Reeves' Army

Orlando City wraps up its preseason tonight by travelling to Tampa to play USF‘s men’s soccer team.

The match is at 7pm at Corbett Soccer Stadium on the University of South Florida campus. From I-4, exit at I-75 northbound, then take that to the next exit, Fowler Ave., exiting to go westbound. Go down to turn right on Bull Run Drive (MOSI will be on the left at that intersection), then turn left at Elm Drive to get to parking. Admission and parking are free, and concessions will be available on-site.

Corbett Soccer Stadium opened this past season, the team moving from a track to a 2,000-seat soccer-specific stadium, and hosted a few legs of the NCAA D-I men’s soccer tournament. The stadium is named for Cornelia Corbett, the owner of the original Tampa Bay Rowdies from the late 1970s and 1980s, and features displays with Rowdies memorabilia.

The only thing that won’t be there, unlike last year when the Lions travelled to University of Tampa, is Ralph’s Mob. They’ll be busy in suburban (sic) Lakeland for a preseason match between the Rowdies and Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

Orlando City will hold their penultimate warmup this afternoon against the UCF men. The match will be at 1pm at UCF Soccer and Track Stadium.

For those of you who have not been to the stadium for a City match yet (we had warmups and a US Open Cup match there last season), it’s between UCF Arena and Bright House Networks Stadium. Admission is free, and parking is free at Garage F, behind UCF Arena, next to Jay Bergman Field.

U.S. men’s U-23 soccer team opened Olympic qualifying in Nashville last night with a 6-0 beatdown of Cuba.

Joe Corona, the American hero of the Mexican Premier Division’s Club Tijuana, notched a hat trick with goals at 11′, 39′ and 88′. Juan Agudelo (37′) and Freddy Adu (62′) also chipped in, as well as a 43′ own goal.

The team was dominant throughout the match, even before a red card issued to Cuban player Dairo Macias for elbowing Agudelo in the face.

The question is, will Cuba score more goals than the number of players that defect? In 2008, seven players abandoned the team during their Olympic qualifying group stage in Tampa, leaving them with only 11 players available–and only 10 available to play when one got sent off in their second match. One of the defectors was former City player and 2011 USL Pro MVP Yordany Alvarez. Cuba’s soccer teams have already experienced several defections this year.

In the other match of the day in Group A, Canada and El Salvador notched a scoreless draw. This puts the U.S. in the driver’s seat for the group, especially with our +6 goal differential.

The U.S. will play Canada tomorrow at 7pm. Today, Group B will play in Los Angeles, with Honduras against Panama, and Trinidad & Tobago against Mexico.

Salutes continue to pour in for Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba, who continues to recover from his apparent heart attack in London. Judging by the pictures I’ve seen on the Premier League website, it appears the referees will permit the exposure of “Pray 4 Muamba” shirts on goals for some time, something that is usually a yellow card for “excessive celebration”.

After conferring amongst themselves and with Muamba’s family, the team has decided to proceed with their schedule, starting with their Premier League match on Saturday hosting Blackburn Rovers. That will undoubtedly be a special event, as it will be the first time Bolton will be able to honor Muamba themselves on the pitch. It will proceed on Saturday at 11am.

They have also decided to go ahead with their FA Cup Quarterfinal match at Tottenham Hotspur. They will play again at White Hart Lane on the replay day, next Tuesday, at 2:30pm. It is unclear at the moment whether they will resume the previous match at 41′ with a 1-1 score and a sub for Muamba, or begin play anew. The winning team will play Chelsea on April 15 at Wembley Stadium in the Semifinal.

Their Premier League match at Aston Villa has not been rescheduled yet.

Orlando City midfielder Kevin Molino and former UCF/current Columbus Crew midfielder Kevan George have joined the Trinidad & Tobago team for the 2012 CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. They will take part in Group B at The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles along with Mexico, Honduras and Panama. Their first match will be Friday night at 8:30pm PDT (11:30pm EDT) against Mexico.

Regardless of outcome, Molino will be back with the team in time for the USL Pro regular season opener on Saturday, April 7, at Charlotte Eagles.

Orlando’s influence in world soccer is growing.

Yesterday, Serie A side AS Roma signed a six-year agreement to conduct winter break training at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. They also have plans to use the complex as a connection to U.S. youth soccer development.

AS Roma is based at Rome’s Olympic Stadium, sharing it with SS Lazio. But they are building a new 55,000-seat stadium in Rome’s suburbs. They will be the second Serie A team, after Juventus, to build a new stadium recently.

They have won the Serie A three times (1942, 1983, 2001), and the Coppa Italia nine times (most recently 2008). They’ve been in the top flight continuously since 1952, second-longest of any team currently in Serie A behind Inter Milan (1908). Currently they are 6th in the Serie A, 4 points out of Europe and 5 points out of the Champions League with 10 matches remaining.

This has nothing to do with the Pro Soccer Classic. Serie A uses the typical FIFA calendar, and winter break is only two weeks through Christmas. Options for further international expansion of that tournament are rather limited.

According to Sky Sports, Fabrice Muamba is now awake and speaking. He is also recognizing people.

Needless to say, this is nothing short of a miracle. But he still needs prayers for a full recovery. At this point, anything regarding his future as a footballer is far back on the list of priorities.

His fiancee, Shauna Magunda, has thanked everyone for their prayers.

I am still following the Fabrice Muamba situation.

The Manchester Guardian has an entire section dedicated to coverage of Muamba’s condition. According to them, in addition to the calling of Bolton’s match with Aston Villa, scheduled for tomorrow, Blackburn Rovers have offered to postpone their match at Bolton this coming weekend. This is a terrible time for this to happen, as Bolton is currently in a struggle to avoid relegation. The Wednesday match between Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke City at White Hart Lane will go as schedule.

Some idiot in Wales was arrested for racist tweets regarding Muamba, and has pled guilty. He initially tried to claim his account was hacked, but later admitted he was drunk after watching the Rugby Six Nations match between Wales and France on TV. Personally I am against the idea of arresting people for what I would view as free speech. I would think flaming him off of Twitter would be enough to chasten him.

The Sun has several stories about Muamba, several of them inspirational. One talks about his childhood with Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe. Another talks about the role of head referee Howard Webb, whose experience as a police officer helped him control the situation about as perfectly as it could’ve been given the circumstances.

No decision on resuming the FA Cup tie has been made yet. There are rumors that Bolton may quit the FA Cup this season altogether, though some want to push on as a tribute to Muamba.

Among the salutes this past weekend: Gary Cahill of Chelsea exposed a “Pray 4 Muamba” shirt under his jersey when he scored in their FA Cup tie against Leicester. The ref understandably swallowed his book for the “offense”.

Muamba remains in intensive care at London Chest Hospital in critical but stable condition. The latest this afternoon is that he is responding to stimulus, moving his arms and legs. One can only hope he continues to recover. But with reports from several outlets stating it took nearly two hours for doctors to get his heart beating on its own, you just never know.

Orlando City delivered a 3-0 victory in their preseason friendly over the Stetson Hatters earlier today.

Jamie Watson scored at 20′ and 34′. The second of his goals was deflected in by the goalkeeper’s boot as he overshot his dive for the strike. The second goal was at 24′ by trialist Nick Sowers.

The Lions will play at Seminole Soccer Complex again next Wednesday night when they host University of Tampa. Match time is 7pm, and admission will again be free.

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A tragic incident occured this afternoon during an FA Cup quarterfinal match when Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba collapsed untouched at 41′ in a sudden cardiac arrest incident.

Both Bolton and Tottenham Hotspur medical crews, as well as on-site paramedics, converged on him immediately, and spent about 8 minutes resuscitating him on the pitch at White Hart Lane in London. The match was abandoned, and details on its replay will be announced later.

Muamba was rushed to London Chest Hospital, where as of last report he was in critical but stable condition.

Muamba, a 23-year-old British citizen originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was a staple of England’s national youth teams throughout the 2000s. After coming up through Arsenal’s youth system, he has played 167 matches in the Premier League between Birmingham City and Bolton Wanderers. Last year, in Bolton’s tour of the United States, he played in the second half against the Tampa Bay Rowdies, and the first half against Orlando City.

Footballers and fans around the world have been sending their prayers to Muamba all day, and will doubtlessly continue to do so. We certainly wish him the best.

Alright, fans, we continue our warm-up for the 2012 season with a friendly against the Stetson Hatters at Orlando City’s new training ground, Seminole Soccer Complex in West Sanford.

This past Wednesday night, the Lions notched a 1-0 victory over the Rollins Tars. The Lions are currently loaded with Rollins talent. In addition to Dennis Chin, we now have Nick Sowers and Justin Clark. It was clark who headed in a John Rooney free kick at 17′ for the lone goal of the match.

Seminole Soccer Complex is a little out of the way for those who don’t live in Seminole County, but isn’t that hard to get to. From the south, take I-4 eastbound to Exit 101A, CR 46A, and turn left off the exit. Take it to Orange Blvd. and turn right. From there, go to Markham Road and turn left. It will be on the right, at 7390 Markham Road.

If you’re coming from Volusia County, it will be easier to take Exit 101C, SR 46, and turn right. From there, go to Lake Markham Rd. and turn left. Take that to Markham Road, turn left again, and it will be right there on your left.

Admission and parking are free, so come out for your team. Match time is 4pm.