Miami Ultras in New York. Fans visit MLS and watch USA vs Argentina.

ALERT: Be sure to listen to Jorge Ramos y su Banda on ESPN Radio 1450 AM in Miami or go HERE to listen online as Jorge Ramos will have a chat with MLS Commissioner Don Garber. Jorge will be asking Don about a future MLS team in South Florida among other MLS related subjects. Be sure to check it out starting at 4PM and call in to 1 800 Deportes You can also follow and send questions on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ESPN_JorgeRamos
Radio address if anyone wants to go is: ESPNDeportesRadio
 Alhambra plaza - 9 floor Coral Gables, FL 33134
Ultras in New York
Miami Ultras were spotted this past weekend in New York City. A group of Ultras, led by Mitchell Rivera visited the Big Apple to watch the USA vs Argentina match that took place this past Saturday.

The new Ft. Lauderdale Strikers Jersey and more.

Last night the Fort Lauderdale Strikers revealed their new jerseys! I have to admit they look good. FMB contributor Mitch Rivera supplied us with these photos.

Strikers to unveil new Jersey and sign Eduardo Coudet , plus NASL news and more.

The Strikers continue to make noise. This weekend they released their new logo. Miami Ultras President Pieter Brown made some great observations on the design. Read about it HERE.
Following the logo, yesterday the Strikers announced the signing of experienced midfielder Eduardo "Chacho" Coudet.

"Players like Coudet are very hard to find, his professional experience will be a great addition to our team. We will look to his leadership this season," said Head Coach Daryl Shore.
Coudet, 36, is a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina where he began his professional career in 1993 with Platense. In 1999, Coudet signed with one of the Argentine giants, River Plate, and would go on to win three league titles. Coudet has played professionally in Argentina, Spain, and most recently the U.S. He signed with the Philadelphia Union of Major League in the summer of 2010.

Read more at www.strikers.com

If you think it ends there you are wrong. Tonight, the Strikers will unveil their official team jerseys. The event will take place at The Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood at 7 pm. For more information please see the flyer below.

USA vs Argentina watch party at Mickey Byrne's Irish Pub

Hola Amigos! You wanna see some good futbol? Then come to Mickey Byrne's Irish Pub in Hollywood this Saturday March 26 at 7:00 pm to see the USA vs Argentina game.
This event will be hosted by South Florida United which is an umbrella group that wants to bring all South Florida Soccer groups together. So far the SFU consists of the Miami Ultras, Flight 19 and City of Sunrise Elite. But they invite all groups and fans to join. It's about coming together to celebrate the beautiful game no matter who you support!

Here is a brief description:

Who are the South Florida United?
South Florida United (SFU) is an independent supporterʼs association, supporting all soccer in South Florida, primarily the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL. The group also fully supports and actively pursues the return of a Major League Soccer franchise to the South Florida area. SFU consists of both independent fans as well as supporter subgroups that represent different aspects of South Florida.

The SFU logo represents all of South Floridaʼs soccer fans coming together for one cause: to support local soccer. The nuclear symbol represents the high energy and passion of South Floridaʼs soccer fans joining together to produce an unmatched, unified force, as well as being a nod to the old Miami Fusion. The 3 area codes represent Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and the colors !represent our support of our current team, as well as the most successful team of the past, the Strikers.

How to Join
New members can join online via the SFU -or- subgroup websites, or join in person at any Strikers game or other SFU event. Membership is free.

For more info go HERE

South Florida Soccer News: WPS, Strikers, MLS and more.

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers continue to make noise in our community this time with a successful charity event where a large crowd helped raise money for the Red Cross relief efforts in Japan.

Stars of the ATP Tour in Miami to play the Sony Ericsson Open joined with the NASL's Fort Lauderdale Strikers to help raise funds and awareness for Japanese relief. The exhibition soccer match ended in a 5-2 Striker victory. The goals for the tennis stars were scored by Marcos Baghdatis and Andy Murray. The Tennis stars were captained by Novak Djokovic.

You can read more at www.strikers.com
Other news sources covering this event follow:
ESPN
NY Times
ATP (Picture)
Sony Ericcson Open
and even the Bangkok Post
More pictures at DEPORTadas (Spanish)
NASL 

MLS
We have all heard about Chad Ochocinco and his latest tryout with MLS side Sporting Kansas City. But did you know he was practicing with the Strikers before his tryout?

The first true test came when Ochocinco joined several of the Strikers players for a friendly kickaround at their stadium. Suffice to say, he didn’t disappoint despite going up against the likes of central defender Zach Kirby, a former Los Angeles Galaxy draft pick, and veteran goalkeeper Nic Platter, who’s faced his fair share of players during six season in division two soccer in the U.S.

Read more about Ochocinco's MLS Tryout
To view his tryout Live go HERE

WPS
News out of MagicJack (Formerly Washington Freedom, we think?) is almost hard to come by. The season is set to start and details are still sketchy. We know the team will play in Boca Raton at FAU but no real marketing has taken place. We were able to stumble on the following:

Potomac Soccer Wire was fortunate enough to catch up with Borislow in Richmond, Va. last Sunday, where his “other team,” the Palm Beach MagicJacks 96/97 side which features his daughter Kylie, won top honors in Under-14 competition at the Jefferson Cup youth tournament.

Following is the video:





We will try to give you further information once we get it.
The possible roster of the team can be found HERE

Celebrity Soccer Match. Tennis Stars vs Ft. Lauderdale Strikers

This Wednesday March 23, at 7.PM. the Fort Lauderdale Strikers will play in an exhibition match against World tennis stars such as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokic, David Ferrer and more! (See the flyer below). All proceeds will go directly to the Red Cross and their rescue efforts in Japan. The match will be held at Ransom Everglades High School 3575 Main Highway Miami, FL 33133, admission is free with requested donations to the Red Cross.

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Soccerthon and fan video.

Soccerthon was a fun event organized by the Fort Lauderdale Strikers this past weekend. Following you will find pictures as well as a fan video made by Miami Ultra Mitch Rivera.

MLS Futbolito in Miami, Strikers sign Abe Thompson and more...

MLS Futbolito is coming back to South Florida!
MLS Futbolito is the official 4 vs 4 tournament of Major League Soccer. It consists of a fun soccer tournament that involves 13 communities across the country. This years event in Miami will take place on Sunday May 22, 2011 at Kendall Soccer Park.
Last year yours truly, Miami Ultra member Uncle Ed was invited to play in the celebrity game that was live on Univision's Republica Deportiva. Uncle Ed played with one time Mexican national team player Francisco "Paco" Palencia, ex Mexico goalie Felix "El Gato" Fernandez , Republica Deportiva's Presidente Fernando Fiore and of course the lovely Senadoras, among others. Check out the pictures and video from last years event and check out my ugly mug!
For more details check out last years website and be on the look out for the new website to see what other cities futbolito will stop at. Go HERE

Strikers sign Abe Thompson

The Strikers website announced the signing of last years top scorer Abe Thompson. Here is what they had to say about it:

“Anytime you can bring back a MLS veteran who was your leading goal scorer last season it’s a positive move for the team. We will look to Abe for veteran leadership and hope he will find the same success he had last season.” Said Head Coach Daryl Shore.

You can read more at Strikers.com

Martyn Lancaster's Blog
Fan favorite Martyn Lancaster has a new gig! He will periodically write pieces about life as a Fort Lauderdale Striker. Already he has given fans a couple of gems that will embarrass his teammates ranging from a bad hair cut to skinny-dipping in a public pool!
Be sure to also check out and listen to Martyn's interview on 640 AM.
Looks like Martyn will be a broadcaster and blogger after his soccer career. Read more about it HERE

Strikers Soccerthon
This weekend is the Strikers Soccerthon it will be a 12 hour event with a Strikers pre-season match at 3:30 pm. Following is the Soccerthon Timeline.
Saturday March 19th
Ft. Lauderdale Stadium

8 AM- Public Schools Match (Field 2) 7v7 two 25 min halves
9 AM- Staff Match (Field 2) 7v7 two 25 min halves
10 AM- College Cup (Fields 1,2,3) 11v11 two 45 min halves
2:30-330 PM- Law Enforcement Match (Field 2) 7v7 two 30 min halves
3:30 PM- Strikers Exhibition Match (Field 3)
5:30 PM College Cup 2nd round games two 45 min halves (Field 1,2,3)

Player Pictures by Robert Scorca
Futbolito Picture by Zach Reese

MagicJack gears up for the WPS season.

Very little is known about the new WPS team based out of Boca Raton. MagicJack, as the team is reported to be called, was once the Washington Freedom and has moved to Boca Raton where they will play at the new Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Stadium.

The only information we have been able to gather is what we get off of the WPS site.
Following is some intresting information about the team:

One notable is magicJack's inclusion of two goalkeepers after mutually terminating rights with Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod. Jillian Loyden, formerly of the Chicago Red Stars, and Brett Maron, formerly of the Atlanta Beat, have joined the Florida-based team. Both have backed up magicJack's Hope Solo in goal—Loyden in St. Louis Athletica and the U.S. WNT, and Maron in Atlanta.

The pre-season Roster of MagicJack looks as follows:

Shannon Boxx
Diane Caldwell
Amanda DaCosta
Marian Dalmy
Omolyn Davis
Lisa DeVanna
Tina Ellertson
Ashlee Elliott
Katie Fraine
Sarah Huffman
Meghan Klingenberg
Jillian Loyden
Brett Maron
Nikki Marshall
Ella Masar
Rebecca Moros
Shannon Myers
Christen Press
Christie Rampone
Johanna Rasmussen
Becky Sauerbrunn
Sophie Schmidt
Meghan Schnur
Hope Solo
Lindsay Tarpley
Abby Wambach
Kacey White

From the looks of it MagicJack has a formidable line up with many Womens World Cup stars.
We hope to have ticket information soon.

Soccer Movie of the Month--- Goal 2 "Living the Dream"

This months movie is Goal 2 "Living the Dream". The Second of a Trilogy.
The first episode we showed on this blog back in April of 2010. You can  go HERE to see it.
This second part continues to follow Santiago Muniz (Kuno Becker) in his dream of being a professional footballer. Living in East L.A., he makes his dream come true when one day he is given the chance to try out for Premiership club Newcastle United. This time he has his big chance with Real Madrid. You see him try to deal with his new found fame and finally meeting his mother and little brother.

You get to see glimpses of Real Madrid stars Iker Casillas, Iván Helguera, Sergio Ramos, Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, Raúl González, José María Gutiérrez (Guti), Zinédine Zidane, Ronaldo, Robinho and many more
See IMBD for more info. Following is the full movie: 

Fort Lauderdale Strikers at the Saint Patricks Day parade.

Regrettably, I was not able to attend the Fort Lauderdale St. Patricks Day Parade. The Strikers had a float (Truck) at the parade and Miami Ultras members Mitchell Rivera and Pabony Rivera were kind enough to send us the pictures you will see below. The video was provided by Flight 19 member Derek Reese and features drum maestro Cesar Sfreddo.

More pictures of the event can be seen at Miami Soccer Fan.

Tickets for the Strikers 2011 are on Sale Now! Call today for pricing and availability. Founding Season Ticket Holder Specials Available! Call 954.606.0400 or e-mail info@strikers.com or go to www.strikers.com

Tim Robbie, Fort Lauderdale Strikers President

Tim Robbie came out of the starting blocks like a sprinter.
Already, he has hit the radio stations and papers across town in his quest to get the word out that South Florida's most successful soccer team, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, is back! This afternoon he started off with an appearance at 640 AM Sports radio. He spoke to the Big "O" Orlando Alzugaray about his commitment and mission to make the new Strikers a success. You can listen to the full interview HERE
Following is a video from the Sun Sentinel:



Here are a few more links from Blogs and news sources covering the naming of Tim Robbie as the new Fort Lauderdale Strikers President.

Sun Sentinel
El Nuevo Herald (Spanish)
http://www.fllstrikers.net/
Inside Minnesota Soccer
Strikers.com
FutMob
Miami Soccer Fan
South Florida "Football Fanaticos"
FC Tampa Bay
FC Edmonton
South Florida Soccer

SF Soccer News: Robbie takes over Strikers. Ray Hudson 4 Life campaign and Gold Cup

Here is a recap of South Florida Soccer news for today.

Fort Lauderdale Strikers
The Sun Sentinel announced yesterday that the Strikers will have a press conference today to announce that Tim Robbie will take over as the Strikers President, replacing Aaron Davidson who will now concentrate on his role as NASL CEO.
The press conference was scheduled for today at noon at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. Reports tell us Robbie has been on the job since Monday. Here are a few quotes from today's event.

"I am convinced that soccer in South Florida is here to stay"
"We are starting a venture that has the foundation for tremendous success"
"We intend to put a team on the field that will...compete for a championship in a reasonable amount of time."
Tim Robbie

The Robbie family has been involved with the South Florida sports community since 1966 when they brought in the Dolphins and the old Fort Lauderdale Strikers to our area in 1977. By bringing Tim Robbie into the mix Traffic Sports, owners of The Strikers (And most of the NASL) have brought immediate credibility to the Strikers name as well as someone that is very much respected in our community for his contribution to soccer and sports in general.

For more information please visit www.strikers.com
UPDATE: Full audio at NASL.com http://nasl.com/media/audioPlayer/id/10336

Ray Hudson 4 Life

South Florida soccer fans and supporters group the Miami Ultras have started a campaign to retire the number 4 jersey belonging to former Strikers player Ray Hudson.

While there have been many great players for the Strikers, there has been only one that truly left his mark on South Florida soccer. When you think of the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers one name comes to mind above all others and that name is Ray Hudson. Ray has left his mark on South Florida soccer like no other. He wore the hoops longer than any other Striker, commentated and coached for the Miami Fusion, still lives in Fort Lauderdale and can be heard on Gol TV.

If you want to read more about this and contribute to this noble cause visit www.miamiultras.com
You can also join the Strikers 4 Life facebook page

Gold Cup
The Gold Cup is coming to Miami and matches are set to play at FIU Stadium on June 10. The games will be :

Jamaica vs Guatemala at 7:00 PM

Granada vs Honduras at 9:00 PM

Major League Soccer players that may be involved are:

Jamaican National team
Dane Richards New York Red Bulls
Omar Cummings Colorado Rapids
Ryan Johnson San Jose Earthquakes
Shavar Thomas Sporting Kansas City
Shaun Francis Columbus Crew
Lovel Palmer Houston Dynamo

Guatemala National team
Carlos Ruiz Philadelphia Union

Honduran National team
Marvin Chávez FC Dallas
Roger Espinoza Sporting Kansas City
Mauricio Castro New England Revolution

For ticket information visit Gold Cup.
You can also join the page on  facebook

Hope Solo... Welcome to South Florida. Burrito loves you!

Hola muchachitas y muchachitos! Burrito want to tell you about his new love. Her name is Hope Solo and she gonna play in South Florida! Well, at least that's what SI.com say and Burrito believe anything they say cause they always have the swimsuit issue an if that no give you credibilitys then nothing will!
Si señoras y señores, Burrito's new chew toy is muy bonita and is maybe the best goalkeeper in the WPS. She will play with the MagicJack's Washington Freedom or a name something like that and will play at FAU stadium in Boca Raton.
But before Burrito continue he have to put up picture of Hope in Bikini!
Ay Chihuahua! Bueno, someone say it not Hope in Bikini pero sure do look like her... si? To continue, Hope is coming off of an injury so we "Hope" she is recovering well and will start for the home opener versus the Boston Breakers Saturday April 23, 2011.

Other than Burrito's girlfriend Hope Solo, the MagicJack's Washington Freedom (or whatever their name will be) will have some of the best womens players in the world like U.S. internationals Christie Rampone, Shannon Boxx, Lindsay Tarpley, Abby Wambach and Australian Lisa DeVanna only to name a few.

Here is video of Hope Solo:


For more information on the team follow them at http://www.womensprosoccer.com/dc

About Burrito:
Burrito is the only soccer blogging dawg in the known universe! Since 1998! Join Burrito's twitter or he hit you on head with quesadilla! http://twitter.com/#!/Burritofutbol
Burrito want MLS in Miami! Help us bring a team to South Florida.
Go Here to join the facebook page
or check out the website: http://www.mlsmiamibid.com/

Southern Derby

Morning South Florida Soccer fans. Yesterday Kevin Stephens from Atlanta, GA  sent a email about creating a Southern Derby and here is the email:

Hi,

My name is Kevin Stephens and I am one of the leaders of the Atlanta Silverbacks supporters club “Westside 109”. I am writing your group to see if you would be interested in starting up a fan derby cup competition? We have done this in the past with Charleston and Carolina in the old USL. Unfortunately from my understanding, the original Cup is being used by the USL2 clubs(Charleston,Wilmington,Charlotte). I propose our four supporters groups(ATL, Carolina, Tampa, Ft Lauderdale) buy a new Cup and claim it as the “Real Southern Derby” Cup. I am checking on pricing right now and it seems like if each supporters group chipped in around $50 we can get a really nice Cup. Thoughts????
I’ve emailed you each separately or had a contact email you but once I get a response back from each of you we can all start talking to each other and figure out the details

Here are the Rules of the Cup(from the past):

The Southern Derby is a fan-based cup competition between teams based in the South-Atlantic region of the United States (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama.).
The system of play shall be the league system, with each team playing two matches (home/away) against each of the teams.
The Matches composing the Southern Derby will be the last home and away matches of each team during the regular season unless otherwise negotiated by the members of the respsective supporters club prior to the start of the season.
Points will be awarded on the 3-1-0 systems. 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. Overtime wins are treated like regulation wins an awarded 3 points.
The winner of the Southern Derby shall be the team having the greater number of points obtained in all the designated Derby matches.

If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above criteria, the tie-breaker shall be determined as follows:
Goal difference in all the Derby matches.
Greater number of goals scored in all Derby matches.
Greater number of points obtained in all Derby matches between the teams concerned.
Goal difference resulting from all Derby matches between the teams concerned.
Greater number of goals scored in all the Derby matches between the teams concerned.
It is up to the team that is in possession of the Cup to pay for shipping and handling to get the Cup to the new winners at the end of the current competition.

Thanks,
Kevinstephenskevin@bellsouth.net

This is something all of south florida fans should think about and consider joining in. 

Mitchell Rivera

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers Pub Crawl.

I'm a little late putting up these picture's because it took me that long to recover. The Strikers held their first Pub Crawl which helped fans and staff reach out to soccer fans that support European teams. We met up with Newcastle, Celtic and all sorts of casual followers of the beautiful game.
The schedule was to cover 3 pubs in the Broward/Palm Beach County areas closer to Lockhart Stadium. The team hired a bus that took us to our first stop the Fox and Hounds  located at 4812 N. Dixie Highway only a mile or so from the stadium. Later we headed South to Mickey Byrne's in Hollywood. Finally we arrived at the Lion and Eagle in Boca.
It was an all around good time. I hope this becomes a tradition! Vamos Strikers!