Tim Abbott
I was born and bred in England. I'm passionate about football. I'm the Non-League Editor at NSJ, formerly editor of Northern Lights Football and Local Editor of E Pluribus Loonum. I pitch in elsewhere on the site too.
Fargo-Moorhead
The sadness of an Open Cup half-empty
The 110 year old Lamar Hunt US Open Cup is being threatened by current events. The regional governing body Concacaf have seemingly sided with MLS. Since the facts have been well-covered by others, I'm gonna stick with the light that the tournament brings and the emotional attachment many
NPSL North preview
The Northern Conference of the National Premier Soccer League has kept the same number of teams but it has traded in the unambitious Aris SC for the deeply ambitious Minnesota Blizzard FC. Here's a look at the landscape in the conference. Duluth FC The BlueGreens finished the 2023-24
The WPSL North is still too big
I argued last year that the WPSL North is too big. It's more than 51,000 sq miles, and it remains so, in fact with expansion into Sioux City Iowa, it's got even bigger. So how should we/would I split it? You could do one
USL Super League will be Division 1
Yes, there already IS a First Division, but now there will be two.
WPSL Pro
WPSL have hit the six team minimum for the D3 professional league they are slating to start next year. Those six are:
NPSL Midwest Regional Finals Review
How did we get here? The Gateway Conference went straight to its Championship match, and Des Moines United won 2-1 to advance. The North Conference tournament saw Med City FC upset both the #2 seeded Dakota Fusion and the National #1 seeded Duluth on the road to earn their spot.
NPSL Midwest Playoffs: Conference Finals Review
For more on the results that got us here, click here The rankings featured are the national points-per-game ranking. All Conference Finals are hosted by the higher seed. The NPSL has decided that the Conference Champion title will belong to whoever wins these matches. Amid those we surveyed, the move
NPSL Midwest Playoffs: Conference Semi-Finals Review
How it works: It's a dog's breakfast in the Midwest. Using points-per-game as the decider:(# = National ranking)Top 3 in the Great Lakes qualified (second placed #20 Michigan Rangers, third placed #36 Cleveland SC and top seeded #4 Steel City FC, who received a bye to
NPSL Round Up: Week 8/9
This Week Friday Cleveland SC 3-2 Erie Commodores Twelve minutes into the game, Erie broke through after a free kick was deflected for a corner and the corner was headed home by Joe Gasper. It was 1-1 in the seventeenth minute as Janis Schmidt put his foot through a ball
NPSL Midwest Playoffs: Conference Semi-Finals Preview
How it works: It's a dog's breakfast in the Midwest. Using points-per-game as the decider:Top 2 in the Gateway qualified (who then play each other for the Conference) Top 3 in the Great Lakes qualified (2 plays 3 and then the winner plays the top
NPSL Round Up: Week 7
Our survey said... https://twitter.com/Lights_Football/status/1669745556481093638?t=-ctu5FEbkKCX4Mo6Cl4aVw&s=19 This Week Friday Sunflower State FC 2-1 Ehtar Belleville Blake Barrick opened the scoring for Sunflower just before half time, finishing off a defense splitting pass from midfield by Cooper Forcellini. Colin Innes blasted home
NPSL Round Up: Week 6
This Week Friday Cleveland SC 3-0 FC Columbus Thomas Beck opened the scoring in the Grampa's Cheese Barn Derby in the seventh minute, dribbling in from the left before slotting home. Chris Cvecko made it two in the thirteenth, powering home from close range after a pass along
NPSL Round Up: Week 5
This Week Friday Des Moines United 2-1 Ehtar Belleville Ehtar took the lead with a deflected chip over the Des Moines United goalkeeper in the thirty-sixth minute from 20 yards out for the only goal of the first half. Lesego Maloma levelled the game in the fifty-fifth minute, picking up