been working out with some MLS teams this off season. We not expecting him to return.

Finally, worth noting, the USL roster size limit is 26 players.

 

Was there a kid from Butler HS on the team two season ago-you recall his name?

 

So Vesty, tell us some stuff on the club that we can't learn about on wiki or the team website.

What's the 2014 uniforms look like, shirt sponsor, how's the beer selection in the stadium, what's the supporter's culture like, do you guys tailgate or congregate at a pub, who's your biggest rival, do you play any rivals for trophies, you got any merch to sell, are we so geographically apart that people don't know what to make of the partnership, do you hate Dallas? Etc etc etc.

 

Haha well let's see. This may go long, sorry in advance.

Our 2014 kits are the same as last year. There is a yellow version that looks like this and a black version that's the same just black instead of yellow. The third kit is a blue jersey which I heard this year is going to be different (last year was basically just a blue t-shirt). The Hounds used to have blue as their primary color due to a partnership with Everton a few years ago. They also said they felt like they couldn't wear black and gold like the rest of Pittsburgh sports since they didn't actually play in the city. They used to play about 10 miles outside the city. With the new stadium being downtown they've finally started transitioning to black and gold. I heard next year they're going to redo their logo. We have 3 sponsors on our kits. On the front is #1 Cochran which is a big local car dealership. On the back is Trib Total Media which is a local paper, and the Double Tree hotel. The stadium is sponsored by Highmark which is a big local health insurance company.

The beers in the stadium that I recall are Bud Light, Carlsburg, and Yuengling. I think you could also get Guinness and something else. There is a small bristo in the stadium that has various taps, but you can't take those out so idk what they have (plus it's on the other side of the stadium which I'm rarely on). I'm happy to say beer is only $5 which is crazy cheap.

We have one supporters group at the moment- the Steel Army. I'm actually on the board of directors and help run the SA. While the team's been around since 1999 the SA didn't get started until 2007. We actually formed here on Big Soccer, but I think I'm the only one who posts anymore. From 2007-2012 when the Hounds played at a high school we were only about 20 strong. Last year at the new stadium we saw our numbers explode to close to 100. We're expecting even more growth this year. The Steel Army does everything other supporters groups do albeit on a smaller scale. TIFO's, scarfs, away trips, songs & drums, etc. We tailgate before games and have a march to our section. There's photos of some of this on the website. We also blog and occasionally do a podcast.

The Steel Army has had a really close relationship with the team and ownership throughout the years. We meet with them a couple times throughout the year and work together on various things but still keeping our independence. We've had a bit of a rougher relationship with other fans. Soccer isn't that big in this town and so the typical soccer mom & family crowd that goes to a D3 game have been put off by some of the supporter culture. For example swearing has always been an issue, but now that we've grown in numbers and aren't just a handful of people in a high school things are getting better.

We do sell merch. We have our scarf that we do runs of every year plus t-shirt runs every once in a while. We don't have anything in stock at the moment but should soon-ish. In the past we only sold locally and didn't ship, but with the new interest in us from the affiliation I think I may try to convince our merch guy get into shipping.

Our biggest rivals are Harrisburg and Rochester. We always try to organize away trips to both with Harrisburg being the big one. They call it the "Keystone Derby" whenever we play Harrisburg though as far as I know there's no actual hardware. We've tried to start a cup between a couple supporters groups but it never really panned out. At this level supporter groups kind of come and go. The Steel Army may not be the largest supporters group in the league thanks to Orlando, but we're the most stable.

The affiliation caught us by surprise. Up until a couple days before all indications were that we were going to go solo. I don't think anyone was against partnering with Houston as a club, but there were some folks who in general were worried we would lose our identity and become the lapdogs of an MLS team. Since the announcement most anti-affiliation folks have come around for one reason or another. Now we're all excited to see what the partnership will bring, and more importantly what players we'll get. Most of the people who follow MLS around here are Crew fans. We also have a surprising number of TFC supporters, and a couple DC United. I don't think any of those teams have much of a history with Houston or Dallas so there's not much of an opinion on that rivalry. Those of us with MLS Live will be watching some Houston games this year so maybe we'll pick it up.

 

Sorry I don't remember.

 

TFC supporters? WTF?

 

Some potential players depending on preseason, age, and other factors:

Sherrod, Salazar, Cochran, Ownby, Arena, Litsch, and possibly Deric are the most likely candidates.

Though I'm not sure anyone knows for sure how Dom sees this partnership.

 

Do the Hounds still have that relationship with Everton? IIRC that one of the reasons for blue as a color for the team?

 

Haha I'm one of them. For me the first year they were in the league was the first year I really started to follow MLS so I figured I'll follow them. That turned out real well... I don't know what everyone else's excuse is.

Nope. That relation only lasted a couple years (and even then I feel like it was in name only) then quietly died.

 

Riverhounds coach Justin Evans was on the radio this morning and talked a little about the roster and the Dynamo affiliation. Some relevant info from that-

• The Hounds currently have 18 out of 26 roster spots filled. They're looking to fill up the other spots in the next couple of weeks if/when some of the players they're eyeing at MLS camps are released.
• Looking for left footed players.
• They're 99% sure on 2 Houston players that will be sent to us, but Evans wouldn't say who or what position. Him and Dom are still discussing 2 more.
• Again restated Dom isn't going to force players onto us and demand they play. Anyone from Houston will have to earn a spot.
• That said Dom doesn't want to send guys who aren't going to get play time. (Me: For example we have more midfielders than we know what to do with right now, but we're really thin on defense. I imagine Dom would be more inclined to send a defender since they'd be much more likely to play. Just speculation though.)
• The Hounds will arrive in Houston on Saturday.

 

Time to dig up this thread for an update!

Current Roster
(GK) Blum
(GK) Glistrap
(GK) Hulings*
(D) Katic
(D) Flunder
(D) Marshall
(D) Fekete
(M) Ngwenya
(M/D) Obodai
(M/D) Green
(M) Vincent
(M) Lundberg*
(M) Kerr
(M) Motagalvan
(M) C’deBaca
(M) Kutney*
(M) Dallman
(M) Seamon*
(F) Kinne*
(F) Arteaga
(F) Angulo
(D/F) Seth
(F) Holowaty*

* - Not 100% on these guys but until I hear otherwise I’m keeping them listed.

The Hounds are back from their trip to Houston and it seems like it was a great experience for the team. Training 3 weeks earlier than most other USL teams should do wonders for starting out strong. Last season the Hounds started flat and had to fight out of a big hole for the rest of the season. Trying to not do that again. A number of USL teams just started training today for comparison. While in Houston the Hounds brought 3 trialists with them. Today it was announced they signed one of them, Brian Fekete. Fekete is a defender who played with Orlando City last season. I haven’t heard anything about the other two though they’re still in college so they may show up later in the summer.

The Hounds produced a couple videos while in Houston that can be found on their Youtube channel- http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNo6TZYPaw67RQOheD4DwQ It seems like they’re really bumping up the video production this year (in quality and quantity) which is awesome.

Rumor has it we’ll see the first Houston loans here in Pittsburgh either this week.

The Hounds have 4 (iirc) preseason matches scheduled against local colleges, and one against the Rochester Rhino’s. The first one was supposed to be today but they decided playing when it’s single digits out isn’t a great idea so it’s been rescheduled for later in the month. I’m sure they would’ve loved to stay in Houston. Next match is on Saturday.

Single game tickets are now on sale on Ticketmaster if you happen to be up this way and want to stop by.

Supporters group wise there has been a lot of buzz as the season gets closer. We had our annual meeting the other weekend and had a big turnout. It's a little over a month until the opener so our plans are starting to pick up steam. We’re on track for another big year of growth.

 

Roster guess (17) signed: Angulo (F), Ngwyena (M-F), Arteaga (F), Seth (F-D), C'Debaca (M), Vincent (M), Dallman (M), Kerr (M), Obadai (M), Green (D-M), Marshall (D), Flunder (D), Gilstrap (GK), Blum (GK), Montagalvan (M), Katic (D), Fekete (D).

Possible newbies (2): Cabrillo (F), Dillon (D)

Possible return (1): Seamon (M-D) if he doesn't make Union

Possible Dynamo loans (4-5): Johnson (M-F), Salazar (M-F), Arena (D), Lisch (GK) (possibly Sherrod and/or Cochrane)

Outside looking in (1): Lundberg

 

um, Peter, yah, going to need to those TPS reports on my desk when you get a chance

 

You all might be interested in this-

http://steelarmypgh.com/2014/03/steel-army-podcast-3714-joseph-ngwenya-interview/

Ben talked to recently signed Joseph Ngwenya about his career in MLS, his time in Europe, last year as a part of Richmond’s regular season title and coming to Pittsburgh.

 

Any word on who is going to Pittsburgh on loan?

 

Not yet though I imagine we'll hear something fairly soon.

In non-Dynamo related player news there's a very strong rumour we're about to sign Collins John

 

I saw they practiced at Highmark the other day-must be nice to finally get outside and train in your home city.

 

Yup! We finally have some good weather and it looks like it'll stay that way for a bit. First home pre-season match tomorrow.

 

http://steelarmypgh.com/2014/03/steel-army-podcast-31414-justin-evans/

We interviewd HC Justin Evans and talked a little about the affiliation. He wasn't able to talk about anything real specific, but the relevant part is below-

(paraphrased a little)
Evans: To be honest I just got off the phone with Dom last night and found out who we’ll be getting as far as loan guys, but I can’t say anything- and that’s not me! He said don’t say anything! He’s going to let me know when they can come in, probably either this Sunday night or Monday morning.
Cole: Baring names can you give us any specifics besides they’re soccer players for the Houston Dynamo?
Evans: Just that they’ll be good for us. He’s going to send four players and a possible fifth at some point. I’d say three of the players will make an immediate impact on the team right off the bat.
Cole: Are these players you’ve talked to Dom about that you said “ok I’d be interested in this guy coming to Pittsburgh,” or are these players that Dom’s just says “I’m going to pick and send them to you, good luck.”
Evans: No, we’ve spoken quite a bit. I’ve known about two for a while, and one was a surprise; a pleasant surprise. I think everyone will be excited to see who we get.

It would be great to get the guys for this week. It's out last stretch of preseason games before the season starts. It would be good to get the Dynamo guys integrated before then.

 

Great - it's time! Maybe a keeper, a couple defenders, and middie-striker.

 

Sweet, excited to see some of our reserve guys get time.

 

not sure weve 2 defenders to spare

 

Who could this "pleasant" surprise they are talking about be?

Alex? Servando? - Tyler Deric? Has to be somebody who can prob. start on our team if it's someone their "excited" to get.