The Charleston Battery's first A-League title capped a 2003 season during which the good outweighed the bad – and the ugly.
The Good
CHARLESTON BATTERY. Since 1999, the Charleston Battery has had the finest facility in the A-League.
Now, the Battery has a championship to match Blackbaud Stadium, its soccer-specific stadium opened in 1999.
The Battery's first A-League title is a testament to the perseverance of majority owner Tony Bakker, who financed the construction of Blackbaud Stadium and built a championship team to play in it.
Ted Chronopoulos and Steve Klein, who both scored in the 3-0 win over Minnesota in the final, were two of seven former MLS players who started for Charleston against the Thunder. The Battery's lineup also included Terry Phelan, who started for Ireland in the 1994 World Cup.
The game, which produced the most lopsided margin of victory in an A-League single-game championship match, was no contest.
''I think you could have put AC Milan out there tonight,'' Paul Conway, who scored the second goal, told the Charleston Post & Courier, ''and we somehow would have beaten them.''
CROWDS. The A-League averaged 3,347 fans a game, the highest figure since the USL-APSL merger in 1997. For the first time, six teams averaged more than 4,000 a game. Rochester (10,169) led the A-League for the eighth straight year. Two years after declaring bankruptcy, Montreal (7,236) is talking about expanding Claude-Robillard Stadium. Minnesota (4,101) also set a club season attendance record. Syracuse (6,885) finished third in average attendance in its first season. Portland (5,871) was boosted by a single-game record of 13,351 for the regular-season finale. Vancouver (4,292) was up 14 percent from last season.
THIAGO MARTINS. The 27-year-old Brazilian ran away with the A-League scoring title with 22 goals and seven assists for 51 points, 13 points clear of Rochester's Doug Miller. Martins, who played collegiately at Santa Barbara City College and UC Santa Barbara, is the first A-League player to reach the 50-point plateau in five years. After the season, the A-League MVP signed with D.C. United.
BYRON ALVAREZ. The Portland Timbers forward is so dedicated he played the entire season – 12 goals in 21 games – without being paid.
The P-1 visa he needed to sign a pro contract with Portland was delayed because the approval process has slowed since the Sept. 11 attacks.
The 24-year-old Alvarez, who played eight games for MLS's MetroStars in 2002, is married to an American, making him eligible for a green card. Shortly after the season ended, the Timbers awarded him with two-year contract.
MLS ALUMS. Veterans of Major League Soccer continue to prosper in D2. Seven A-League first-team all-stars previously played in MLS: goalie Greg Sutton (Montreal), Danny Jackson (Seattle), John Wilson (Charleston), Roland Aguilera (Virginia Beach), Marco Ferruzzi (Minnesota), Andrew Gregor (Seattle) and Dante Washington (Virginia Beach).
DAVID TESTO. The University of North Carolina forward, a regular on the U.S. under-23 national team for the last year and a half, overcame the disappointment of going undrafted in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft, by winning A-League Rookie of the Year honors with Richmond.
PAETEC PARK. Many feared the Rochester Rhinos' stadium project would be the derailed by Assemblyman David Gantt, D-Rochester, but the Rhinos will break ground shortly on their new 17,500-seat stadium in downtown Rochester after receiving a $15 million grant from the New York State Public Authorities Control Board.
The Bad
NATIONAL SPORTS CENTER. The Minnesota Thunder is quitting the NSC. Thunder attendance at the Blaine, Minn., facility, has increased 13 of its 14 seasons, but surveys indicated fans would attend more games if the team played in a more central location. The NSC, site of every U.S. women's national team home game for the first six years of the program, is located 20 minutes from downtown Minneapolis. The Thunder is exploring stadium options in St. Paul, Minneapolis and neighboring suburbs.
PITTSBURGH RIVERHOUNDS. In the face of declining attendance – down 60 percent from its first year in 1999 – the Pittsburgh Riverhounds will move to the Pro Soccer League (Third Division) in 2004. The Riverhounds tried without luck to get a stadium project off the ground. Three ventures collapsed.
The Ugly
CALGARY STORM. Owner Michael Vandale called its quits this summer. The A-League could have pulled the plug on Calgary, but it has an expansion team starting up in Edmonton next year and needs Calgary as a geographic partner.
The A-League kept the team afloat for the rest of the season under the name of Team Calgary. League officials are hopeful of finding a community partner.
SUN BOWL. In moving to 51,500-seat Sun Bowl, officials of the El Paso Patriots said they'd see how many fans they really had. The Patriots quickly found out.
After averaging only 773 at the Sun Bowl for their first nine dates, longtime owner Enrique Cervantes moved the Patriots back to Dudley Field.
CINCINNATI RIVERHAWKS. The A-League may finally be rid of the Cincinnati Riverhawks, the ugliest of the ugly.
How bad are things in Cincinnati? The local Fox affiliate's investigative unit aired a report on the Riverhawks' financial mess. As a desperate measure to stay afloat, the Riverhawks were asking for donations of $300,000.
by Soccer America Managing Editor Paul Kennedy