Is A-League Coming To Lockhart.
Soccer promoter Eddie Rodger, who is handling the game with Brazil, is in discussions with a number of potential investors to put an A-League team in Lockhart next summer. Since the loss of the Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny, Florida has been without professional soccer of any kind.
Rodger has been involved in soccer in South Florida for the last two and a half decades, and another familiar personality has also been involved in the A-League discussions. Ray Hudson, the former Miami Fusion head coach who moved back home in Fort Lauderdale after being released earlier this year as head coach at D.C. United, has been involved in the discussions, but has declined suggestions that he is a prime player in the formation of a professional club.
Rodger and Hudson have had a connection since the days of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and the NASL. One indication of Hudson’s seriousness about the A-League effort is that he recently turned down an opportunity to become the television color commentator for the San Jose Earthquakes.
This apparently is the second time Rodger has explored the possibility of putting an A-League team in South Florida. This one might just have a chance of being successful. One of the biggest obstacles is the question of travel. Without another A-League team in Florida, a Fort Lauderdale based club would incur large travel expenses since the nearest A-League team is in Atlanta, with the next closest being in Charleston.
Rodger and other organizers of the game between the U.S. and Brazilian Under-20 national teams are hoping that D.C. United will release first-year pro Freddy Adu. It is likely that he will be allowed to join the U.S. squad, as he needs games since is has gone back to being a second-half reserve for D.C. United.
Last month Rodger organized two friendlies at Lockhart, which involved the U.S. U20s, and each drew in excess of 9,000 fans.