Crystal Palace Baltimore

On Saturday I ventured north to Baltimore to watch a USSF Division II professional soccer match between Crystal Palace Baltimore and the Montreal Impact. Our blog colleague Peter was serving as fourth official for the game which made it a special event. His mother and grandmother attended as well to cheer for the boys in gold.

Saturday was a spectacular day for soccer, warm and sunny and little to no wind. The game was played at Calvert Hall's field. A multi use high school stadium which was in excellent shape.

When we arrived the game was 1-0 Montreal. Montreal scored three more goals in the first half. Palace tried to compress the field leaving a square back line that Montreal had no problem penetrating. Baltimore's back players did not have the quickness to defend against the Impact's front runners. For their part the Palace attack was ineffective and disjointed--numerous attempts at running the ball on the left were run into the end line and on the right the outside midfielder was unable to get past his defender leading to many Montreal counterattacks. A fifth goal was scored by Montreal in the second half but they used the lopsided score to rest their starting front line.

All in all while the match was not very competitive the level of play was entertaining. Probably not at MLS standards but certainly higher than a Division I college game. US soccer still has a ways to go but these developmental leagues can serve as a step in the progression towards building a base of professional talent broader than the MLS by itself.