USL News Release
Thursday, February 4, 2010
TAMPA, FL -- United Soccer Leagues released the 2010 Premier Development League schedules for the Central and Southern Conferences. The PDL, the top men’s developmental league in North America, opens its 17th season of play in the north central region of the country on May 7 in Denver and its 22nd season of play in the south, the league’s birthplace, on April 30 in Laredo. Also unveiled was the 2010 PDL playoff format.
“Player development has been at the heart of the mission of the league since USL went outdoors in 1989,” said PDL Director of Operations Lee Cohen. “It is one of the primary reasons the league quickly grew from its Texas roots to both coasts and remains a leader in forging future professionals in the United States and Canada.”
The Laredo Heat open their campaign to return to the PDL championship for a fourth time after a fourth straight appearance was foiled in the 2009 postseason in the Quarterfinals by Bradenton. They play host to the Rio Grande Valley Bravos, who missed the playoffs by three points in their debut season last year, on Friday, April 30. Opening weekend continues for the Mid South Division with the El Paso Patriots hosting the West Texas United Sockers the following night.
The Southeast Division opens play the following week when the 2009 PDL Semifinalist IMG Bradenton Academics play host to expansion Fort Lauderdale Friday, May 7. The division’s regular season champion Mississippi Brilla also opens at home, taking on the New Orleans Jesters Tuesday, May 11.
In the Central Conference, the Real Colorado Foxes will host a double-dip with Rochester, playing the conference and Heartland Division opener Friday, May 7 followed by a second showdown the following night. The Heartland’s regular season division champion from a year ago, the Des Moines Menace, start their season on the road against the Springfield Demize Wednesday, May 12. The conference campaign finishes with two games July 25.
The Great Lakes Division opener is the third contest on opening weekend for the conference. The Cincinnati Kings will be the first club to visit the expansion Dayton Dutch Lions, who have a direct affiliation with Eridivisie giants FC Twente, meeting the Netherlands-flavored club Saturday, May 8. The 2009 regular season division champion Kalamazoo Outrage host Cincinnati Saturday, May 15 in their opener while the 2009 PDL runners-up Chicago Fire, one of the league leaders in player development, begin their quest to return to the title game Wednesday, May 19 at home against the Outrage. The conference wraps up play with five games on July 24.
The Fire will have quite a task ahead of them in 2010 as they saw nine former players selected by Major League Soccer last month. A dozen players with Premier Development League experience were chosen in the First Round of the 2010 Major League Soccer draft in January at the NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia. In all, 48 players with PDL experience were taken in the four-round, 64-player event.
PDL 2010 Playoff Format
The contest for playoff spots will be a lot hotter throughout the 2010 season as only two berths from each division will be on the line, 16 total across the league. The divisional representatives will meet for conference tournaments the weekend after the season concludes with the top seed from each division playing the runners-up from the opposite division. The four conference champions will advance to a Final Four championship tournament the following weekend hosted by one of the four participants.
“Creating a shortened playoff structure has allowed us to extend the regular season by a week, a fantastic improvement for the 2010 season that has given the teams greater flexibility building their schedules around the play of the World Cup,” said Cohen. “We are looking forward to another great season, which will undoubtedly be capped by another thrilling postseason, which never seems to disappoint in the PDL given the tradition of upsets.”
Central Conference Schedule (pdf) [+] Southern Conference Schedule (pdf) [+]
Related:
Eastern/Western Schedule announcement [+] Full League Schedule [+]
