PROFESSOR DUERR >>

Monday, July 23, 2007

After four straight draws, the mood in the City Stars camp is quite mixed. Many of the players are disappointed that we did not win a few of the games in our most recent stint, but also understand that we are still an expansion team and that we still control our own destiny.

We are now 8-1-8 with 32 points, sitting in second place and trying to concentrate on every game individually. Down the stretch we play Charlotte, Harrisburg and Richmond, so the schedule will certainly have its difficulties as we wrap up our season.

I have returned to health and have managed to make a few appearances off of the substitute’s bench. Unfortunately, I have not scored a goal as of yet, but I did have one cleared off the line in Bermuda and it has been exciting to play again.

Our recent road trip to the East Coast and Bermuda began on July 14 with a trip to New Hampshire. The Granite State is pivotal for the selection of presidential nominees in the United States, so I was looking forward to seeing the lay of the land and testing the political mood in the area.

Unfortunately, however, I was pulled over in my rental car just outside of Logan Airport in Boston trying to catch up with my teammates on our way to Manchester, NH. I was lucky to escape without a ticket and decided to focus on my driving rather than politics.

Our first game against the Phantoms ended in a 1-1 draw. I played the last ten minutes and had difficulty getting the ball in dangerous positions as the time ran out. The Phantoms defended well down the stretch and showed a great deal of heart. Overall, however, we felt hard done by with the penalty decision for New Hampshire that tied the game after we had taken the lead in the early going.

Obtaining any points on the road in this league is a difficult task, but these are the games you must win in order to finish in first place with home field advantage in the playoffs. With another game the next night we did not have much time to dwell on the result and drove to Ludlow, MA for the July 15 match against Western Mass.

I did not play in this game against the Pioneers, but it did little to change the result as we stumbled to another 1-1 draw. The match was a bruising affair with our forward, Gerardo Alvarez suffering a serious eye injury from an elbow in the first half. Again we were disappointed with the draw, but we flew out the next morning to Bermuda to get a little rest and then focus for our match on July 18.

Flying into Bermuda is certainly an amazing experience with some of the most picturesque scenery I have ever seen. The water is light blue and clear right to the bottom, and the snorkeling is certainly magisterial! The island itself is certainly expensive, but the people are friendly and the history and geography is exciting and well worth exploring.

In the lead up to our match with the Hogges, we did some training in the ocean and on a local cricket pitch, both of which were experiences you would not find in Ohio. We were able to spend some time in Hamilton and St George, which are the two major cities of Bermuda, and we were also able to watch Crystal Palace Baltimore play Bermuda on Monday. Overall, I felt like I managed to see almost all of Bermuda’s 21 square miles in just four days!

The game itself, for a 0-0 draw, was actually quite exciting with many chances being created by both teams. Bermuda has improved a great deal over the course of the season and they proved to be a formidable opponent on this night. I played the last 10 minutes of the match and had my most lively performance of the season coming close on two occasions. Again we were disappointed with the draw, but had to move on as yet another game was fast approaching.

After the match, we said goodbye to Bermuda as we flew back to Cleveland in preparation for our top of the table clash with Richmond on July 21. This was perhaps the most frustrating of the four draws as we opened the scoring in the 86th minute only to see the lead evaporate in injury time. With another point under our belt, each player went away to reflect on how we could improve and to ready ourselves for the final three games of the season. My reflection, however, took a different turn and went something like this….

….After being in Bermuda earlier this week, my mind wandered, as it normally does, towards academic matters. I began thinking about USL and how it now operates in four jurisdictions (United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Bermuda). Two of the four, Puerto Rico and Bermuda, are territories and not independent countries, but each has its own distinct heritage, culture and political autonomy. Playing in USL allows the Puerto Rico Islanders and the Bermuda Hogges to showcase their territory and to better their chances of making the 2010 World Cup (even though they are territories, FIFA recognizes some territories and allows them to play even if the United Nations does not recognize them).

This is where, in the sport of soccer, sovereignty becomes blurred. FIFA has 208 members; whereas, the United Nations has 192 member states and we have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in areas that do not have clearly defined boundaries. Soccer, and the current USL set-up, allows us to understand this nuance and to welcome different peoples regardless of their political situation.

To my knowledge, nowhere else in the world do teams from four different associations play in the same league system. Some Welsh teams play in the English lower divisions and the MLS, MISL and NASL have/had teams in the United States and Canada or the United States and Mexico, but never have teams from more than two jurisdictions played in the same system. This is where the USL is unique in the world and represents more than just sport.

Furthermore, there are regions within each jurisdiction that are different and are worth understanding. Francophone’s in Quebec, for instance, have an outlet in L’Impact de Montréal (Montreal Impact) which allows them to showcase local culture and identity.

USL has something truly remarkable here and it makes me wonder what the future has to offer. Not too long ago, there was a tangible discussion of Canadian and Caribbean divisions within USL. This is not as obvious now, but there is still room for plenty of growth and for USL to become a league that is representative of CONCACAF.

I may not get to witness it in my playing days, but I think it is a very positive step for young people to become educated about the world around them, starting local and moving to national, regional and global understanding. The global nature of soccer can be a great aid in education and USL provides a system where this is increasingly possible.

‘The Professor’ Glen Duerr