Insomniac's Lounge

The game is on! Tonight is the season opener for the Austin Aztex v Minnesota Thunder. It should be a good one so come on out.

Aztexan has a decent write-up of the match.

Nelson Field at 7:30pm

Chantico's Army will be there early. There's chant practice from 3-5pm in the parking lot (and tailgating).
And, then we head over to Nomad bar for a quick "pre-game".

At 6:45PM we arrive back at the stadium to march in. With all our drums and other loud nose makers.

Come join the fun. No cost to join our group.

I probably shouldn't say this. BUT. If you can't make it to the match, you can watch it on USLLive.com tonight : USLLive.com

The Austin Aztex qualified for the U.S. Open Cup tonight. They did that by starting out as a new franchise and not losing their first 4 games. And, they still haven't been scored on yet. Way to go. From my days back when I got to see the old Lone Stars team, I knew there would come a day when there would be a stable professional franchise in Austin. It is well on its way. And, the USL team doesn't even start until next year! The U.S. Open Cup is very prestigious by the way. Read all about it. It dates back to 1914.

They host New Orleans tomorrow out at Dragon Stadium. Will someone go and tape it for me? :-) I will watch from Brooklyn later.

OK. That's 2 Austin soccer posts in a row. Gonna have to post some Brooklyn stuff now. I have photos. I promise.

Austin Aztex's PDL (u-23) squad won their home opener against Houston 2-0 in front of what is estimated at 1200-2000 people. Good job. It sounds like this was a great idea, to have 2 squads and start this year in the PDL. This gives them a full year to get their back office straight and get the name out in the community before unleashing a full blown USL side.

You can catch Austin Aztex news on their home page. But, I also found one of their players has a blog with more personal info about the organization and going's on. I'm subscribing to it. Soccer watch at the Austin Chronicle also seems to be covering them.

One other interesting note: With this win and last week's tie, this not only puts them at the top of their own divisional table but at the top of the qualification table for the U.S. Open Cup. That's REALLY great news. If they can qualify for the U.S. Open Cup (in their 1st year!!) they might get the chance to play an MLS club. That would mean big big publicity for the team. Good luck there.

With their parent club Stoke City winning promotion to the England's Premiership, Austin's new club should continue getting good press in the next year. Cheers!

What a great story for Austin. I wonder if they know about it yet? You now have a new team called the Austin Aztex!

Over the years, they've never really had any sort of pro sports. I guess you could call lower level hockey (Ice Bats) and baseball (Round Rock) entertainment. If that's your thing, then sure. But, the town's entertainment dollar has been held hostage over the years by the large university planted in downtown. Again, nothing wrong with that if you are an alumni (I'm not).

The soccer community in Austin is great. There are so many adults playing recreational soccer there that they have several divisions of over-30 and now even over-40 leagues. That's great news for old men like me who want to keep playing. But, where to go to watch soccer? Alas, it's been a mixed bag. A semi-pro (D2?) team used to play in House Park. In subsequent seasons they were moved to a high school on the south east side that barely qualifies as "Austin". No one wants to drive 20-30 miles to go a game!

Well, want no more. You're getting a team, Austin. It's not an MLS team (yet) but it's something. Investors have taken over the former PDL side Austin Stampede (who? exactly!), promoted it to a USL First Division side (one level below MLS!) and re-branded it the Austin Aztex. Yeah, the name's a bit lame. But, that's better than Stampede. Ugh. What's interesting about this transaction is that the new owner Phil Rawlins is local. But, the club will be affiliated with the English Championship club Stoke City. No, it's not Chelsea or Man U. but still not too bad. There's already a similar club like this in Baltimore, Crystal Palace Baltimore. And, so far it's been an interesting experiment. It may be a few years before we know if this was a good idea. But, you might get to see some interesting games. Don't forget that they will be able to play in the US Open Cup. That means if they have a successful run, an MLS team might have to play a game in Austin during the cup. Now, where are the Aztex gonna play?

Homes: Austin Aztex - United Soccer Leagues (USL) - Stoke City
Wikipedia: Austin Aztex - Stoke City

Stoke City has a page on the new Austin team .



Enjoy!