USL First Division Week 1 Wrap

By: Bob Kellett | April 13th, 2008

The marathon sprint that is the USL First Division season got underway with a pair of games this weekend. The 2008 campaign kicked off in Miami where the hometown Blues played to a 2-2 draw against the Charleston Battery in front of 3,369 (quite good for Miami, especially since it was raining). Alex Afonso is the answer to the trivia question of who scored the first goal of the season. The 11th minute is when he did it. Miami went ahead 2-1 in 82nd minute on a goal from Sean Fraser, but they couldn’t hold the lead. The Battery’s Dominic Cianciarulo scored his second goal of the night, beating Josh Saunders in stoppage time, to help Charleston earn a road point. Miami is a real wild card to me this year. They have a number of players that look good on paper. I could see them being tough. I could see them going in the tank. The Timbers get to play them at PGE Park twice, which beats having to play in South Florida in the summer any day.

The other game of the weekend saw the Montreal Impact travel to Vancouver to play the Whitecaps. I find this hard to believe, but Vancouver had not beaten Montreal at home since 1996. Swangard Stadium is a tough place to play and to go 12 years without a loss there is a feat. It is a feat that has come to an end. The Whitecaps defeated Montreal 1-0 in front of 5,288. Eduardo Sebrango scored the lone goal in the 33rd minute. Did you know that the Caps have their own Japanese World Cup player? Defender Takashi Hirano played for Japan’s 1998 World Cup team. He also played in 300-plus games in the J-League. It will be fun watching him go head-to-head with Takayuki Suzuki. By the way, keep an eye on how Montreal starts the season. With six straight road games they could dig themselves a hole they might not be able to get out of.

Games this week:

Thu, April 17, 2008
Puerto Rico Islanders at Portland Timbers

Sat, April 19, 2008
Seattle Sounders at Charleston Battery
Montreal Impact at Miami FC Blues
Carolina RailHawks at Atlanta Silverbacks