With four weeks now gone in the NASL's fall term, the groundwork appears to be in place for as tight of a race in the second half of the year as we saw during the spring season. Carolina looks to be rebounding from their disappointing close to the spring season in grand fashion, the Cosmos have been rescued by some late magic on a couple of occasions, and San Antonio is hardly looking like the team that snuck back into the spring season race in the closing weeks.
With some of these storylines, amongst others, in mind, one needs to additionally only take a cursory glance at both the table and some of the games on offer this weekend to see that the NASL picture may hardly be any clearer by the end of the weekend than it was before.
Ft. Lauderdale Strikers v. Carolina RailHawks
When Ft. Lauderdale lost their first two games of the fall season against the Cosmos and Minnesota, we could hardly fault Strikers fans and other onlookers for thinking that the misery and utter ineptitude that so punctuated their spring season was merely carrying over into the autumn.
Perhaps we can scratch Ft. Lauderdale's performances in those first two games up to being the product of Günther Kronsteiner still getting a grasp of the team at his disposal after having only taken the managerial post a few weeks prior to the start of the fall season, and maybe the results from the first two outings can be directly attributed to a team that was still busy in the loan and free agent market and accordingly not quite a finished article yet. What a difference two weeks can make, however.
After having been undone by costly defensive lapses in their first two games, Ft. Lauderdale has looked quite solid in the back since, with Richard Sanchez, on loan from FC Dallas, showing his worth in goal and new center back Rafael Alves seemingly making the jump up from the PDL very nicely.
A lack of a true striker was highly detrimental in the spring, but with that problem having been remedied now through the returns of Paulo Junior and Martin Nunez, along with the addition of loanee Bradlee Baladez from FC Dallas, who scored the lone goal in Ft. Lauderdale's huge win at Atlanta last week, what was once a void on the Strikers' roster is now a strength. With creative influences such as Walter Restrepo and Mark Anderson on hand to compliment the new batch of frontmen, Ft. Lauderdale boasts what is truly an underrated attack these days.
A Ft. Lauderdale win at home against a flying Carolina side would be quite the marker for just where the Strikers truly are in the NASL at the moment, but such a feat will hardly be elementary in nature. Brian Shriver has only continued on with his scoring exploits from the spring season, and Colin Clarke finds himself spoiled for choice on the wings now that Cesar Elizondo is really evolving and Ty Shiplane is back from injury.
Carolina may truly have the deepest roster in the league, and with so many options at Clarke's disposal, it is hardly a surprise that they are now on ten points from four games. A road win against such an improved Strikers side would only underline current standing.
Updated, 8/31/13: Fort Lauderdale won 1-0 thanks to a fantastic volley from Darnell King. Don't look now, but this Strikers side is for real.
Atlanta Silverbacks v. Tampa Bay Rowdies
It has been something of an uneven start for the Silverbacks so far this fall, though that is hardly to say they have been poor overall. After winning at Minnesota to start the fall season, Atlanta has seen second half leads go by the wayside against against both Carolina and Edmonton, and despite playing the whole second half with ten men against Ft. Lauderdale last week, they looked ever likely to find an equalizer through either Horace James or Pablo Cruz before the final whistle blew. Indeed, it's not inconceivable to think that Atlanta could be on eight or ten points at this stage if a couple of breaks had gone their way.
Tampa Bay have been the draw specialists of the league this fall season, drawing in three consecutive matches after defeating San Antonio 7-4 in their fall season opener. Of course one gets the feeling that this Tampa Bay side is good for some wins, especially with the Etienne Barbara/Georgi Hristov strike pairing paying some dividends thus far in the fall.
Atlanta will have some measure of revenge in mind after having lost to Tampa Bay 2-1 at home thanks to two Hristov penalties towards the end of the spring season. With Danny Barerra missing out due the red card he picked up last week, Brian Haynes and the Silverbacks will sorely miss their most creative influence. With that in mind, perhaps the recipe for three home points will be to keep it tight and hope that the likes of Borfor Carr and Horace James can make something happen on counterattacks.
Should there be a winner and other results go the way of the winner, either Atlanta or Tampa Bay could vault into second in the table.
San Antonio Scorpions v. Minnesota United
Let it be said that San Antonio fans have been on one turbulent roller coaster throughout the whole of 2013. The expectations were high coming into the year after such a strong 2012, but a horrible start to the spring season soon saw those hopes vanish. Alas, an ensuing five game winning streak to close out the spring season and ultimately draw within one point of Atlanta at the top of the table only served to rekindle the old hopes and dreams going into the fall.
And yet the Scorpions now find themselves back at square one, if even there. San Antonio has lost its first four games to start the fall season, the defense has been alarmingly leaky at times, and now Tim Hankinson has been fired. Yes, the Scorpions salvaged the spring season, but it's hard to see them pulling that same trick again in such quick succession. Interim manager Alen Marcina has his hands full as he tries to stop the rot.
It hasn't been the best of starts for Minnesota in this fall season, but what an opportunity this is for them to get three points and get back into the running in the fall season race. Despite the attacking talent Minnesota has in the form of Pablo Campos, Mike Ambersley and Simone Bracalello, United haven't exactly been prolific in front goal thus far. Don't be surprised to see that change this weekend.
FC Edmonton v. New York Cosmos
In almost typical fashion, Edmonton has proven to be a side that is hard to break down, but equally, and perhaps frustratingly for fans of the Eddies, short in the goal department as well. Corey Hertzog, on loan from Vancouver, has provided some spark for Edmonton, especially as seen through his recent game winning goal against San Antonio, but one still gets the feeling that this is a side that needs a bit more spark. Shaun Saiko can't be the lone facilitator in midfield.
For the Cosmos, however, this game just has trap written all over it. Sure, Edmonton may not be fancied by many as a contender in the fall, but they can easily cause problems for a team like the Cosmos that has looked rather disjointed in the midfield and has had something of a revolving door up front with Stefan Dimitrov, Alessandro Noselli and Henry Lopez, who scored last week's late winner against San Antonio, all splitting time. Maybe Lopez, the Guatemalan international, has earned a start after his recent heroics.
Surprisingly, Edmonton could go to second with a win and favorable results in the league. The Cosmos could find themselves tied with Carolina on ten point if the other games fall in their favor.
So what are you thoughts on this weekend's games? Feel free to drop me a line either here or on Twitter over the weekend.
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