Lets have this be the thread where all of our Aztex's news from now until the season starts can be placed.
I'll just use this thread for this passing thought: When Chivas USA comes back into the league under new ownership, I think there's more than half a chance that they'll be called the LA Aztecs. Is that good or bad for our brand here in Austin? I personally thing it's confusing for people, but while I've never liked the name Aztecs I think we've made too much progress under it to cast it off and confuse people even further. So we'll probably be stuck getting confused for the new (but probably inevitably) lesser LA team.
I agree that we have made progress with the Aztex name. But I wouldn't mind if we shed it. And if we are going to do this at anytime, this would be the opportunity to do it. We could rebrand ourselves as we are going into a new league. It's not like we will lose our previous fans, and we could possibly gain even more fans. Not to mention, the only reason that we are named the Aztex is because it has an ATX in the name. We don't have any any other relationship or connection to the real aztec people. And if LA really does become the Aztecs, then I think there is a good reason to switch names.
I probably should post about actual news now. The Aztex just finished with their first of three USL PRO tryouts. They invited 30 players from a pool of 400 applicants. The roster: Goalkeepers: Hunter Gilstrap (Pittsburgh Riverhounds), Jaime-Ibarra Perez (SMU/Bayamon FC), Brice Krizman (Échirolles, FRA), Jacob Lisseck (Farleigh Dickinson/Real Colorado), Cyrus Mohseni (Chivas USA/Earthquakes U23), Stephen Paterson (Thunder Bay Chill), Matt Silva (Toronto Lynx) Defenders: Roozbeh Djamali (Iran), Uwem Etuk (West Virginia), Nolan Intermoia (Thunder Bay Chill), Tyler Lassiter (Wilmington Hammerheads), Patrick Moder (Lonestar USSDA/Germany), Giovanni Ossa (Southern Wesleyan Univ.), Joshua Phillips (Gonzaga/FC Tucson), Leonardo Sosa (Brazil), Austin Stewart (VA Tech/Dallas Texans), Sean Sommerville (Syracuse/Rochester MISL) Midfielders: Vinny Bailey (Incarnate Word), Zach Barnes (Creighton/), Patrick Huang (UAB), Edmund Owusu-Ansah (Ghana full national team), Travis Pittman (West Virginia), Scott Rojo (Atlanta Silverbacks), Steven Singh (QPR Academy), Ken Tribbett (Drexel), Brad Vanino (Michigan Bucks) Forwards: Whitney Browne (Creighton/Minnesota Twinstars NPSL), Kene Eze (Rutgers/Jersey Express), Brendan King (Chicago Fire), Hilton Ngwa (Fort Worth Vaqueros), Jaime “Chiva” Rodriguez (Tigres U.A.N.L./Corinthians FC), Bryce Taylor (Wilmington Hammerheads), Franck Tayou (West Virginia/Cameroon), Max Toullette (Reading United) You might notice that no former Aztex (is the plural of Aztex just Aztex or is it Aztexs) were invited, because one of the two later try outs will be for former Aztex players (or so I heard). I believe that there were players on our PDL team that are capable of at least being on the roster of the USL Pro team (Seaone, Black)
Im not a fan of the name, personally. I think the ATX highlighted in the name is something you are only made aware of when you're looking at the name of the team when it's written, and then it makes sense (AzTeX). What the Aztex need are people talking about the club. everywhere. all the time. When spoken, the Aztex name has nothing exciting or interesting about it, it's just corny. It's not catchy, it kinda makes no sense except it's either vaguely a nod to the LA Aztecs or precolumbian mesoamerica (way far south of where austin is.) I'd keep the Aztex name forever if we had a soccer specific stadium though.
I'm just saying I would prefer having a SSS over a name change. Ideally both, but if some stadium wizard made the demand that we keep the Aztex name in exchange for a 10k-seat SSS downtown, I'd be down. I wasn't implying one would be dependent on another, it was just poorly worded on my part.
Looks likely to be an East/West Conference set up this year. Here's the current Western teams: S2 T2 Sacramento LAG II Orange County Arizona United Real Monarchs (RSL's team) Oklahoma City Tulsa Austin Colorado Springs With 14-16 home games (last year was 14), I would bet that we'll see the Oklahoma teams twice. Who else would y'all like to see come through twice? Or would you rather see cross-conference visitors like, oh, Louisville? Or FC Montreal?
I'd like to see the MLS sides as often as possible. We get to see their up and coming talent, and it may be a chance for our players to get a little extra scouting.
http://austinaztex.com/2014/10/29/austin-aztex-add-front-office-staff/ Our Front Office is growing!!!
What's the chances former Aztex and quasi-current Chivas USA player Kris Tyrpak comes back to play for Danglish?
I would love it if the Aztex organization is able to pull that off. We would automatically have a great player.
So the Aztex Launch Party is going to be held the 25th, where they are going to announce the MLS affiliate, start selling season tickets, and release the new jersey. For the MLS affiliate, I am more than 90% sure that it will be FC Dallas. Makes sense because of location, and Houston already has Pittsburgh (though have they renewed this year?). IF we get Dallas, then I hope that they will actually loan players out to us, because they have arguably the best academy in the MLS. Who do yall think that we will get?
Word out of Houston and Pittsburgh is they are probably not renewing. In fact, many Houston fans think they are getting Austin.
Well...that changes things. I still hope we get Dallas though. I haven't heard much about Houston's academy, and the caliber of players they would be loaning out to us.
A little late but WE HAVE A TEAM!!!!! (sort of) On Wednesday we signed 4 players to USL Pro Contracts. We signed Andres Cuero (midfield) and Travis Golden (defense) from our USL PDL team. Defender Drew Yates joins us from the Charlotte Eagles and midfielder Lance Rozeboom joins us from the Rochester Rhinos. Its nice to finally have a team. Austin Aztex article on these players.
FYI Kris Tyrpak was taken by San Jose Earthquakes in dispersal draft. I wonder if their new/old coach Kinnear, being from Houston, had seen Tyrpak in the PDL and thats why they took him.
The Crew, in the middle of their own rebranding, are our MLS affiliate, apparently. That's pretty good, I think.
It could be that, and the Dalglish-Houston connection, but it could also be that San Jose scouts the LA teams pretty well due to their proximity. I think Kennedy was a smart pick for Dallas because he's trade bait (god, I hope we don't keep him; we don't need a keeper) but Tyrpak was the best on-field pickup from the dispersal draft.