Archive for NASL
Mouloud Akloul Joins Whitecaps
WHITECAPS SIGN CENTRE BACK MOULOUD AKLOUL
VANCOUVER, BC – Vancouver Whitecaps announced today the signing of centre back Mouloud Akloul. The native of Lorient, France, joins the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) D-2 Pro League outfit – pending international clearance and league approval. Per club policy, terms were not disclosed.
Akloul, 27, joins the Whitecaps following a spell in the United Arab Emirates with Al-Ittihad Kalba of the UAE Football League Division 1. During the 2008-09 season, the 6-foot-2, 185-pound defender started 27 of his 31 appearances for Al-Ittihad Kalba, scoring three goals in the process.
Prior to his move to the Middle East, Akloul played two seasons in Algeria’s top-flight Championnat National with Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (2006-07) and Mouloudia Olympique de Béjaïa (MOB – 2007-08). With MOB, the centre back won the league’s defender of the year award.
Before making the switch to North Africa, Akloul started his career in his native France with FC Lorient Bretagne Sud, having joined his hometown club’s youth academy at the age of 13. From 2001 to 2004, the defender appeared for Lorient’s reserve team before moving to Vannes Olympique Club, where he helped them to promotion from the fourth-tier Championnat de France Amateur in the 2004-05 season. In his second year with Vannes OC, Akloul scored two goals in 27 appearances during the 2005-06 season of the French third-division Championnat National.
A former French U-17 international, Akloul is a dual citizen of both France and Algeria.
Whitecaps 2010 Season Tickets Now On Sale
Season tickets include all men’s and women’s team regular season and playoff home matches at Swangard Stadium, Nutrilite Canadian Championship home matches against Toronto FC and Montreal Impact, as well as priority listing for Vancouver MLS 2011 in BC Place. For more information on the 2010 season ticket packages, call 604.669.WAVE (9283) or visit whitecapsfc.com.
NASL Targets Canada
Ben Rycroft
Writes the It’s Called Football – TFC Blog
NASL planning aggressive expansion into Canada
As the eyes of the North American soccer world have been fixated on the MLS labour dispute for the last few months, the NASL, a newly formed second division, has been quietly laying the ground work for the years ahead.
In their sights? Quite simply: Canada.
I was invited, along with Duane Rollins, one of the co-hosts of the It’s Called Football show, to an off-the record meeting with a high ranking NASL official a month ago.
In it, they laid out for us their aggressive plans for Canada over the next two to three years.
Six cities, two in Ontario – all in markets that have a strong soccer communities- are being targeted by the NASL.
It Will Be A Memorable Year In Canadian Soccer
Nigel Reed
Nigel Reed writes and broadcasts at
CBC Sports
A big year ahead for Canadian soccer
It’s OK to jump on football’s bandwagon in a World Cup year. If you want to drive around with a flag of choice adorning your vehicle, honking your horn in pride and celebration, I have no problem with that (on the understanding you don’t honk outside my house at two in the morning or behind me at a red light). It will be a memorable year, not only in South Africa, but also in our own backyard.
The light will shine brightest for a month in places like Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town where the world’s finest players will showcase their dazzling talents. The global festival will attract hundreds of thousands of fans and millions of dollars and after it’s over we can all rest our ears when the incessant buzz of vuvuzelas no longer fills the living room.
A world away from the World Cup, it will also be a year to remember in Canadian soccer. New teams, new coaches and a new attitude will all spring to mind when we reminisce about 2010.
This Has Me Feeling Concerned
Ben Knight
Ben Knight writes and publishes
Onward!
Logo no-go
Sorry for the long absence, folks. I’m very much in off-season mode, and my life has become quite interestingly busy (in two cities!) behind the scenes. Onward! will become a regular part of my life again come spring, but there will still be intermittent (and, I hope, amusing) updates throughout the winter.
Last week, the not-quite-so-breakaway group of former USL-1 owners who are now trying to pass themselves off as the new NASL held an annual general meeting, and issued … a logo.
If you’re a fan of the old – the REAL – NASL, you probably recognize the typeface. It is exactly (or no worse than 97 per cent of exactly) what the old league used.
And this has me feeling concerned.
