Another step forward

In my last post about Mike Ambersley I mentioned the United Soccer Leagues. For those who don't know, the USL are the second tier league in the US behind MLS. USL has been around in different forms longer than MLS, but they never made the big investment made by MLS' founders and they continue to play in the shadow of their big brothers. Many MLS players have come from USL and USL has given some college players a home for some needed additional development. Check out the USL website as there have been some exciting developments in their world recently, further enforcing the idea that soccer is prospering in the US.

The most relevant development to this blog is the announcement that USL will have a new U-20 league. In fact, MLS teams will be fielding squads for this new league. It is great news that there will be another league for up and coming American players to play highly competitive matches. At this point only the New York Metrostars will be fielding a team in this new league, and the players who play in it will not be the same players who play weekly in MLS, but this will give the Metros another place to support and develop area youth.

Good for USL. In many ways they are doing the dirty work MLS doesn't want to do right now.