Obscure pro soccer outfit that played two summer seasons at Santa Barbara City College’s La Playa Stadium in 1989 and 1990. Real Santa Barbara joined the Western Soccer League as an expansion club and made their debut in April 1989. The club folded quietly after the conclusion of its second season.
The 1989-1990 Portland Timbers of the Western Soccer League were the first of several efforts to revive the name, logo and colors of the original Timbers (1975-1982) of the North American Soccer League. The club’s top player was 19-year old goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who won the Western Soccer League’s Most Valuable Player Award as a teenager on an amateur contract during the 1989 season. This version of the Timbers went out of business in 1990 after two seasons of play.
North American Soccer League (1979-1984) Canadian Soccer League (1987-1992) American Professional Soccer League (1993) Born: February 13, 1979 – Re-branded from Toronto Metros-Croatia Folded: Postseason
The Maryland Bays were one of the best pro soccer clubs in America during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s during an era when the outdoor game was at a particularly low ebb in the U.S. Over the course of four seasons, the Bays posted a 79-31 record and won a national title in 1990. The 1991 Bays squad was perhaps even stronger, dominating the American Professional Soccer League with a 19-2 regular season record. But a stunning semi-final playoff defeat to the Albany Capitals prevented Maryland from defending its crown.
The San Diego Nomads were a low-budget semi-pro/pro soccer club that competed during the late 1980’s, a period viewed as the Dark Ages for outdoor professional soccer in the United States. From 1986 to 1989, U.S. National Team players like Marcelo Balboa and Paul Caligiuri played for the Nomads alongside high school players and moonlighting San Diego Sockers indoor players such as Paul Dougherty and Paul Wright.
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