Keeping up with the 4th tier of American soccer is difficult. Clubs form. Clubs disband. They change owners, personnel, stadiums, and even cities, with great frequency. All this happens under the guidance of a mostly part-time, or volunteer leadership that has about a million other things in their lives to accomplish. So it’s no surprise that the League’s structure often isn’t “official” until days before opening weekend. Still, we hard core fans Chattahooligans demand information in the off season (those tailgating menus, nylon flags, and Jacksonville travel accommodations aren’t gonna make themselves). And with the fall addition of five new teams to our region, no one seems to know exactly what the 2012 season or schedule will look like.

But piecing together the various rumors, Facebook photos, and quick mentions from other clubs, we have a fair idea of how our region’s structure should look. We’ve also been reading more about our new members and where they’re located (for those away game trips to exotic locations like Mercedes, TX and Fort Smith, AR). A working picture of these developments can be seen in this Google Map: NPSL Southeast Region Home Fields.

So, with three months until our April 28th home friendly vs USL newcomer, Chicago Inferno, we’re getting a better picture of what 2012 will look like.

As this weekend rolls around and the NPSL National Championships begin, we Chattahooligans are again reminded of the sad fact that our team is not in it. And as much as we dislike the Madison City field, it is a far better scenario to be playing on it than not. So, we’ll hang our heads low and look forward to next season…

The DC United game last week was a great deal of fun, with some entertaining play by both sides, but the result was not what we wanted. Sure, we looked very competitive — with as good a chance to win the game as the U23s had, and far and away better than we looked against them last year — but a third loss in a row was a tough way to wrap up the year. Especially after leading the league for 80% of the season.

So we’ll hold out with our hopes for a better turn of events in 2012. In the meantime, everyone should look in on the NPSL Semifinals going on tonight between the Southeast champion Jacksonville United FC and the Northeast’s Eerie Admirals and then between the West’s Hollywood Hitmen and the Midwest’s Milwaukee Bavarians. The odds seem to be stacked in Hollywood’s favor as they boast several ex-pro and internationally traveled players, but you play the game for a reason. It is interesting to note that none of last year’s Final Four teams returned this year — though all had pretty good seasons.

Some factoids from the Chattanooga FC 2011 season:

The team finished in third place with 17 points — as Georgia Revolution and Jacksonville United tied for first with 18 points, but since they were tied on head-to-head match ups, Jacksonville went through due to their 6 wins over Georgia’s 5…

Chattanooga FC finished with 5 wins, 2 ties, 3 losses in league play, and 8-2-5 overall.

On July 9, 2011, the team lost it’s first match at home in Finley Stadium since May 2009.

The team’s unbeaten streak in regular season league play (13 games) ended on June 4, 2011 in Jacksonville. The last regular season loss in the NPSL Southeast was on June 27, 2009.

In three seasons the team’s record is 20 wins, 5 ties and 10 losses. All under Head Coach Brian Crossman.

This year, the team won it’s first berth in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup by defeating Rocket City in the semifinals and Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves in the 118th minute in the finals.

The team won it’s second ever international match against CF Monterrey’s U20s.

The team played its first professional opponent, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the USL Pro, in the US Open Cup, losing in overtime by one goal (after leading 2-0 after 75 minutes).

Each of the five losses this season were by only one goal.

12 different players scored this season.

Chattanooga, let’s be sure to turn out in big numbers tomorrow night to send off the boys of Chattanooga FC in style as they welcome the DC United U23 team to Finley Stadium for the very first time! This is your last chance to see the guys play before most of them head off home or back to school for the fall. Let’s give them a great send off!

Now, this may be the first season that DC United has hosted a U23 team, but they should be very good — perhaps the best competition we have seen all season. Last year’s Super 20′s (a younger team) handled Chattanooga FC quite easily, beating us 3-0 up in RFK Stadium in Washington DC. Though were it not for great saves in each half by both Richie Masters and Thomas Hunter, the spread could’ve been a lot worse.

What should help swing some things in our favor:

There should be a couple thousand more fans for CFC at this game than the 50 or so than turned out at RFK last July. The DC team may not have played in front of an opposing crowd that big.

The temperature on the field should not be 101º F (with extremely high humidity) as it was last July in DC.

Our guys should not be as nervous as they were last season — several of them were in that game last year. Like going to the playoffs, that experience can help bring confidence.

And we’re playing on our home field (which isn’t exactly a great surface), and knowing the specific nuances of the turf that may help our guys out.

It should be a great night to celebrate the team and get the last of that $4 beer. Let’s turn out Chattahooligans!

So, all our speculations and hypotheses turned out to be completely unnecessary. Chattanooga FC fought hard and played well, but the ball would not go in the goal. And so not even a draw was in the cards for the team as they fell 2-1 to the Knoxville Force on a very late goal. That loss means there will be no NPSL postseason for Chattanooga FC this year. After leading the league for most of the season — trading first occasionally amongst each other — Chattanooga FC, Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves and the Georgia Revolution all lose out to Jacksonville United (who clinched the Southeast Region title with their sixth straight win last night).

We don’t have much heart to rehash the game, but after a nice first goal by Knoxville in the 6th minute, Chattanooga FC seemed to take command of the game, pressing and attacking and missing opportunity after opportunity. In the last stoppage minutes of the first half Chris Ochieng won and then scored a PK to tie it all up. In the second half CFC started to throw everyone at the Force, again creating chance after chance, but never finding the goal — even with some very amazing opportunities. And all the offensive pressing led to a counterattack in the 89th minute that led to a bouncing header. 2-1 Knoxville.

Our Knoxville players are no doubt discouraged — forward Mark Sherrod played well but couldn’t find a goal, while midlfielder Cody McCoy seemed to have an off game and outside mid Tom Webster almost never got the ball. The rest of the guys played decently enough, and Nickson Odeny‘s presence in the back was helpful.

While result is certainly disappointing for us, it has to be much more so for the team as they had the chance to win the title in their grasp not once but three weeks in a row.

Well, it has certainly been a fun ride this season, with plenty of ups and downs. We have to encourage everyone to turn out for Saturday’s final match of the season against DC United’s U23 squad and let’s give our team a wonderful send off and thank you for another winning season!

For anyone who only read Tavio Palazzolo’s quick recap of CFC’s US Open match against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on TheCup.us (http://thecup.us/2011-us-open-cup-first-round-recap/), DON’T BELIEVE IT! From his telling, Pittsburgh was a mildly-challenged juggernaut capable of securing the contest on a whim (consisting chiefly of the line “the Riverhounds woke up and took over the match”). There is a clear bias here that we expound upon further in our addendum at the end of this article.

However:

The memories of the 200-odd fans in attendance give a different account. Instead, we saw two squads with no glaring distinctions between them. Each capitalized on favorable matchups, producing as thrilling a contest as any in the tournament. In the first half, CFC used speed and raw desire to attack Pitt’s defense, keeping the generally slower USL club off-balance, producing a well-deserved one-nil lead at the half, that was quickly doubled to 2-0 by the 55th minute. Ivan Heredia had a beauty of a goalie chip from 40 yards out for the first — making a complete fool of the ‘pro’ keeper. Chris Ochieng did the ‘heavy lifting’ on the second goal, getting down to the endline then playing a perfect ball into Mark Beattie for the tap in second goal.

For much of the second, play consisted of attack, counterattack, repeat. However, a change in strategy gave the ‘Hounds new success. Instead of methodically working the ball up field, Pittsburgh began playing for the longball, accurately sending volley after volley deep into CFC territory. The height advantage of their offense over the CFC defense paid its dividends. Their initial point came from a free kick (near the corner), sent in at crossbar level. Pittsburgh was able to head in the lofty kick, over a leaping Thomas Hunter who’d been caught up too long in the scrum. The equalizer goal was similar, with a fantastically-placed free kick dropped expertly where a waiting Riverhound could muscle in a strong, solid shot. Though that Riverhound was practically ripping off Andy Stewart’s shirt while he did it.

Both extra periods consisted off countless deep runs by both teams as each set of midfielders looked spent. The expert play of a single Pittsburgh defender repeatedly kept CFC out of goal, while the familiar lob, set, score type of play produced the game-winning score for the bad guys.

Losing a game that seemed “in hand” is tough. Yet if anything, this loss has done more to boost the club’s confidence than any previous win. Before the match, there were legitimate questions about how good a club this team really is compared to the rest of the country. Now we know that at our best we can play with, and sometimes dominate, any team below the second level of US soccer. Now it’s time to use that knowledge to claim the prize we fell short of last year – the NPSL Championship. From this point on, nothing less should be acceptable. After proving our mettle against one of the top twenty clubs in the country (UPDATE: probably closer to top-forty.), how could we be satisfied losing to the likes of Atlanta, or Madison, or Hollywood?

The answer is simple: we can’t.

Brief addendum:

It’s worth mentioning here that it looks like US Soccer has some sort of vested interest in helping USL teams win in the US Open Cup. First, it was completely absurd that the game was awarded to Pittsburgh instead of Chattanooga. Only 200-some fans turned out (305 was reported by CFC), and no admission was charged at all. Ergo: no money for USSF. In Chattanooga we would’ve attracted over 10 times that amount, easily 3,000 would’ve attended (if not 5,000) and paid admission! What could possibly be the motivation there? To help the pro USL look better than the amateur NPSL — make us travel 10 hours to hostile territory. Secondly, the officiating was clearly biased to Pittsburgh — the foul that lead to the free kick that got the first goal was questionable, and the second goal should’ve been disallowed by all the fouling the forward was doing to our defender. Thirdly, the field was not even US Open Cup regulation size! It was only 63 yards wide instead of the required 68! Talk about bias. US Soccer wanted Pittsburgh to win.

Just in case any of you are wondering how this year’s US Open Cup will work, here is some info from the official handbook about how teams are selected and then paired. Just FYI.

2011 U.S. Open Cup Competition Format

The 2011 U.S. Open Cup Competition will be conducted on a single-elimination, one-game-knockout basis utilizing a tiered-bracket format (39 games—see the tournament bracket on the following page).

The number of teams competing in the 2011 Open Cup tournament will be as follows:

• Major League Soccer: Eight of 16 U.S.-based teams enter in the Third Round. The top six clubs from the 2010 regular season (Columbus, FC Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Real Salt Lake and Seattle) automatically qualify. The remaining 10 clubs (Chicago, Chivas USA, Colorado, D.C. United, Houston, New England, Philadelphia, Portland, San Jose and Sporting Kansas City) compete in play-in games to determine which two will join the field.

• United Soccer Leagues PRO: All 11 U.S.-based teams enter in the First Round.

• United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League: Nine of 54 U.S.-based teams enter in the First Round. The top club from each of nine divisions (Northeast, Mid Atlantic, South Atlantic, Mid South, Southeast, Great Lakes, Heartland, Southwest and Northwest) qualifies based on the results of four pre-selected 2011 regular season games (two home, two away) for each team.

• U.S. Adult Soccer Association regional qualifying: Eight teams (winner and runner-up from qualifying competitions held in each of the four U.S. Soccer regions) from approximately 60 entering at the local and state levels. The eight qualifiers enter in the First Round.

• National Premier Soccer League (a USASA-affiliated national league): Four teams (one from each of the league’s four geographically-based divisions: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and West) from 20 entering the competition (out of 38 in the league). Each division devised its own method for determining its representative in the tournament proper. In previous years, NPSL teams participated via USASA regional qualifying. The four qualifiers enter in the First Round.

Teams competing in the First Round will be assigned to one of eight geographic groups, each not necessarily containing an equal number of professional and amateur teams. A blind draw will then be conducted within each group to determine all First Round pairings. After the First Round, MLS teams will be added to the bracket for Third Round games based on geographic considerations. Pairings will be arranged to prevent the possibility of a lower division team playing a parent club (e.g. Chicago Fire Premier [PDL] will not be pitted against the Chicago Fire [MLS], should both teams be in the competition in the same round) except for the Championship Game.

Each team will be matched with an opponent according to the following provisions:

• First Round: Random draw within each four-team group as described above, with teams from the same level avoiding playing each other where possible.

• Second Round: Two First Round winners from each group face each other.

• Third Round: Eight MLS clubs enter to play eight winners from the Second Round.

Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Sunday night’s US Open Cup qualifier match between Chattanooga FC and the Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves was a veritable heavyweight slugfest — with both strong teams taking turns throwing jabs, swings and roundhouses at each other late into the fifteenth round. But in the end, it was Chattanooga FC delivering the knockout blow in the 116th minute of a 120 minute match. An epic battle to say the least, and one of the more exciting 1-0 games we’ve ever seen!

A brief sidebar:

How did both teams get to Sunday night’s championship match to attempt to claim the NPSL Southeast’s US Open Cup slot?

Both teams had a bye on Friday, Chattanooga FC because of winning the conference last season, Atlanta FC on a coin toss (perhaps?). Atlanta had an easier go in the Jacksonville United game on Saturday as the first season team has had trouble finding their feet (and wins) in the NPSL. After going down 1-0 early, the talented Atlanta team fought back to score 3 goals to win. They looked to be in the driver’s seat for most of the second half and did not have the demands of a close game from a physical opponent.

Chattanooga had a tough row to hoe against a talented and quick Rocket City United team. In the end, the Man of the Match Chris Ochieng proved too hard to handle and he powered a ball past goalie Tyler Early for an assist to James Moore (who slotted a fantastic goal from an extreme angle — his second of the year!). And only 10 minutes later he perfectly placed a beautiful cross from Mark Sherrod into the net to put CFC ahead for good 2-0.

Now, About Sunday Night’s Epic Battle:

After the overtime win against Atlanta, with all the back and forth play, amazing shots, wonderful saves, terrible officiating and heated gamesmanship, it appears to us that our new nemesis in the Southeast Region will be Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves (if all of them really are reserves!). This game — which stayed scoreless for almost 1 hour and 50 minutes — had a bit of everything, including a win for the good guys!

Some things the 1,500 CFC fans (who were at the game) are thinking, but no reporter is saying:

Atlanta’s team is a bunch of punks. They fouled often and purposefully. They faked and flopped like fish. Number 21, who somehow received no card at all for spearing Andy Stewart directly in the head (and in turn, split open his own thick skull and bled on the field), stopped play at least 5 times for supposed “injuries”… Either this guy is a delicate and fragile flower or he’s a faker who needed a bunch of breathers because he didn’t have enough talent to keep up with our strikers. Number 10 spent an inordinate amount of time taking little cheap shots at our players and arguing with the ref… Then there is the psycho coach who acts like a complete baby — hasn’t he been thrown out of 3 games with CFC? Get ahold of yourself man!

All this is to say: Atlanta could most likely have won the game last night if they took all the energy they spent on fouling and faking and applied it instead to playing well and scoring goals. They have a ton of talent and had many fantastic opportunities last night. If they weren’t so worried about getting in cheap shots, they might actually be better. But with that idiot coach of theirs, they will no doubt focus on how to foul us even more when they come back up here on June 25. Atlanta Silverbacks: if you really want to run a class organization, get rid of that guy. He’s an embarrassment to your team.

And the other shoe drops…

The incompetent officials. We can’t even come up with adjectives to describe their poor performance. First, they were from Atlanta (the woman line judge was the one who allowed the goal to count after they hit the ball out of our goalie’s grasp down at Silverbacks Park — hmm what a coincidence she would be assigned to this game!). Second, it almost seems like someone from USSF impressed upon them “an Atlanta win would be a better financial and marketing outcome for the US Open Cup than having small town Chattanooga FC win, so please do your best to help the Silverbacks.”

Well they tried their hardest. Two blatant fouls in the box — a galactic shove in the back to Mark Sherrod in the first half, a nice stomp on Moises Drumond‘s heel in the second — and not a penalty called. Oh, and then there’s the head butt number 21 did on Andy Stewart, that resulted in no call at all until the subsequent play — that one a free kick for Atlanta right on the edge of our box — come on! USSF: we have had plenty of bad refs in our three CFC seasons, but this crew wins the award for Worst Refs Ever by a long shot. Do not ever send them back or we will tar and feather them.

Now to the positives:

Chattanooga FC fought valiantly. The starters performed amazingly — winning a hotly contested first half with more goal scoring opportunities than Atlanta. The second half got a bit more even as fatigue started to set in and substitutes came in and had to develop touch and chemistry on the fly. While everyone played outstandingly, we think these folks deserve some extra props: Andy Stewart (for having to stop that incredibly speedy number 20 time and time again); Thomas Hunter (for yet another shutout against a great team, including that amazing save on the free kick near the end of regulation); Mark Sherrod (for creating some great opportunities and taking some nice shots); Russell Courtney, Moises Drumond, Luke Winter and Josh Shields (for great relief in substitution); Alex Rodriguez, Nick Odeny and Chris Ochieng should also be commended for lasting the whole 120 minutes!

Of course, the Man of the Match award has to go to Chris Ochieng — not only for his game winner in OT, but for his overall play. He consistently makes amazing decisions, moves and passes along with his really great shots. Truly a wonderful player to watch!

Whew. That’s enough for now… What is next? Who do we play on June 14 and where?

Too bad about the frigid weather for the MLS preseason match. Not only did it make it difficult to enjoy, it no doubt scared away 2,000-3,000 fair weather fans. Still, the Chattahooligans were pleased that we got about the average attendance for a CFC game!

Read a nice blog review of the whole event here at Shay’s Picks.

Rumor Mill: Sounds like another team is going to join the Southeast Region of the NPSL, from Jacksonville, FL. While it will be nice to add another home game to the season schedule, it is a bit of a haul to get down there. Can anyone confirm? Does anyone know about the team?

Speaking of the season schedule, isn’t it time to announce ours Chattanooga FC? Do we need to send out our super-sleuths to scoop the TFP again?

Merch needs: We need some new wearables for the spring. And what does the new jersey look like for 2011? When will that be announced.

Can you tell we are chomping at the bit for season three to get going?

Let’s get the Dynamo of Dixie rolling!

Last chance to get your tix Chattahooligans! Buy them now and join us for for great soccer in lil ol’ Finley tomorrow! Who’s tailgating?

New England Revolution vs Columbus Crew

Sunday March 6th, 4:00 PM

Finley Stadium, Chattanooga’s Southside

Ages 6+ Advance Purchase Price $10
Day of Game Price $15
0-5 Free Free
Click here to purchase tickets: http://www.newenglandvscolumbus.eventsbot.com/

Please note that all tickets are general admission.

GROUP TICKETS:
If you have a soccer organization, team, league, club, etc, and would like to purchase more than 20 tickets, you can receive a donation of 10% of the total amount you spend on tickets. If you would like to know more, email us at info@chattanoogafc.com.

If you are not a soccer organization, but would like to buy more than 20 tickets, please email us at info@chattanoogafc.com.

ABOUT THE GAME
Chattanooga Football Club is proud to announce New England Revolution and Columbus Crew will be playing a preseason exhibition match on March 6th in Chattanooga! The MLS regular season kicks off only two weeks after the match-up in Chattanooga, which means both clubs will be extremely focused on fine-tuning.

Both Columbus and New England were among the original ten clubs in the MLS’ inaugural season in 1996. Just three years ago, Columbus took home the MLS Cup. The Crew is coming off of a strong 2010 season where they lost in the Open Cup Championship game. New England Revolution has successfully reached the MLS Finals four times, but has yet to claim their first title. They did, however, win the US Open Cup in 2007.

We hope you’ll join us for an incredible night of soccer! And don’t forget to pass along the Facebook invitation to your friends.

Don’t miss this chance to see the highest level of professional soccer in America!

Well, of course we won’t know until we hit the season, but there are a few developments going on in Chattanooga FC’s backyard: the NPSL Southeast Region.

Last year CFC went undefeated in the NPSL SE, riding roughshod with six wins and only registering two ties (with the feisty — but overall very flat — Atlanta FC and the dubious PK call at Rocket City). As the only team drawing more than 1,000 fans per home game, playing in a stadium, serving beer and great food, and sporting sponsors like VW on sharply branded gear, CFC was clearly the best run organization in the conference — if not the league.

But the NPSL is nothing if not flexible, and (by many recent accounts) one of the few bright spots in the American soccer landscape (excepting the MLS of course). It is the only league that seems to be on the upswing: growing while its counterpart the PDL has remained at the same number of teams for years. Even the ‘professional’ D2 leagues of the USL and NASL continue to lose teams at a rapid pace.

Now in 2011 Chattanooga FC will be facing two completely new opponents and another overhauled one. The Georgia Revolution and the Knoxville Force will both join the conference as brand new teams — one from the Atlanta burb of Conyers, the other from that city to the north. Not to be outdone, last year’s overmatched team Atlanta FC has made a strategic partnership with the NASL’s Atlanta Silverbacks, becoming their development squad.

The Knoxville Force looks to be on their toes when it comes to building a team (and a web site): they are said to have had people scouting out the NPSL National Championships last year as well as meeting with Chattanooga FC’s board (and who knows who else). The Silverbacks are certainly more organized and connected to good soccer than Atlanta FC has been. We know Rocket City is a decent organization and the rumors are out there that the Revolution owners have run an NPSL team in the northeast before (although we can’t find anything). We have heard talk of some Memphis U. players that CFC is pursuing being wooed away by Knoxville.

Could the conference champion come down to recruiting battles? Can we win them? I mean who wouldn’t want to play in front of 4,400 fans?

Tulsa FC is still listed as being in the conference (hello NPSL: Southeast?), and while they did not do much last year, there were also a first year team. And traveling that far had to have an effect on their play. Pumas FC had the talent, but did not seem to have the organization (what was that thing they called field anyway?)… So who knows what’ in store for our own Dynamo of Dixie, Chattanooga FC?

What do all you Chattahooligans think?