XSL weekly update

April 2, 2009 - Xtreme Soccer League (XSL) News Release


Good news for the Motor City

The restructuring of indoor soccer seemed to hit Detroit awfully hard on the field. Top players like Richardinho, Hewerton and Jamar Beasley all left last year's regular-season MISL champs, and a rookie coach was called on to bring the new crowd together.

Matt Johnson's Ignition lost two of their first three games, but from that point firmly established themselves as the XSL's best team. Despite injuries to striker Worteh Sampson and midfielder Vahid Assadpour that robbed them of some firepower, the Ignition remained "a team whose sum is bigger than their parts," Johnson said.

Detroit clinched the XSL title last Sunday, when New Jersey won at Milwaukee. The Ignition will celebrate with their fans at their last home game, at 7:35 p.m. Friday against Chicago.

Postseason honors

Scoring machine Greg Howes won three of the last five MISL MVP awards, and with him not in the league the race for the first XSL honor was wide open. Goalkeeper Danny Waltman of Detroit, leading XSL scorer Lucio Gonzaga of New Jersey and his Ironmen teammate, Adauto Neto, are all among the top candidates. Also named next week as part of the first XSL postseason awards will be the All-XSL team, Goalkeeper of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year.

Where to from here?

As the Xtreme Soccer League heads into its first off-season, teams are preparing a summer full of events, from camps and beach soccer games to soccer tennis and 3 v 3 tournaments. All these interactive events are at the core of the Xtreme Soccer Xperience, which rounds out the league's lifestyle brand.



Xtreme Soccer League Stories from April 2, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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