In ten days the United Soccer Leagues, the American equivalent of England's Football League, will kick-off it's 22nd season as the Charleston Battery make the journey down the east coast to play Miami FC while the Montreal Impact make the transcontinental flight to British Columbia to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Despite the fact that a ball has yet to be kicked in anger 2008 has already proved highly dramatic for the USL starting with the loss of it's San Francisco based team the California Victory. California served as a farm team of sorts for the Spanish Segunda Division side Deportivo Alavés and was run by Ukrainian-American businessman Dmitry Pietrman, then a major shareholder in the Spanish club. After running battles with Pietrman the rest of the Alavés ownership decided to pull their support for the USL team leaving it without a leg to stand on. There is, however, a grassroots effort underway to save the club which can be found at http://www.savethevictory.org/

But the drama surrounding the Victory proved to only be the tip of the iceberg as it was announced Major League Soccer would expand to Seattle in 2009 meaning that the USL would lose one of it's most storied and well supported clubs, the Seattle Sounders. In late 2007 it was confirmed that 2008 would indeed be the Sounders' final season in the USL as the club announced it would play all of it's matches (with the exception of an opening week derby against Portland) at the 2,000-seat Starfire Stadium in Tukwila.

Despite all this, the news managed to get worse as news surfaced that the ownership of the Rochester Rhinos, a team which had become synonymous with the USL, had defaulted on $10.6 million in loans. The Rhinos story did manage to end well as Rob Clark, owner of Utica, New York-based Adirondack Bank, swooped in to save the club. Fans were able to breathe a second sigh of relief when it was announced that the club would be able to remain at the PAETEC Park home the fans had begged the city for.

There was, however, one highlight during the offseason on January 22nd when English club Stoke City announced it would purchase a USL-1 franchise to be located in Austin, Texas. The hidiously named "Aztex" will begin play in 2009, while a reserve side baring the same name will play in the PDL this season.

The USL has announced that it has it's sights set on medium-sized markets not currently being targeted by MLS. Among the cities listed were Omaha, Nebraska (whose 6,000-seat Morrison Stadium would be perfect for a USL-1 team), San Antonio, Texas, Phoenix, Arizona, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Tampa, Florida. I've heared murmurings of ownership groups in the latter two cities but not a peep from any of the others. Some believe that the Tampa group (actually in nearby Clearwater) may have connections to Scientology, I don't really care to step on that anthill.

On the field the Sounders should do well in their farewell season. They have better players than anyone else in the league and the entire squad will be keen to show well with a possible MLS contract as a reward. Last season's league MVP Sebastian Le Toux should have the same impact he did last season. Seattle's main challenge should come from Montreal. The Impact will be keen to christen their new stadium with a championship and have the players to do so if they play to their potential. At the bottom will probably be the Rhinos, but their fans are unlikely to fuss too much given that the club was literally days from going out of existence less than a month ago.

The USL-2 will have many changes on display as well. Pittsburgh returns from their self-imposed exile and will be joined by new boys Real Maryland FC based out of Germantown near Washington, DC. Both New Hampshire and Cincinnati have elected to relegate themselves to the PDL. As usual it will be hard for the field to match the class of Richmond and Charlotte who should battle until the end with the Kickers coming out on top, though last year's champion Harrisburg has the quality to spring another surprise.

Predictions:

USL1 - Champions: Seattle, Runners-up: Montreal

USL2 - Champions: Richmond, Runners-up: Charlotte