Houston Leones

Last updated
Houston Leones
Houstonleones.jpg
Full name Houston Leones
Nickname(s) Leones
Founded 2007
Dissolved 2010
Stadium Soccer World Center
Richmond, Texas
Ground Capacity 4,500
Owner Flag of Mexico.svg Juan Carlos Hernández
Head Coach Flag of Mexico.svg Cuauhtemoc Rios
League USL Premier Development League
2010 2nd, Mid South
Playoffs: Conference Finals

Houston Leones was an American soccer team based in Houston, Texas, United States. Founded in 2007, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Mid South Division of the Southern Conference. The franchise folded at the end of the 2010 season and left the league thereafter.

Association football Team field sport

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal.

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Contents

The team played its home games at the soccer-specific Soccer World Center in nearby Richmond, Texas. The team's colors were blue and white.

Richmond, Texas City in Texas, United States

Richmond is a city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States. It is the county seat, and is located within the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the city population was 11,679.

The Leones were an official minor league affiliate of Mexican Premier League team Cruz Azul.

History

The Leones' first season in competition began on a hugely positive note, with a 3–0 opening day victory at home to the New Orleans Shell Shockers in front of 500 fans, and with a squad featuring several junior players from Mexican side Cruz Azul, who were spending time with their new Texan affiliate for match experience; unfortunately, this was something of a false dawn as the men from Richmond lost their next three games on the trot, conceding five goals with no reply. Two more victories in late May, 3–0 over Mississippi Brilla and 2–1 over El Paso Patriots looked to have righted the ship, but this proved to be the last hurrah, as they failed to win another game all season. As June turned into July, the Leones' on-field performances got progressively worse and worse: they lost four close games on the bounce and then, as some of players returned to the Cruz Azul junior team for the beginning of the 2008/09 Mexican Clausura, the second string defence absolutely fell apart.

Cruz Azul España association football club

Cruz Azul is a Mexican football club that plays in the top division of Mexican football, Liga MX.

Mississippi Brilla association football club

Mississippi Brilla is an amateur American soccer club based in Clinton, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League Two. The team's colors are sky blue, navy and white.

El Paso Patriots association football club

El Paso Patriots was an American soccer team based in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1989, the team played in the Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Mid South Division of the Southern Conference.

Players

Notable former players

This list of notable former players comprises players who went on to play professional soccer after playing for the team in the Premier Development League, or those who previously played professionally before joining the team.

Year-by-year

YearDivisionLeagueRegular SeasonPlayoffsOpen Cup
20084USL PDL8th, Mid SouthDid not qualifyDid not qualify
20094USL PDL7th, Mid SouthDid not qualifyDid not qualify
20104USL PDL2nd, Mid SouthConference FinalsDid not qualify

Head coaches

Stadia

The Soccer World Center is a 17-acre (69,000 m2) soccer-specific facility which comprises three fields (including a 4,500-seat stadium field that is expandable to 8,000–10,000), and was built by team owner Juan Carlos Hernández.

Average attendance

Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from the historical match archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20100105175057/http://www.uslsoccer.com/history/index_E.html.

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