Gateway Athletic 2 – Washington Vanguard 1

The Gatekeepers beat Washington Vanguard 2-1 behind goals from Robert Beric and Homegrown defender Mauricio Pineda in their first game at the APL is Back Tournament. The three points moves them to first place of Group B, while the Vanguard have now failed to win either of their first two group games.

Beric opened the scoring in the 52nd minute. He took full advantage of a bouncing ball at midfield, shouldering off Xavier Arreaga and flashing some pace, a sweet touch with his back heel to evade Yeimar Gomez Andrade before calmly finishing past Stefan Frei. It was his second goal of the season. The Vanguard didn't fold, though. Jordan Morris got to the byline and dragged back an inch-perfect pass to an onrushing Handwalla Bwana for the equalizer in the 77th minute. 

In the end, Pineda came through with the game-winner on a corner kick in the 84th minute, finishing a bouncing ball at the back post. 
 
Atlanta Arsenal 3 – Three Rivers 1
 
Chris Mueller scored an early brace and Tesho Akindele added a late insurance goal, pacing Atlanta Arsenal to a 3-1 Group A victory over Three Rivers on Tuesday.

With Minneapolis’ victory over Phoenix City on Tuesday, the Arsenal are now through to the APL is Back Tournament Knockout Stage presented by Audi.

Jesus Medina scored a highlight-reel goal in the 38th minute for Three Rivers' lone goal, giving them a chance to claw their way back, but Akindele's close-range header nine minutes from full time would ensure Arsenal a second straight victory to open the tournament after they topped Phoenix City 2-1 in their opener.

Mueller put the Arsenal on top shortly after kickoff, cashing home a sliding volley off a pinpoint free kick delivery from Joao Moutinho to give Atlanta the lead in just the fourth minute.

Minneapolis 10,000s 2 – Phoenix City 1

Kai Wagner scored an early goal and Kacper Przybylko added a game-winner in the second half to cancel out another tally from Rodolfo Pizarro and send the Minneapolis 10,000s to the Knockout Stage of the APL is Back Tournament with a 2-1 win over expansion side Phoenix City in Group A play on Tuesday.

Wagner put Minneapolis on top after just five minutes, following an attempted cross from Brenden Aaronson that took a deflection and trickled all the way through the penalty box, allowing Wagner to run on to it and smash the ball past Phoenix goalkeeper Luis Robles from just outside the area.

The expansion side found their equalizer via Pizarro, though, as the star Mexican international collected a feed from Matias Pellegrini and poked the ball past Blake to finish off a well-worked counterattack.

Przybylko would find the winner, however, as the 10,000s got loose on a counterattack of their own which culminated with the Polish forward placing a clinical finish past Robles. Phoenix City had two narrow misses at another leveler, first after a penalty kick was awarded in the 75th minute when referee Silviu Petrescu whistled Minneapolis’ JakobGlesnes for a handball in his own box, but the call was overturned on Video Review. Roman Torres then had a late header go off the post, allowing the 10,000s to see out the 2-1 final.

Today's Match

Real Cleveland versus Bayern Milwaukee

Other News

After just two games in Group A we have our two teams that are moving on.  This means that for our design process Atlanta and Minneapolis will get to reveal their uniforms.



 

I don't mean to hijack my own thread here but while we wait for us to get closer to the knockout stage I wanted to share something that I am working on.  I started the American Premier League because of all of the reasons are started this thread with.  But then are wanted to practice building thorough brands.  So to avoid playing favorites among the APL teams I wanted to explore making my own British league.  Eventually I will give the teams in the final four of the APL this same treatment - flushing out their brand completely.  But for now I am going to work on brands for the 'Big 6' of the "British Isles Elite League" (also known as the Elite League).  If you are interested I can share all 20 clubs that I have come up with but I will only (for now) be working on the Big 6.  

Okay a little big about this somewhat-thought-out-league: I have only dabbled in their collective history.  I suppose it runs relatively parallel to the English Premier League.  If they are apart of the British Isles they are eligible.  

First up, Kings Cross FC...enjoy!  We'll be back with the results of Bayern Milwaukee and Real Cleveland tomorrow.

How dare you give us more concept content! Shame on you Gritty. You keep those clubs to yourself of course we aren't interested! haha 

Jokes aside, I like this approach. To be professional you have to look professional, and there is no problem with practicing it. I've always wanted to treat a brand like this, with all the bells and whistles a pro team usually offers, but I've never felt that strongly about my own work. Guess it's all in the presentation, right?

I guess we can go by slide because there is so much to offer, and I am feeling that presentation is the most important part. If I did something like this I know that's where I'd want the most feedback from a consumer standpoint (Sorry for putting my marketing hat on, I've been in school for it about 4 years now and I need to use it for something)

Slide 1: I like what you did with the game atmosphere here. The logo is pretty clean itself, and I love that "K" a lot. The tracks seem a bit warped at the bottom there, do you mind me asking what the process was for that? Other than the general idea and the logo, I think putting "Kings Cross FC" on the left side feels a little out of place. I see the very nice word mark is on the next slide, so it feels unnecessary. Maybe just showcase the logo so the consumer can soak it in and get excited for what's to come. Also, I see three stripes. Adidas?

Slide 2: If that's not your custom font, please link me to it. Looks amazing, but would also like to know if it comes without the grainy look to it. Otherwise, simple and straight forward looks clean. Nailed it.

Slide 3/4: Explanation is great. I can't even question why you'd name a team this after it. This is such a suitable name for a team across the see, and it is matched with what they would call a "top flight" identity. I have to question "locos" though, seems like a nickname that would have been stopped at our border, especially with such a history.

Slide 5: Hell yea! I love getting told what I need to see in a logo! (You already know this if you recall all my AltFL jersey entries haha) I'll eat this up all day, but I feel it lacks a little bit of the really unnecessary explanations for simple design choices you usually get from them. I think some more fun with the branding bs can be had. (Ex. "The interlocking "K" and "C" represent the cross our club is named after and the unity of our supporters) I love the 10 cross rails idea for the badge. Being a club at the top of the world, they better worry about filling up that whole circle. Would a champions league earn them a different colored cross?

Slide 6/7/8: Ah, you've always been great with the taglines. Bravo. I think the kits are class, but wish Bentley went for only the text logo rather than the whole thing. I personally would like to see the interlocking "KC" break out of that circle on one of these jerseys like some other teams like to do, but that is a small thought compared to the high amount of quality shown.

The Rest: The remaining slides seem more for presentation, so I will group them together. Every example shows that your brand is very dynamic, working on a multitude of applications. Other than the logo being off center on the shirt slide, I think you get a 10/10. Extra points for that business book and card slide. Can I ask where you got that, too?

Great job, Gritty! I appreciate the immersive quality you bring to your presentation. You are one to really push the community to do more, and we can always expect the best from you. Hopefully I can put out one of these soon, you really have given some inspiration and maybe I could hear your thoughts. I'm always so interested to see the perspective of viewers when it comes to an approach that incorporates the business aspect of the industry. 

I think the only thing that is screwing with the eye is the actual cross bars for the railroad just because the warp doesn't exactly move them right. I guess what you could do is copy your circle layers and create guides for your crossbars on each side of the gold circles that are the tracks. It would make them even and look similar. I would go a step farther and delete any part of the crossbar outside the guides so it maintains a consistent circle shape if you get what I mean.

Alright you say this is a British Isles Elite League, are any of the top teams not from England?