So where have we been? Well, life is getting better for us Rhinos fans. After a fairly dismal start to the season, we’ve started to get in form. As some have wisely noted, it’s because often our management picks up good players, not necessarily concerned with whether they will make a good team. We beat Portland, finally picking up the first win, but it’s still not smooth sailing. It’s a good thing the USL-1 is playoff-structured, because if it was like European leagues we might already be out of the title race.

This Sunday was a pretty crappy match against Miami. We pounded their goal, 18 shots total, not terribly great shots but shots none the less, but did not manage to get on the board. Our saving grace in this game was Scotty Vallow, who was terrific in goal as usual. Without him, it would have been 2-0 or worse. I’ll chalk this game up to the obscene 95+degree heat…amazing that only a few weeks ago it was 40s for the home opener.

Tonight we advanced in the US Open Cup…but this is nothing to celebrate. We took the lead through a penalty kick, and then they equalized in the 86th minute to send it to overtime. Who, you might ask? The perennial opponents, the Revolution? Perhaps a PDL team? No, an amateur Croatian-American soccer team from Chicago, RWB Adria. While we weren’t terribly threatened, our inability to finish off chances against a team like this worries me. We scored again through Rochester’s Didier Drogba, our resident #11 Ivorian, Hamed Diallo, clinching the game and pushing us to the 2nd round of the Open Cup. It used to be the USL-1/A-league was simple, and we showed our prowress in the Open Cup. No longer, it seems.

We finally moved out of the last place, I cannot remember the last time we were propping up the table after a few games. Despite a small turnaround, we are still a massive 15 points behind league leaders Vancouver, and 5 pts behind the last playoff spot. The good news? Our defense is great, tied for 3rd best in the league right now, but our attacking is dead last, 4 goals in 9 games, an abysmal record. There were some years when one Rhinos player would have that kind of statistic. This season needs to improve, or else it’s going to be another year wondering with such great players, what went wrong?

Rochester Rhinos: 7 points, 10/11th place 1-4-4
GF: 4
GA: 8

League average-
GF/GA: 9.63

#1- I haven’t seen any of the games (have you ever tried to watch a USL-1 away match?) but supposedly we were in all the matches competitively. We twice lost 1-0, unfortunately.
#2- Defender Scott Palguta broke our 450minute goal-scoring problem with a last-minute goal against Seattle. Let the floodgates open!
#3- We’re playing this year…over the winter no one knew for sure with the ownership saga. That’s a victory in itself for the Rhinos, for Rochester, for the USL-1, and for American soccer.
#4- 5/6 next matches are at home.
#5- Scotty Vallow is in goal.

Some person from American Idol will be singing in halftime. I’ll be at the game, it should be a great one with the stands packed. I’ll do a short writeup of it afterwards, maybe with some video from the stadium.

Prediction:
Rhinos 2-1 Battery

We’re aiming for a home win here, which would help the team a lot. The Battery have the 2nd best record in the USL-1 but our desire to win should overcome it.

I’m Alessio, my real name is Aaron and I’m originally from Rochester. I’ve always been a big fan of the team and went to most games last year. I’m planning to buy season tickets this year….should be a good year. I also contribute over at the Juventus Offside, my favorite European team. I’m very happy to now extend the greatest football blog on the web all the way to 2nd-division American soccer.

For those who happen upon this page, the Rochester Raging Rhinos are a USL-1 soccer team in Rochester, NY. They are the only professional soccer team in New York State! (Red Bulls play in Jersey) They are in the league one step below the MLS, but really deserve to be playing in it. Formed in 1996, the Rhinos have never missed out on the playoffs. They have been to 6 league finals, winning three times. They are also the only non-MLS team since its’ inception to win the US Open Cup, in 1999, also reaching the final in 1996.

This year will be an exciting one. After an extremely rocky ownership situation which ended up with the Rhinos being bought out and removing the Raging from their name, we hired a new coach, former Rochester striker Darren Tilley from England. We also signed Steve Guppy, a former Celtic-Newcastle winger who earned one cap for England. We’ve kept several key players, Aloisi, Delicate, Palguta, old man John Ball, etc. The season opens May 2nd, against the Charleston Battery down in South Carolina. Our first home game will be May 17th, hosting the Battery. Look forward to capping an exciting new season with the few Rhinos fans across the web!