RIRhinos Soccer.com - Channel 8 video

Devo's Direct Kicks

D&C.com - Chris Nurse article

Even though it didn't make the D&C's list of 10 things to do this weekend, we are a little over a day away from the home opener between the Rhinos and the Montreal Impact.

With Cleveland visiting Carolina tonight and then playing in Charleston tomorrow night, I wouldn't expect the Rhinos to make up any ground on the two teams ahead of them in the standings.

But, I do expect this team that has said that they can't wait to get home and play in front of their fans to put on a really good show tomorrow.

News & Notes:

- The reigning W-League Player of the Week will be visiting Rochester this evening as Maria Ruiz and the Buffalo Flash come to town and face the Ravens at 7pm. Oh yeah, Buffalo has a head coach by the name of Aaran "Kiwi" Lines. Perhaps you have heard of him.

- Montreal will be hosting the the Champions Trophy, a competition between the French Cup winner and the Ligue 1 season champion team, at Olympic Stadium, Saturday, July 25, at 3 pm.

- It's official: Philadelphia's first head coach is Peter Nowak. And John Smallwood thinks that the Union made the right call!

- Apparently England hates Kobe Bryant since he's a Barca fan.

- Another week, another person that is unhappy with refs surfaces.

- It looks like San Jose's Frank Yallop is on the hot seat.

- I concur with the 3rd Degree, that logo is better than the badge that FC Dallas has.

- Pia Sundhage is pleased with the level of play in WPS. Meanwhile, the first head coach firing has taken place with last place Sky Blue FC whacking coach/GM Ian Sawyers.

- Ridge Mahoney at SI.com talks about Brandi Chastain making a comeback in WPS at the age of 40.

- Landon Donovan and Mia Hamm are a part of US Soccer's World Cup bid committee for 2018 and 2022.

- Check out what Ian Sarachan is up to in his free time. He is the President/Founder & CEO of Sporting Smiles. This is really cool!

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.