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On Saturday, Union Amaya fell to FC Scorpions 2-1 in their debut game in the American Soccer League. This match is the first competitive encounter between both sides, as Union Amaya is coming off their preseason summer tournament with the new ASL league. In that summer tournament, they placed 2nd, fielding their reserve/young squad. Coach … Read more

Another summer concludes to give way for the fall season of soccer in the Inland Empire. I contacted as many teams as possible during this preseason to get their thoughts for the upcoming season. The season has yet to be released, but the teams are confirmed with new and old faces in the 1st division. Unlike … Read more

It has been three years since this post, and a lot has changed in the soccer landscape and my perspective of the reality of pro ball in the IE. Here are some updates to the talking points and my comments after COVID. I highly encouraged you to look at part 1 for more context before moving … Read more

Here is a new experiment of weekly updates called IE Weekly headlines; a recap of the latest news of IE soccer of the day, plus my commentary on the headlines.  Monday  The STRYKERS announced a new head coach, Paul Wright, taking over for the 23-24 MASL season.  Opinion: The noticeable changes to the organization following the … Read more

On the second leg of the Brent Freeman quarterfinals, IEFC reserves and Fontana Legacy look to enter the semifinals after last month’s 2-1 win for the IEFC second squad. A critical opportunity for the boys in blue to get comeback to get more aggregate goals than IEFC. A simple task and possible chance turned into an awful … Read more

On Sunday, Inland Empire Football Club won against local side Fontana Legacy 2-1 in the first leg of the Brent Freeman quarterfinals. Pregame This matchup would be the second encounter between both teams in competitive play. In the first matchup during the regular season, Fontana Legacy won 4-3 back in October. Fontana did face the … Read more

By Holly Dodd The world of sports has always been a business, but it might surprise you to learn just exactly how profitable soccer has become. In the post-Bosman transfer landscape (when a player can transfer teams without a fee after their contract is up), teams and players have more power than ever when it … Read more

While the college season started for some in late august, the preseason survey I made only received a small number of responses from the coaches sharing their thoughts for the 2022 season. I sent the 4-question google form to all collegiate social media pages, including 2 and 4-year programs, but three coaches had the time … Read more

Kicking off in February, the SoCal premier open division was a small competition consisting of 10 teams fighting for a spot in next season’s SoCal premier regular season. When the open season finishes, the clubs will be filtered to the SoCal premier’s three divisions based on their opening division placement. There were four from the … Read more

Storm United’s passage to the UPSL Premier division has been a long time coming for the Californian team from the high desert. Since competing in the UPSL lower divisions since 2017, coach Michael Zamora has been there since the beginning with aspirations for the team (back then called High Desert FC) to move up the ranks and … Read more

The story behind one of the High Deserts adult amateur teams is an interesting look into the soccer culture that transpires north of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains. Soccer, historically around the world, is more than a sport for fans who follow it. It is a social construct that is a platform of … Read more

Earlier this year, I reached out to City Legends FC and asked if I could interview the club owner and soon enough he agreed for a phone interview. I wanted to interview the team from Perris because I needed some UPSL content and I was generally curious about them. They had one good year in … Read more

For this third installment of a casual conversation, a segment where I freely talk to current or former professional players from the Inland Empire, I reached out to Juan Ocegueda. Back in December, Juan made an Instagram story post hinting his playing time is done. He later clarified that he is only 5 months away … Read more

For a simple fluid game like soccer, there are many ways to coach it. Some take a philological approach and break it down into details, while others are less verbal and explain it in universal terms. In contemporary times, anyone in the capacity of the sport from team staff to media, have access to an … Read more

So the NPSL Southwestern Conference season is over and the results have been tallied up: On Saturday, June 30th, Orange County FC hosted FC Arizona, in a play-in round for the final playoff spot allocated to the Southwestern Conference. Orange County would end up winning 3-0 against fourth place FC Arizona. Watching the competition play … Read more

Ambition. For players in the game, reaching the highest level is the ultimate dream. It starts in steps, but you continuously improve yourself always striving for the highest level, the ultimate goal. Paths are different for each individual, but if they wish to achieve that desired success they will need ambition. A few Coras have … Read more

On December 18th, the Ontario fury held a state of the fury zoom call with team owner Jeff Burum, coach Jimmy Nordberg, staff, and fans about some announcements with the team for the upcoming year. This zoom call, one of the many that the indoor team has held, involved new owner Jeff Burum who gave … Read more

Around 2 years ago, I and my other lower league soccer enthusiast friend Steven were volunteering for local NPSL side Riverside Coras (now rebranded as Club Xolos USA) and had the idea of writing this list of pro players born/from the Inland Empire. Here is part 1. Fast forward to now I decided to update … Read more

Like many other stories, this one started with a tweet: Well, we indeed missed a few. As the replies started pouring, we quickly realized the depth of soccer talent in the Inland Empire. The I.E. is a hot bed for competitive local sports and with a population of over four million, it’s easy to understand … Read more

It’s rather not of importance to consider stats and numbers besides assists, goals and clean sheets (for goalkeepers) to determine a player’s competitiveness. However, I decided to do a small number report along with some personal comments on what I observed from these IE pro players during this crazy 2020 season. I have to admit, … Read more

On July 24th, President of the Ontario Fury indoor soccer team, Bernie Lilavois, has announced via twitter that he has resigned from his position. “My time with the Ontario Fury has come to an end today as I have resigned as Team President. This was an extremely difficult and emotional decision to make but it’s … Read more

About The Riverside County Cup is a home and away cup competition with local semi-pro teams in Riverside County with the aim to promote inter league competition within the region. Usually played during the early fall months. Rules Home and Away match. The away goals rule is a method of breaking ties in association football … Read more

Situated in the beautiful San Bernardino mountains, the city of Big Bear and surrounding areas are home to many attractions. From Big Bear Lake to the various ski resorts to the beautiful hiking trails with gorgeous views. One thing, however, that isn’t very situated in the mountains is the game of soccer. Among the many … Read more

The High Desert is home to roughly 400,000 residents that live north of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountain ranges. It is the gateway to the Mojave desert on your way to Las Vegas, the last glimpse of civilization before going to the open beautiful arid region of California. For such a unique community … Read more

Soccer in the United States is often looked as a recreational activity, something to do for fun and nothing much more than that. On a professional level on the mens side, the MLS (the professional league of soccer in the US with some Canadian teams) and the national team, known as United States Mens National … Read more

As a native of the IE, knowing what I know about the soccer culture here, I always pondered the thought of having a professional team here. Although in the US, there is no promotion and relegation between divisions, getting a pro team to the area is a matter of what happens outside the pitch rather … Read more

The UPSL made a statement in May about a condensed season following the outbreak of COVID-19 that paused the 2020 spring season after one game (at least for SoCal divisions). A deadline has been in place on June 10th for teams to declare to the league their intention to play the shortened season. On June … Read more

California, the home to the entertainment industry in Hollywood, the tech giants of Apple and Google, and the trailblazing pop culture activity known as skateboarding. The state is home to roughly 40 million people (about the same as Iraq), making it a diverse and unique place. With its miles of pure pacific coastlines, to the … Read more

Since 2000, the Inland Empire portion of southern California has not had a team representative in the US Open Cup. That year, Riverside County Elite was placed in the 2nd round of the tournament for being a D-3 pro team but lost to San Diego Flash by a score of 2-1. In the same year, … Read more

Early this year I met a gentleman by the name of coach Alex. I met coach Alex as part of the Club Xolos USA program as head of youth operations. My first impression of this guy was, he is a charismatic guy who can strike a conversation with anyone. I had limited interactions with him … Read more

Earlier this year, when I was a volunteer for Club Xolos USA, I met a new coach on the staff by the name of Coach Lio, who was going to help the program with the teenage and youth players. I had limited small talks with him and his experience coaching youth in the San Bernardino/Colton … Read more

Around 2 years ago, me and my other lower league soccer enthusiast friend Steven were volunteering for local NPSL side Riverside Coras (now rebranded as Club Xolos USA) and had the idea of writing this list of pro players born/from the Inland Empire. Fast forward to now I decided to update the list because there … Read more