With the 40-acre behemoth looming, Austin's always been a tough town for professional sports. And soccer? Well, football means one thing to the rest of the civilized world, but it means gridiron in Texas, and previous attempts in building amateur soccer here had ranged from optimistic to embarrassing. So Phil Rawlins had at least two strikes against him when he announced last year that he was bringing in not just one but two teams: an amateur development team (which started play this past summer) and a full pro team (kicking off next spring). So far, the Aztex president has made all the right moves: He assembled a deep and talented team on the field and in the front office, brought together various sides of Austin's fractious youth soccer community, hired a couple of world-class coaches in Wolfgang Suhnholz and Adrian Heath, won the toughest division in the 67-team Premier Development League, and drew a healthy crowd for home games. His position as part-owner of the Stoke City Potters in the English Premier League paid off big time, as the 145-year-old franchise was promoted this year to the English Premier League for the first time.
