The Aztexan

As you've probably seen, the Aztex U23s suffered a tough loss last night in Orlando, going down 3-1 to the Laredo Heat in the Southern Conference Final. You can read the gory details, if you don't already know them.

And so ends the inaugural season of the Austin Aztex. As I've commented elsewhere, I find it oddly difficult to feel too sad about the loss last night. Sure it would have been great to go the national finals. I mean, of course.

But the whole season has just so completely and consistently exceeded expectations, that it seems almost greedy to want the national title, too. I don't want to sound defeatist or anything. I'm just saying, they could have had a season like the Palm Beach Pumas — who ended with -1 points (that's right, negative one points) on the season — and I'd still be an Aztex fan.

The bummer is that we have a long, long offseason before we see the Aztex on the field again. Is there anything to keep an Austin soccer fan busy until next April? Here's what I came up with; hope it helps.

• Catch up on Stoke City's preparations for their first year in the Premiership


• Speaking of Stoke, don't forget their U18 Academy team will be here next month


• Pick a USL-1 team, any USL-1 team! Their season doesn't end until September (I'm thinking Railhawks)


• Go to the Mexic-Arte Museum downtown, to see the Aztec and Maya Revival exhibit


• There's some kind of soccer going on China next month, isn't there?


• Knitting? Nah, scratch that.


• Go back to following MLS soccer (in Texas, that means FC Dallas if you have any class or taste, Houston Dynamo otherwise)


• Follow the stadium speculation and rumors for next year's Aztex seasons


• Follow FC Dallas fan-favorite Juan Toja through his impending (or not) trade to Steaua Bucureşti, becoming an expert in Romanian football along the way. Apparently their top-level league is called "Liga I Frutti Fresh"; what more could you ask for?

Labels: MLS, Stoke City, U-23

Congratulations to the boys for the win last night over the Bradenton Academics. While it totally sucks to lose Beto to 2 yellow cards, the win was obviously the important thing.

Next up: beating Laredo tonight. This will be the 3rd time the Aztex play the Heat, and we've had good results so far: two wins, zero losses.

If we win this one, the Southern Conference Championship is ours, and it's on to the finals! The only thing better than going to the finals would be if the finals came to us. That is, if the Aztex make a successful bid to host. Er, wait, maybe winning the final would also be better than going to the finals, so I guess that's not the only thing better. You know what I mean.

The game should once again be broadcast at http://ftslive.rbm.tv. Bless those folks; I'd never have thought I'd enjoy amateur camera-work so much. Chantico's Army, the recently (and finally) christened Aztex supporter's group, will be gathering as usual at Mother Egan's. I will unfortunately not be able to make it tonight, but the hookup from laptop to TV works amazingly well, and the atmosphere with all the fans is great. Highly recommended, and they're always happy to see new faces, so don't be shy.

Best of luck, guys, against our southern Texan rivals tonight in Orlando!

UPDATE, 7/26 3:30 PM Much to the dismay of Aztex fans the world over (and with the Stoke City partnership that isn't just a figure of speech), the video has been canned. Apparently there was some kind of pissing match between the Fasttrack Scouting people and the USL people over whether the video page had to stay branded with the Central Florida Kraze banner. I can see both sides, I guess, but what really sucks is that it ended up with no video, and everyone's a loser.

If you want to track the game live, you can wade through the BigSoccer thread, follow the game tracker on the new Chantico's Army site, or follow my Twitter page.

Labels: gameday, supporters, U-23

This just in: the Aztex playoff sweep will be viewable online! Here's the place to point your browser tomorrow at 4:00 (Austin time): http://ftslive.rbm.tv/.

There are also once again plans for supporters to gather and watch at Mother Egan's on 6th Street. I won't be able to sneak out of work at that time, unfortunately, but I'll be there in spirit.

Come on Aztex! Start the playoffs like you started the season! (Not counting that very first game, of course...)

UPDATE, 7/25 7:00 AM The Aztex Revolution will not be televised, after all. The video stream has been cancelled, according to a message seen on the ftslive site by a BigSoccer member. "PLEASE NOTE: we were notified late this afternoon that we will not be able to broadcast the games this weekend as planned due to unforeseeen circumstances beyond our control." Bastards.

Updates will be available on BigSoccer's Aztex forum for sure, and possibly on the Aztexan Twitter page. Stay tuned for further news.

UPDATE 2, 7/25 12:00 PM The video stream is BACK ON! Apparently the league gods were appeased by making the folks at Fasttrack Scouting change the banner on the top of their page for the day, to a Kraze banner. Anyway, all that matters is, we're back in business! Same Aztex time, same Aztex channel: 4:00 PM (Central Time) at http://ftslive.rbm.tv/.

Labels: gameday, supporters, U-23

My son is going to a week-long Boy Scout camp near Balmorhea in West Texas starting on Saturday.

The Aztex will play their last regular-season game Saturday night in El Paso, just a hop, skip and a jump west of there (that is, if the hop takes an hour, the skip takes another hour, and the jump takes half an hour).

What else could a Scout-dad Aztex fan do, but go to the game? (Especially since we didn't get to host the playoffs here...) Anyway, this gives me an excuse to stay at a Hyatt Saturday night, instead of in a tent in the West Texas desert in July. Sorry, son.

So I'm going to try something new for game updates: an online service called Twitter. It's kind of hard to explain, but basically it's just a way to post extremely short (140 characters max) updates, and it's easy to post to via cellphone text messages. My Twitter account is aztexan.

If you already have a Twitter account, you can "follow" me, and you'll get my updates on your home page (or via your Twitter client, or your cellphone, or however you have it set up). If you don't have a Twitter account, you don't need one. Just refresh that link periodically to see updates.

I thought I'd try this out, just to see how it goes. I realize this isn't really necessary, as the Patriots should have live streaming video of the game on their website. And a bunch of Aztex fans are gathering once again at Mother Egan's (715 West 6th Street) for the game. That's the place to be on Saturday night, if you're in Austin.

Labels: gameday, supporters, U-23

• Pulis impressed by aztex — Why Delilah
  

  Pulis, who coached for America's national youth development programme for a short spell when between jobs earlier in his managerial career, says there is a bottomless pit of potential talent because so many youngsters are playing football in the States.
  
  "No-one is making any promises," he says, "but this is clearly an area of the world that's worth keeping a very close eye on.
  
  "And we are in the very fortunate position of having two Stokies at the heart of what's going on."



• Central Texas'most powerful sports figures — Austin American-Statesman
  

  20. Phil Rawlins
  
  Sphere of influence: Soccer
  
  Title: Owner, Austin Aztex soccer club
  
  Why he's No. 20: Rawlins is the new soccer wonderboy locally. He's the minority owner of the English soccer club Stoke City, which recently moved up to the prestigious English Premier League for the first time in 23 years. While he's fairly new to the area, having moved here just four years ago, he has quickly become a major player in the soccer world.

Labels: media, Stoke City

Some more nice Aztex coverage to make sure everyone knows about: a nice profile of midfielder A.J. Godbolt in the free Capital City Sports Report paper. Google Alerts found the editorial on their site: A.J. Godbolt and the Austin Aztex. The editor says:

I have to admit, months ago when I first learned of the new Austin Aztex, I was skeptical. I've seen other "professional" soccer teams come and go in this town. In fact, we've covered a couple of them in our pages. I figured the Aztex wouldn't be any different.

I can happily admit, I was dead wrong.

The Aztex are averaging around 1,500 fans per game this season and this past Sunday they pulled in an impressive 4,700-plus crowd against one of the top Mexican team's, UANL Tigres. I know two other professional franchises in town that can only dream of pulling in those kinds of numbers.

The story on A.J. is in their current issue: A.J. Godbolt - Back Home (PDF).

“It has been great taking a more offensive role this season because nothing really compares to scoring a goal. In college it was my job and responsibility to set up my teammates for goals from the flank. It had been since high school that I had been able to be a true goal scorer and attack the way I wanted to,” Godbolt said. “I’m more of an aggressive goal scorer by nature so I have definitely enjoyed getting back into that role over the course of this season.”

Labels: media, players, U-23

You guys are very nice. That was a close one, but thanks for letting FCD squeak by. You know, their confidence can really use a win right now.

I really appreciate how cooperative you've been, throughout the Open Cup. I'll put in a good word for you with the Aztex USL-1 team next year, and see if they'll take it easy on you.

Labels: MLS, U.S. Open Cup