Previewing This Weekend's Independent Cup Matches

Another group joins the fray. The Southeast Region has to share the spotlight this weekend as the Central Plans Region begins play in the NISA Independent Cup.  

Southeast Region

Soda City FC v Georgia Revolution FC - July 18th @ 5PM ET (Finley Stadium, Chattanooga TN)

The first of two games being played at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga is a UPSL/NPSL battle between Soda City (1-0-0) and Georgia Revolution (0-1-0). A combination of solid goaltending and an opportunistic offense was the formula in Soda City’s win over Savannah Clovers. While there’s no doubt about Jack Pondy in goal, Soda City could use more offensive oomph from Graham Jermstad and company up front.

The Revs had their moments against Chattanooga FC but was ultimately outclassed in the 3-1 loss. Against Soda City, a hope for more offense coming from Todd Fidler, Braham Gamarra and the Brothers Eskay. It will be interesting to see if the Revs use the press more often in this game to force turnovers without having to be as concerned with their opponent’s fire power on the counter. A loss would essentially eliminate the Revs, so expect them to push the action in an attempt to dictate the terms. Will Pondy be a source of frustration?     

Savannah Clovers FC v Chattanooga FC - July 18th @ 8PM ET (Finley Stadium, Chattanooga TN)

A first game loss and staring elimination in face against the best team in the group. – not the way the Savannah Clovers (0-1-0) had hoped things would go. But here they are, and a big effort is what is going to be needed. We saw some flashes of elusiveness with Timo Mesa, and he is going to have to bring his A+++ game and give CFC’s back line fits. Georgia Revolution showed that you can press Chattanooga effectively at times. Will the Clovers be confident to send numbers forward? 

For CFC, we got a taste of what Zeca, Ian McGrath and Brian Bement can do together in the first game. How will they look after another week of training? The arrow is pointing up. One thing to look for is whether newbie goalie Alec Redington can deliver another solid performance. Could a soft goal throw off his game? Will Savannah be able to even get a chance to score a soft goal? 

Central Plains Region

Editors Note: The league notified us that this match has been moved to next weekend, due to local protocols.

Louisiana Krewe FC v Gaffa FC (St. Julien Park, Broussard LA)

The first of a home-and-still home between Louisiana Krewe and Gaffa FC being played in Louisiana. Easy on the traveling for the Krewe, no doubt. Although both clubs are from the Gulf Coast Premier League, they did not face each other last season due to playing in different conferences.  

Gaffa FC from Jackson, Mississippi, have not played a competitive match since last July due to the cancellation of the 2020 GCPL season. Winners of the GCPL in their first season (2017), Gaffa just missed out on the GCPL playoffs in 2019. This is a club that has a mix of veteran players from around the world who are coaches themselves as well as young players from the local area. The team is led by their Manchester-born center back Tom Cosgrave who will be on the roster for this tournament. 

Based in Lafayette, Louisiana, Louisiana Krewe have only played one season in the GCPL but enjoyed moderate success and made some noise by qualifying for the 2020 Open Cup. And yes, the club has had a certain soccer website on the front of its kits. Like Gaffa FC, Krewe have constructed a roster that has many international players but also give an opportunity for local players. Will Krewe continue its successful run of play?     

- John Howard-Fusco

Dan Creel's Quick Hits on NISA 2020

Yesterday, NISA announced the home openers for its spring 2020 season. Some thoughts:

• It’s nice to see they are naming the competition a “season”. Last year, the league went out of its way to not call the fall series of games either a season or bunch of exhibitions. They branded it a Showcase and, throughout the fall, tip-toed a fine marketing line between making it seem important enough to be a season but not *that* important.

• Where’s the full schedule? Home openers are great, but it feels like the league needed to get something out there even though they have a lot of things still up in the air.

• Where’s 1904 FC’s home opener? LA Force is hosting the first game of the season at historic TBD Oval and they even have a home opener scheduled.

• Full schedule is promised to be “revealed” in a couple weeks “featuring its full roster of clubs.” I read that as there are more clubs involved in the spring season than those listed in the home opener media release. If so, again, a bit troubling, that “clubs to be named later” is still a thing when the league announces its home openers and only six weeks before the season starts. Who are these unnamed clubs? Why aren’t they listed in any of the home openers?

• Philadelphia Fury and/or Atlanta S.C. are still prominently featured on NISA’s site at the time of the media release. Philly folded after playing one NISA Showcase match in the Fall. Atlanta has been holding tryouts per its Twitter account but it’s gone silent as of December 27 and the team’s website is gone. Neither club is listed on the new NISA standings page.

• Are they still in the mix? To be honest, it’s worrying if they are and worrying if they aren’t. If they are, it doesn’t feel like the clubs and league have their act together this close to the new season. If they aren’t then, it’s a bit shady to hint at other clubs. Even if there are other clubs about to join, the practical logistics of getting pro teams up and running in such a short time does the league, the other clubs and their fans a disservice.

• A quick historical aside: a big reason why the old American Soccer League collapsed in 1983 was because the league rules allowed a club to let its league franchise go dormant while still having member voting power in league matters. This gave a lot of power to a number of members who no longer had active teams in the league. Those members still held franchise rights over numerous territories and were able to get financially advantageous decisions for themselves to the detriment of the league. I’m hoping that a similar situation isn’t at work with NISA.

• NISA is touting the spring season as a single table format. Now, while I think that’s the best format for any league, I’m concerned that’s going to create a lot of cross country travel. And, that’s going to mean a huge travel bill for each club. That’s costly for any top-level sports team. But, it’s a ton of weight for any Division 3 operation to bear. I would have prefered the league split into two regions with each region playing a single table round robin. There are historical concerns showing that new pro leagues, and especially the clubs in those leagues, buckle and fail due to the amount of expenses necessary to play nationally.

• The playoffs are fine, but Cal United gets the #1 seed because they won the West playoff game last fall? That’s a big benefit for winning a playoff game during a competition that won’t be nearly as tough as the spring season itself. Plus, if Cal United sucks in the Spring, the #4 seed ends up getting a better seeding than top two spring teams. US soccer fans hate when uneven playoffs negate a regular season.

• Bottom line, the NISA home opener release is fine. But, I expect more and NISA has a lot to prove. I want the league to do well and, even more than that, I want the clubs to do well. The league has a duty to take care of the great clubs now taking part in its competition. Because of that, I’m going to continue holding them to a high standard that the US soccer community deserves.

  - Dan Creel

Ranking the NISA Home Openers

For those that missed it, NISA put out a list of the home openers for the Spring 2020 season. With the first match kicking off on the weekend of February 29, we’re sitting 6 weeks out from the kick-off of the expanded season of NISA play with the addition of Chattanooga, Detroit City, and Michigan Stars. The full schedule won’t be released until later this month, so for now, let’s rank the home openers.

- Dan

---

★

Stumptown Athletic vs. 1904 FC (2/29/20)

Stumptown Athletic was the runner up in the East to Miami FC, but with Philly Fury forfeiting the season and Atlanta SC’s 2 wins coming in matches that Philly vacated, they have a tremendous amount to prove heading into this season. The addition of heavy hitters in the East will mean that task will be even harder. 1904 only managed two wins in the stronger West and will be desperate to start off their season with a win. This will be a match most will skip out on and, with Stumptown’s attendance issues last season, the stands will reflect that.

★★

Cal United Strikers FC vs. Michigan Stars FC (2/29/20)

This isn’t going to come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the NPSL, Michigan Stars was the little brother in a conference dominated by big name clubs, including their fellow NISA expansion, DCFC. Stars have a lot to prove in their league and will have to kick off their season on the road, heading to Orange County to face Cal United Strikers. Strikers finished the last regular season in second position in the standings. They followed that up by beating LA in the playoffs on PKs. Kicking off their season against an unproven NISA expansion side should be a recipe for a quick 3 points.

Chattanooga FC vs. Michigan Stars FC (3/14/20)

CFC is one of two big names to cross over into NISA during the offseason. With their ability to fill Finley, it’s reasonable to expect a crazy crowd for this first professional match for Chatta. The club should make quick work of their fellow ex-Members Cup opponent. Speaking of Members Cup, Michigan finished with only 2 wins and a negative 8 goal differential. Not good, man.

★★★

Michigan Stars FC vs. Los Angeles Force (3/21/20)

So I’ve dunked on Michigan Stars in two previous previews, so let’s give this home opener a 3 star rating. I’d expect the club to be on a losing streak and this will be a chance to bounce back, facing a club that had to travel over 2,000 miles. Is anyone else a little troubled the match is scheduled at a location TBD? Seems a little late in the game for details like that to not be settled. Anyway, back to the match, so good chance for a bounce back for the hosts, EXCEPT their opponent was the regular season champ in the West and lost on PKs in the playoffs. LA Force will have faced DCFC at home for their opener (more on that later) and we don’t know the rest of the schedule yet, but without a doubt this appears on paper to be a big win opportunity for LA.

★★★★

Detroit City FC vs. Oakland Roots (3/21/20)

Detroit City FC heads into NISA with a ton of steam after soundly defeating the rest of the Members Cup participants in the Fall. Detroit really matched their support and swagger with solid play on the field and look to be the favorites of this first season in NISA. Their first NISA opponent at Keyworth will be Oakland Roots, a club that nailed every aspect of their rollout in 2019, except for their on-field play. With a new coach and a renewed roster, Oakland will be looking to match their looks with substance in 2020.

Oakland Roots vs. Chattanooga FC (2/29/20)

Everything I said about Oakland in the previous preview, but now they get to host the other big boy expansion club, Chattanooga FC. It’s a long trip from Chattanooga, so maybe that helps Oakland? Especially considering Oakland draws well, something that CFC rarely has rarely seen outside of Detroit. I think this match is sneaky good and should show us where Oakland is headed into 2020.

★★★★★

Los Angeles Force vs. Detroit City FC (2/29/20)

Yet another match to be played at TBD, but WHAT a match. The 2019 regular season winner from the West hosts the bad boys of Detroit on the first week of the 2020 season. This should bring all the eyes on opening weekend. Circle this match.