The USL Championship announced their restart plans July 26: a 16-game season, with teams split into geographical groups to reduce travel. The Austin Bold is drawn into the five-team Western Conference Group D, along with San Antonio, Rio Grande Valley, OKC, and Tulsa, with play to restart July 11, and a full schedule to be released any day now.
Austin FC supporters’ section season tickets went on sale this week, priced at $475 apiece; if you had a reservation, you should have received info via email. Seats in the rest of the stadium should follow shortly… Also this week, AFC announced their 2020 Academy rosters, a U-15 team mostly graduated up from last year’s U-14 squad, plus a new crop of U-14s and a new U-13 squad. See more info at www.austinfc.com.
The proposed UWS National Cup that was to take place later next week in Round Rock has been canceled, the host Austin Elite announced last week, though the women’s second division pro-am team will still try to put together some local games.
The first round of the National Women’s Soccer League abbreviated season is in the books, with three-time defending champs NC Courage beating the Portland Thorns last Saturday to establish themselves as early favorites. Most of the first-day headlines noted that almost all of the players knelt during the national anthem, while a couple broke down in tears, and a couple stood, while all wearing Black Lives Matter shirts. The tourney continues through July 26 in Salt Lake City; see www.nwslsoccer.com for more… The men’s MLS Is Back Tournament kicks off Wednesday, July 8, as all 26 teams should now be inside the Disney World bubble in Orlando, trying to work around a number of positive COVID tests.
This article appears in July 3 • 2020.