Yea I've had some time in the last year to familiarize myself with the history of the Flash. The transition of their players to NC Battalion made a lot of sense at the time, and I'm curious to see how they (now as SoCal Surf) continue to take advantage of the resources at their disposal.
Well moving to PDL seemingly puts them in the tree of the league they'd ultimately like to end up in. And they moved to a much nicer stadium in Carlsbad village this season at Army-Navy Academy right off the 5 and the Coaster line, from their old stadium off Hwy 56 in the lower North County burbs. Seems to me they're taking every advantage they can. Hopefully something comes of it. They've positioned themselves well in North County proper to have a nice niche all to themselves serving the North County.
Yes. They finished demolition and excavation of the site at the end of last year and are currently in the process of building the stadium. It is supposed to be ready for the 2018 season, but not sure if that means it'll actually be ready at the start of the season, or if it will require an extended road trip before it is ready. https://lafc.com/lafc-builds-foundation-first-concrete-pour-banc-california-stadium/ Construction cam can be found here: https://lafc.com/live-lafc-stadium-cam/
Got my info from Peter Wilt himself. USA v Serbia Tailgate. Wynalda will phone it in I'm sure. Fox pays too much.
https://www.soccernation.com/la-wolves-fc-hire-eric-wynalda-as-head-coach/ Wynalda was just hired as LA Wolves coach. So are they the ones pushing into NASL? The line between OC and LA gets blurred far too often for my taste.
Well if they're playing in Fullerton they'd actually be in OC. As for the line being blurred, OC is part of the LA Metro Area and of the Greater LA area, so it's not surprising it gets lumped in with LA all the time. "LA" in most contexts is no different than say the San Francisco Bay Area. There's just no "Bay" qualifier to make those in OC feel better.
Obviously the Wynalda stuff could fall through but that is what Wilt wants and has already had discussions with him.
It appears the owners are adamant on naming the team California United FC. So if you like boringly generic soccer names you're in luck.
So lame generic name with no ties to the region... check. Stadium that's been tried and failed by other clubs numerous times... check. Saturated soccer market with far better product on field already in D1 and 2... check. This is going to end well isn't it.
yup, agreed. what a horrible terrible name. It's not the fact they used United, or a dumb state name - in a place where it would rank Top 5 for a world economy...but it generated no fan interest or involvement in an already very crowded SoCal soccer scene. NASL has no room for error at this point and IMO, this was an opportunity wasted.
Not happy with the name. Gotta saying though that California United FC beats Los Angeles United FC of Anaheim.
Maybe they are just setting themselves up for the eventual relocation to Bakersfield, they won't have to change the name.
Could it be an "upgrade" on Wynalda's Cal FC from a few years back? That is what jumped out at me when I first heard the name.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a few of the faces from Cal FC 2012 return. LA Wolves current squad also has 5 former MLS/NASL players already who will likely make the move up. Paolo Cardozo, Chris Klute, Pablo Cruz, Lucas Scaglia, Junior Sandoval. I wouldn't be surprised to see Richie Menjivar (Cosmos), Paulo and Pedro Mendes (PRFC last year), Beto Navarro (Orange County SC) and a few others end up there too.
Any idea why OCSC failed at Titan Stadium? Cause actually it looks like a great stadium with a beautiful pitch. Does it suck location-wise or did front office just didn't pull there weight?
I think a lot of that had to with the original Blues ownership. Those guys were a wreck, pretty sure they re-branded twice in like a five year span. Soon as the team started to play, they sold to the new guy.
This 2012 story sheds some light. After that, they had Dave Snuggs as their GM for an hour and a half, then had a youth soccer guy as their GM. Their coaching situation was always in flux, as was their stadium situation. It was just a compendium of errors.
I'm not sure Titan stadium is the problem, although I don't know anything about how revenue is split and that can make a difference for teams financially on the edge. I think Orange County is the bigger issue. Again, there are so many other options for entertainment, including live professional soccer, that it's not clear what a new team adds.