Matthew Bunch

Matthew Bunch has lived in Miami since 2005, covering a variety of collegiate and professional sports. As Editor in Chief of The Miami Hurricanes, the student newspaper of the University of Miami, Matthew and his staff won the paper's first ACP Pacemaker Award since 1992. With the return of professional soccer to Miami-Dade County in 2016, Matthew channeled his professional interest with his personal passion for the Beautiful Game. You can contact Matthew at bunch.mcs@gmail.com.

L’Esportiu de Catalunya: Barcelona and Girona to play first LaLiga North America match in Miami in January 2019

Hard Rock Stadium is pictured during an International Champions Cup match between Real Madrid of LaLiga and Manchester United of the Premier League in Miami Gardens on July 31, 2018. Photo courtesy Real Madrid.

According to L’Esportiu de Catalunya, a prominent sports newspaper based in Spain’s Catalonia region, Barcelona and Girona will contest the first LaLiga North America match at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on the weekend of Jan. 26 and 27.

While the plans have not yet confirmed by the clubs or the league, both Barcelona and Girona are based in Catalonia.

A look back: Ron Newman’s half-year with the Miami Americans

Ron Newman was the co-owner and manager of the short-lived Miami Americans. Graphic by Matthew Bunch.

It was a blip on the radar of one of the most significant careers in American soccer history. But Ron Newman, who passed away Monday at age 82, had an active six months with the Miami Americans in 1980. His time in the Magic City is instructive in how far the sport has gone, but also reminds us that if the history of the game in the United States doesn’t repeat itself, it tends to rhyme.

Ron Newman, legendary Miami Americans, Fort Lauderdale Strikers manager dead at 82

Fort Lauderdale Strikers coach Ron Newman welcomes the Peruvian Teofilo Cubillas at a press conference in Miami in March 1979. Photograph via Kathy Willens/AP

Legendary American soccer manager Ron Newman, best known as the coach of the dynastic San Diego Sockers of indoor soccer but remembered in South Florida as the manager of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the original North American Soccer League and the short-lived leader of the Miami Americans, died Monday morning. The news was first reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Miami Hurricanes soccer splits matches in Tennessee with loss to Vanderbilt and win over Lipscomb

Miami Hurricanes soccer goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce is unable to stop a header attempt from Vanderbilt's Myra Conte in the Music City Invitational on Aug. 23, 2018. Photo courtesy Vanderbilt athletics.

It seemed like the dream start for Miami Hurricanes soccer on Thursday evening at the Music City Invitational in Nashville. Three minutes in, Gudrun Haralz worked past Vanderbilt goalkeeper Lauren Demarchi to put the Hurricanes up 1-0.

But a late capitulation to the Commodores left the Hurricanes down 2-1. A tight 1-0 victory over Lipscomb on Sunday was a nice consolation, but Miami Hurricanes soccer head coach Sarah Barnes and company must wonder what might have been.

After successes of 2017, No. 20 FIU men’s soccer seeks to go even further in 2018

The FIU men's soccer team celebrates its victory over Omaha in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at FIU Soccer Stadium in University Park on Nov. 16, 2017. Photo courtesy FIU.

In 2017, FIU men’s soccer had one of its most successful seasons since its run to the College Cup final in 1996. During his first season at the helm, head coach Kevin Nylen guided the Panthers to a long unbeaten streak at the start of the season, capped off with an NCAA Tournament appearance and victory before being eliminated at the hands of Duke in the second round.

In 2018, some seniors have departed, but a significant part of that team returns with even higher expectations.