USLPRO round up from the Wilmington Star News with quotes from Preki complementing his players... Top two teams going in different directions
Sac Bee's coverage of tonight's game, including details on Republic's hot August run... Securing 2nd place
Sac Bee article on the transition from the college to pro game for Alvarez and Guzman... College rivals have learned a lot
The latest USLPro Power Rankings from the Wilmington StarNews, with kind words for Republic... USLPro Power Rankings And I think he should have bumped them to #1. Comparing Republic's record to Orlando's over the last six weeks is like comparing night to day.
Feature article on Adam Jahn and MLS' transition from the reserve league to participation in USLPro: Jahn and Affiliations/Stand Alone Teams I like Jahn's observation on the transition, "Playing in USL Pro is better than the reserve league because you’re getting 28 meaningful games,” Jahn said. “The games are taken a little more seriously.” By my untrained eye, the drop-off from MLS starters to subs tends to be pretty big. I don't know if that is common in other leagues, or maybe I've been a 'Quakes follower for too long. But, this can only be good for the quality of play at the MLS level and the reputation of both leagues. Also, here is a notable post from the another thread that would support this:
I can't wait for the visit next week and some news starts coming out... http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sacramento-shoots-soccer-success-keeping-nba-kings-130612170--sow.html Sacramento shoots for soccer after success at keeping NBA Kings SACRAMENTO Calif. (Reuters) - After securing its perch as a pro-basketball city amid much controversy last year, Sacramento is now aiming to add Major League Soccer, a move that could help revitalize the California capital and mark it as a regional center for sports. ...... "We're never going to build a $2 billion football stadium, and we'll never sell enough baseball tickets for a major league team," said Smith, who was instrumental in bringing the city's minor league baseball team, the River Cats, to town. "But we could afford soccer." ...............
On Fox 40 http://fox40.com/2014/09/11/railyards-a-clear-favorite-site-for-possible-mls-stadium/ Nothing really new. Info on the MLS visit should start coming out soon. Including initial stadium draw-ups
Big ole backgrounder from Ryan Lillis in preparation for this week's MLS visit: Is Sacramento destined for an MLS team? Handicappers like the city’s chances By Ryan Lillis and Dale Kasler I don't think there's much new in there that wasn't known before.
Rodrigo Lopez and Nemanja Vukovic named to USLPro 2014 first team. No SRFC players named to second team. "The finalists for Coach of the Year, Defender of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player will be announced on Wednesday, September 24, with the awards being presented at the USL PRO Championship news conference on Friday, September 26 in Sacramento." USLPro Awards A case can certainly be made for Lopez as MVP and Preki as coach of the year. Hopefully Vukovic as defender of the year, too. Congratulations and good luck to all!
Good article from SoccerAmerica http://www.socceramerica.com/article/60628/sacramento-mayor-kevin-johnson-runs-full-court-pre.html
Tommy Stewart and Nemanja Vukovic are live tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. on USLPro's youtube channel. They interviewed two Harrisburg players today, and it was fairly good - they've had an incredible run this year too. http://m.youtube.com/#/user/USLPRO
Good article on Preki's half-time speech (tirade?) last Saturday. Preki Lopez must have really felt like he was on the hot-seat.
Evan Ream has a good article on Lopez over at SoccerbyIves... Rodrigo Lopez Kind of funny who is in the photograph at the top of the article.
Another feature article from the Bee on Graham Smith and the building of the team. IMO, it's a very good read: Smith, Preki & Lopez
More praise for Preki from the Sac Bee... http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/30/6746812/republic-fc-notes-preki-gets-kudos.html
Salt Lake Trib coverage of SRFC & Justin Braun: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/58469506-77/club-republic-sacramento-braun.html.csp Bold statement in there, "I feel that this club and the city is good — if not better — than a lot of MLS clubs I’ve been a part of," Braun said.
Preki was interviewed on ExtraTime Radio: http://extratimeradio.buzzsprout.com/947/208374-extratime-radio-preki-sacramento-republic-fc
Great article. Worth the read http://www.si.com/soccer/planet-fut...o-republic-mls-expansion-usl-pro-warren-smith
It's easy to get excited about comments like this: "He’s got meetings coming up “that are all MLS related,” regarding stadium naming rights, jersey and corporate sponsorships." I think there is a high degree of confidence in the SRFC front office.
It's a hell of an article. I linked it on MLSN&A too. What's the phrase? Fake it until you make it? Well, SRFC is acting like an MLS team. And I'm not sure they're really even faking it. I feel like -- and they clearly feel like -- they can almost force their way into the league by being so damn good MLS simply can't say no. I think that attitude is right.
i thought this was an interesting bit of news too http://www.socceramerica.com/article/60773/usl-pro-final-outdraws-college-football-in-sacrame.html
Yeah, I saw somewhere else that viewership in Sac of the Notre Dame game went down at 7:30, when the SRFC broadcast began. I guess that should be no surprise.