The Aztexan

What a night! The first-ever Austin Aztex home game was Saturday night, and if you missed it, you really missed something. The crowd was good, the team was good, the play was good; heck, even the result was good! (Austin soundly defeated the Houston Leones 2-0.) Not too bad a start for an expansion side.

Being brand-new to soccer in Austin, I have the opposite background as the author of this excellent post-game report:

I won't pretend to be a neutral observer for the home debut of the Austin Aztex U-23 squad. I didn't want to ask for media credentials because I wanted to sit in the stands and gauge the reaction of the crowd - if there was going to be a crowd. I wanted to do this because I want so much to see the Aztex succeed and enjoy a successful, professional soccer organization in Austin. I've been going to the Austin pro/semi-pro games since the days of the Soccadilloes and the Austin Thunder. I bemoaned the disaster that was the Austin Lightning. I predicted the scam that was the Austin Posse.

Nevertheless, I was also anxious to see what kind of crowd would turn out. Turns out, my worries were unfounded. The count from the Aztex front office is "nearly 1,500", which is fantastic. All in all, a great start for a season — and a team — that's just going to get bigger & better!

Hope to see you at Saturday's match against DFW Tornados!

Labels: gameday, rivals, U-23

You probably don't need me to tell you this, but tonight is the first Aztex U23 home game of the 2008 season. About time, too! 7:30PM at Round Rock High School's Dragon Stadium vs. the Houston Leones. Hopefully this will be the first of many poundings the Aztex will give the Leones. See you there!

Labels: U-23

All Stoke City needed today in their game against Leicester City was a draw, and that's all they got; final scoreline: 0-0. I managed to find pirate live video of the 2nd half of the game, and let me say, it was intense. Somehow, it hadn't really registered for me that Leicester was fighting relegation, so there was a lot at stake for both teams.

Anyway, to hell with the table, and with the results of all the other matches. Who cares? All that matters to The Aztexan is that STOKE ARE PROMOTED!!

Labels: Stoke City

If you're following the Austin Aztex at all, you probably know their season officially starts Saturday. The first-ever game of the Austin Aztex is an away game, against the El Paso Patriots.

As noted in this fine write-up in the Chronicle, El Paso finished in 2nd place in the Mid South Division last year, so they may be a tough opening opponent.

Although I would have loved to make the 16-hour round-trip drive to El Paso, I'm afraid I'm going to have to miss seeing this auspicious moment in person. However, there is a possibility that some loyal Aztex supporters will manage to get an Internet video stream of the game hooked up to a TV at Mother Egan's on Saturday night.

Having that hook-up is not a certainty. In fact, having a video stream of the game at all is not a certainty. However, Mother Egan's having plenty of ice-cold Harp lager is a certainty. Hope to see you there!

Labels: rivals, U-23

Okay, we're down to the wire, now. And I'm delinquent in putting this up, so I won't give the full run-down of recent results.

Currently, Stoke City is in second, tied on points with West Brom but nowhere near in goal difference (West Brom: 31, Stoke 14). Meanwhile, Hull City continues to breathe down their neck, just 3 points back, and also with a better goal difference (19).

P	Team	Pts	Move
1	West Bromwich Albion	78	—
2	Stoke City	78	—
3	Hull City	75	—
4	Bristol City	71	—
5	Watford	69	—
6	Crystal Palace	68	—
7	Wolverhampton Wanderers	67

(Full table)

So the bottom line is, if Stoke get a draw or a win when 21st-place Leicester City come to Britannia Stadium on Saturday, their promotion to the Premiership is assured! Aztex owners Phil & Kay Rawlins will be in Stoke-on-Trent for the match, so if any extra little bit of luck is needed, hopefully that will do it. GO POTTERS!!

Labels: Stoke City