USL Feature
Thursday, July 14, 2011
By NICHOLAS MURRAY
DELTONA, Fla. – While the main focus of Orlando City’s season remains the pursuit of the USL PRO championship, the Lions are also eager for the two international exhibitions that begin this Sunday when they face the English Premier League’s Bolton Wanderers at the Florida Citrus Bowl.
The Lions will also face another EPL club, and one of the most storied teams in England, when Newcastle United comes to town the following Saturday, July 23, for the second game in the Orlando City Premier League Challenge.
“I know all the players are really excited about playing people who some of these younger guys have only ever watched on the TV, so it’s a couple of great games for us,” Lions coach Adrian Heath said. “It’s one of the reasons that we came to Orlando was that we would be in a city where we knew we could attract people and we hope this is going to be the first of many.”
While standout Bolton midfielder Stuart Holden won’t be available for Sunday’s game - he is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered against Manchester United last March - the U.S. international is with the team meaning he’ll get the opportunity to reunite with former youth teammate Jamie Watson. The duo played together for the U.S. U20 side, as did Orlando’s Erik Ustruck, and Watson is excited to get a chance to see Holden again.
More than that, though, Watson is hoping that the two games will show a wider audience how committed the club is to bringing in top level competition for its fans.
“It shows that people are watching in the league, in USL and MLS, that things are pretty serious around here. I think it’s a good statement,” Watson said. “For the fans, for the players, for the club to show that we can bring big crowds to international friendlies. If we can do it for that game, why can’t we do it for an MLS game every Saturday night?”
Bolton is certainly one of the success stories in the Premier League during the past 10 seasons. Since their promotion from the Championship after the 2000-01 season, the club has been ever-present and has also qualified for European competition thanks to smart management and the willingness to play attractive soccer.
“Bolton are one of the clubs that have really bucked the trend,” Heath said. “Sam Allardyce did it and now Owen Coyle’s taken it on to the next level. I think when you look back at what they achieved I think Gary Megson did better than most people thought because he brought good players in, but Owen Coyle’s done a great job there, they play lovely football and we know it’s going to be an entertaining game because of the way they play and we’re really looking forward to it.”
Newcastle has always been one of the biggest clubs in England, and arguably the world. While not always as successful as some of its counterparts, the support the club has seen from its devoted fans is something Heath got to see up close during his time at the Magpies’ rival Sunderland.
“Even though I was at Sunderland I know that Newcastle United is a magnificent football club,” Heath said. “I think the passion and fervor of that club matches anywhere in the world, it really does. For us to get [to play]them is terrific.”
In addition to giving the club an opportunity to raise its profile on the national and international stage, the two games will give the Lions players a chance to test themselves against some of the international players on both clubs. Newcastle will likely be showcasing newly acquired striker Demba Ba while Bolton includes a number of top players including Bulgarian international Martin Petrov, striker Kevin Davies and England defender Gary Cahill.
With some of Orlando’s younger players having aspirations to play overseas in the future, Heath thinks challenging themselves against Premier League opposition will give them an idea of the standard they will need to be at to achieve their goals.
“Even though it’s going to be in their preseason, this is going to be a huge step up for some of our players,” Heath said. “For some of our players who have aspirations of maybe going overseas in the future, I’m thinking of the likes of Kevin Molino or Max Griffin, people like that who would like to try themselves, this gives them a great opportunity to assess the level they need to attain if they’re going to compete at that level.”
For everyone involved, though, the week promises to be a great experience for both the club and its fans as they meet international opposition for the first time.
“It’s exciting,” Watson said. “These are the guys that we get up to watch every morning on TV and learn from, especially growing up, and even as you get older you still watch the games and still enjoy it, it’s really cool.”