The Aztexan

photo: Eric Flexyourhead on Flickr

Another nail-biter; another point for the Aztex. Despite a few handicaps, our Austin team put up a heck of a fight, and didn’t come up empty-handed for their trouble.

My two cents:

• Yay for Mister Tramps! We moved watch parties from Cuatro’s to this pub on 183 for a few reasons. We already knew it well it from its association with Austin’s American Outlaws chapter and the Free Beer Movement. But we were also fleeing increasingly poor service and increasingly throwball-centric clientele. Two watch events in, I’m happy to report that Mister Tramps is treating us right. We get the room with the big screen (and the soccer-pitch-painted floor) all to ourselves, and they even have a laptop there ready to plug in for our video streams. Waitstaff has been fast and attentive and prices aren’t bad. Keep up the good work, Trampers! (And you better shape up, Taverners . . .)

• Yay for Vancouver’s video server! Sure it was kind of pixelated and blocky on that giant screen, but there wasn’t a “buffering…” message in sight all game! It was like a live broadcast! I wonder if they can spare a couple of their gerbils to go run on the wheel in Portland’s server room.

• Cheers to Coach Heath, caught for a moment on video cruising the beer garden at halftime.

• The good news is, we had a new fan join us at the watch party. The bad news is, he was so thoroughly blitzed that he’s surely forgotten the entire evening.

Here’s a rundown of other post-match coverage:

• box score — USSF

• It’s ‘painful’ says coach, as Caps twice blow leads — The Vancouver Sun
  

  Caps forward Cornelius Stewart opened the scoring in the 16th minute when he ran down a Martin Nash pass/clearance, broke through the Aztex defence and beat Austin keeper Miguel Gallardo with a low 20-yard strike.

  The speedy 20-year-old St. Vincent & Grenadines international nearly scored again just six minutes later when Gallardo mishandled a high ball and was forced to make a quick reaction save off Stewart from close range.

• Fulltime: Whitecaps 2 Aztex 2 — The Province
  

  Caps’ forward Ridge Mobulu, one of 10 players signed since Vancouver last played at home on July 25, produced a dazzling goal in the 52nd minute to again pull the home side ahead.

  Stewart sprung Mobulu on the left side and the Swiss-born 19-year-old dribbled around goalkeeper Gallardo before stopping dead on the end line, outwaiting defender Leonard Griffin on the post and chipping the ball in.

• Aztex Inch Closer to First Place With Draw — AustinAztex.com
  

  Two minutes after trotting onto the field in the 78th minute, Eddie Johnson snapped a header into the Vancouver Whitecaps goal to send the Austin Aztex home with a 2-2 draw at Swangard Stadium, giving Austin at least one point against every team in the USSF D-2 Pro League.

• Video: Austin Aztex @ Vancouver Whitecaps FC – Highlights (6:32) — VancouverWhitecapsFC on YouTube

Pro soccer returns to Austin on Saturday evening, Sep. 4, when the Aztex host the NSC Minnesota Stars at House Park at 7:30. Start Labor Day weekend right, spend it with the red & white!

The Austin Aztex venture into the Great White North to play the Vancouver Whitecaps today. Kickoff is 6:00 PM CT.

Vancouver is currently in 3rd place in the league, with a 9-3-12 record. Their last game was a 1-1 draw with FC Tampa Bay more than a week ago (match report/box score).

Though they’ve done well this season, they’re clearly starting to look more to next year’s MLS season, and less to this year’s Division-2 season. This piece in the Vancouver Sun tells the tale:

The last time the Vancouver Whitecaps played at home, Willis Forko was in Norway, Terry Dunfield was in England and Jonathan McDonald was in Costa Rica.

Now they are all members of a new-look Vancouver roster that features nine new players signed since the Caps tied Minnesota 1-1 at Swangard Stadium on July 25.

Seven of those players have joined the team — with Swiss internationals Alain Rochat and Davide Chiumiento still to arrive — and expect several to make their Swangard debut Sunday when the Whitecaps host the tough Austin Aztex.

Vancouver head coach Teitur Thordarson said the new players have clearly raised the team’s technical skill level but fans shouldn’t expect miraculous highlight-reel plays all over the field right away.

“Spectators should expect to see good talent but be a little patient,” he said after the Whitecaps trained on Friday. “These guys need some games before we can expect them to perform at their best.

“Some of them haven’t played for months and are not totally game fit right now.”

For their part, the Aztex aren’t exactly storming into Vancouver. They’ll be missing a couple of players who can’t leave the U.S. (Yordany Alverez, Tyler Hemming), an injured player (Lawrence Olum) and a couple of red-card bearers (Kieron Bernard and apparently anger-managment-challenged head coach Adrian Heath). But if Miguel can stay big in goal and the front-end firepower can find their mojo, the Red & White should do all right.

The supporters’ buffering, er, watch party will once again be held at Mister Tramps on 183, come on out and join us!

The Aztex had an eventful start to their 2-game trip in Portland on Thursday night. Though they gained a point, they lost some personnel for the trip to Vancouver. First Lawrence Olum injured his hamstring in practice, then both Kieron Bernard and coach Adrian Heath were ejected from the game, which of course earns them both a ban from the Vancouver match (at least).

Before I get to the match reports, allow me a moment to rant about the video. It was disgraceful. The amount of video buffering we had to endure, and the time delay that the buffering caused, made the game simply unwatchable. I was actually glad we didn’t have a bunch of new fans join us for this mid-week, late-night watch event, because it would have been about the worst first impression imaginable.

For all of the standards that the USSF is cooking up, here’s a humble suggestion for whoever runs the Division 2 league next year: make the teams’ video not totally suck.

These free broadcasts are clearly not intended to attract new fans; the quality is so poor that if anything, they would have the opposite effect anyway. Therefore they must be primarily watched — and given the quality, I honestly don’t know how much watching is actually happening — by hardcore supporters. For our sakes, I’d almost rather not have any video at all, than these broadcasts that would embarrass a middle-school audio/video class.

Here’s a rundown of other post-match coverage:

• box score — USSF

• Aztex Steal a Draw at Portland — AustinAztex.com
  

  In the 56th minute, the tide changed in favor of Portland after Bernard was given a second yellow for a tackle on the Aztex defensive half of the field. Following the card, the Aztex defense tightened up and absorbed the plethora of shots to close out the remaining 30 minutes and improved to 1-2-2 against Portland all-time.

• Austin Aztex 1, Portland Timbers 1 :: Match Report — Chantico’s Army
  

  Sullivan Silva, who was making his first start in quite some time, seemed to take a giant leap in a return to form. Silva has had a hard time coming back from a knee injury early in the season, and although getting time in many matches, has done so coming off the bench. His touches have seemed uncharacteristically heavy, and his magic with the ball absent. However, on Thursday night he seemed to have some of that “Brazilian Samba” back, as he was able to break past Timbers defenders on multiple times. Finally, in the 27’, Silva took the next step in his recovery when he scored his second goal of the season, the first since the July 31 match against Miami FC.

  [Note: Chantico's Army gaffer Matthew Gray attended the game in person; don't miss this in-depth report.]

• 14,985 Witness a Wild One At PGE Park — Dropping Timber blog
  

  Suddenly, Aztex manager Adrian Heath is given a red card and ejected from the match after an exchange of words with an official on the sideline. Heath would then walk off the field and head towards the North End, first passing by Gavin Wilkinson and shaking his hand, then walking up into the stands, finding a seat in the rafters, leaning back with a dejected-look smeared across his face and proceed to watch the match amongst the fans. Strange. Simply bizarre and I’ll admit, also kinda awesome. Eventually, Heath was escorted back to the locker room.

  [Note: That blog post is also very lengthy, but I can summarize it for you: 'boo-hoo, the Aztex did exactly what every team on Earth would have done when they went a man down on the road at the beginning of the second half, boo-hoo, we like to think Portland is a great team this season despite all evidence to the contrary, therefore Austin must have cheated or been unsportsmanlike or something, boo-hoo.']

• Video: Aug. 26, 2010 Highlights vs. Austin Aztex (4:27) — TimbersFC on YouTube

The next game for Austin, just 3 days after this one, will be the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday, kickoff at 6 PM CT.

The Aztex play the first of a 2-game Pacific Northwest road trip Thursday night. Kickoff for the match against the Portland Timbers is at 9:00 PM CT.

Portland has 34 points from their 9-7-7 record, putting them 3rd in the USL Conference, 4th in the league overall. Their most recent match was a 1-0 win at the NSC Minnesota Stars last Saturday. That game was narrowly decided by a red card to Minnesota’s goalkeeper and the accompanying penalty kick, converted by league-leading scorer Ryan Pore (match report/box score).

This will be Austin’s last league game — ever — with the Timbers, as the franchise will be moving up to MLS next year. Portland’s only other meeting with the Aztex, here in Austin on June 9, resulted in a 0-0 draw.

Austin will be without the services of key defender Jay Needham, who didn’t make the trip due to the hamstring injury he picked up on Sunday. They’ll also be without Yordany Alvarez, who has a hard time traveling out of the country due to his exile status. On the other hand, we’re happy to have Jamie Watson on the trip, back from being on the injury list for a fractured collar bone.

Despite the distance, the Red & White will have at least two traveling fans on hand: Chase Hoffman won the Aztex Alliance grand prize drawing: a trip to Portland for this game. Chantico’s Army gaffer Matthew Gray will be with him, as well. Here’s hoping the guys have a great trip, and that they aren’t beaten up by a mob of angry Timbers Army members after the Aztex win. I also hope they packed their long underwear; the forecast calls for a downright frosty mid-60s temperature.

Back here in Austin, where it will still be a toasty 90 degrees an hour after sunset, loyal fans will be gathering at Mister Tramps on 183 to watch the action. Sure, kickoff isn’t until 9:00 PM, and sure, it’s a school and/or work night. But you wouldn’t want to miss the Aztex closing the gap with the Rhinos by 3 more points, would you? You wouldn’t want to pass up the chance to see who’s going to score Austin’s goals this time around, would you? You wouldn’t leave the person who’s on the hook to hook up the video (yours truly) to sit there all by himself, would you? Of course not! See you there! (Psst! If you get there early, and the setup works out right, I might have a pre-game treat for you: video of the 1977 NASL Soccer Bowl, Cosmos vs Sounders.)

School is starting back in Austin, from your neighborhood elementary all the way up to college. That means the University of Texas Longhorns soccer season is starting again, too.

You can be pretty sure that all the “UT football” hype you’re hearing (or promoting yourself, if you’re one of those people) is about that other of football: the one in which, despite the name, everyone uses their hands all the time, except for the one guy who kicks the ball a few times each game. Despite the impression you might get from most Longhorns fans, the school does field teams in other sports.

Which brings us to the UT women’s soccer team, which just started their 2010 season last weekend. They’re off to a good start, winning that opener with North Carolina State 2-1. (With the Aztex win over the Railhawks on Sunday, that makes two NC soccer teams going down to their TX rivals last weekend!) The Longhorns also won their sole preseason game, against Louisiana State, with the same 2-1 scoreline.

This UT squad boasts several players with international experience. Midfielder Lexi Harris and goalkeeper Alexa Gaul have both played for the United States U17, U20 or U23 teams, defender Nina Pederson has played for the Danish U23s, and Leah Fortune has been called to both the U20 and senior Brazilian national teams. As qualifying runs continue ahead of next year’s World Cup in Germany, we may see some of these Longhorn athletes on the world stage.

As you can see from the schedule, the season is pretty short, with the last regular season game on Oct. 29. There will be 11 home games on UT’s beautiful natural grass field at Mike A. Myers Stadium. The first two of those games are this weekend: Friday at 7:00 PM vs. the UT San Antonio Roadrunners, and Sunday at 1:00 PM vs. the USC Trojans. (I’m considering going to the Friday game; let me know via email, Twitter, in the comments, on BigSoccer or via carrier pigeon if you’re interested in joining me.) Tickets for home games are just $7, $4 for kids through 18. Despite the occasional weirdness of NCAA soccer rules (e.g., unlimited subs), these games are a good time, and a chance to see some excellent play.

Though Texas chooses to not field a men’s team, there is a UT “club” soccer program that includes men’s teams (as well as another women’s team). These guys actually had a booth set up at the Aztex-Railhawks game on Sunday, handing out copies of their schedule. Their home games are played at UT’s Whitaker Fields, field #10. I haven’t gone to any of these games myself, but may try to check one out (I assume they’re free admission).

So, if you’re missing live soccer games while the Aztex are on the road, or after they’ve finished winning the title, don’t forget the college options we have in Austin.

AustinAztex.com — Aztex Clinch Playoff Berth with Sunday Night’s Victory

A 3-2 victory over Carolina combined with the results from the rest of the USSF Division-2 Pro League over the weekend gave the Aztex a spot in the playoffs for the first time in their brief two-year history.

“I’m delighted that with nine games left in the regular season still, we’ve achieved our first goal for this year in reaching the playoffs,” Aztex President and Owner Phil Rawlins said. “I now look forward to pressing on with our next goal — bringing a championship to Austin.”

Read it all.

And mark your calendar: the playoff game date will be either Wed. Oct. 6, or Sat. Oct. 9. Pre-order tickets are on sale now: $15 for adults and $12 for children 15 & younger (tickets at the gate will be $20 and $15, respectively).

photo: AustinAztex.com Photo Gallery

As promised, it was hotter than a stolen tamale at House Park on Sunday evening. But for another exciting game, and three more points for our Austin Aztex, we can stand a little heat.

Don’t let the low number of cards fool you: it was a pretty rough match. The ref must have only brought the two yellows he gave out, because if he’d had more in his pocket, he surely would have been dealing them left and right. (Either that, or the vision problems people were yelling at him about are real. . .) Most of them should have gone to those brutes from North Carolina, of course. I guess you can’t blame them for getting frustrated.

Oh, and a note to Rochester: look out behind you. You’re in our spot.

Here’s a rundown of other post-match coverage:

• box score — USSF

  Attendance: 4,188

• Austin Aztex beat Carolina RailHawks 3-2 — Austin American-Statesman
  

  Austin Aztex coach Adrian Heath believed his team would bounce back after falling out of the league’s top position with a poor outing last week in Puerto Rico.

  A long week of harder practices did the trick.

  “I wasn’t (worried) because I’ve raised enough of a stink this week that I knew I’d get a reaction,” Heath joked.

• Aztex Derail Carolina at House Park — AustinAztex.com
  

  Randi Patterson was welcomed to the Austin Aztex Sunday night with his first goal for the team that cemented a 3-2 victory over the Carolina RailHawks at House Park.

  The goal came on a pass lobbed into the center of the six-yard box from Max Griffin that was chested down by Patterson. After one touch on the ground, Patterson blasted it to the keeper’s left side, giving the Aztex a 3-1 lead.

• RailHawks fall short against Austin 3-2 — WRALSportsFan.com
  

  Despite going down by two goals with under 10 minutes to play, the RailHawks refused to quit. After a flurry in front of goal, Allan Russell picked up a loose ball and blasted it past Aztex goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo for his first goal as a RailHawk, to make it 3-2. The RailHawks nearly salvaged a tie in stoppage time when Gallardo misplayed the ball, but the RailHawks were unable to take advantage of the scramble.

• Photos (28): Aztex vs. Carolina, 8-22 — AustinAztex.com Photo Gallery

  There are some really good ones in there – don’t miss this one of Coach Heath, or this one of Miguel. Too bad they’re not bigger, though.

• Video: Aztex vs Carolina Railhawks final 3 2 Aztex (1:18) — AztexSoccer on YouTube

• Video: Aztex 3, Carolina 2 – Postgame Interviews (0:55) — AztexSoccer on YouTube

We don’t have to wait long to find out if this is the beginning of another winning streak. The Aztex head to the Pacific Northwest this week, facing the Portland Timbers on Thursday, and the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday. The forecast for PGE Park on Thursday calls for a high of 67. 67! I just hope that our boys bundle up, and that nobody gets attacked by a polar bear or anything.

The next home game will be on Saturday, Sep. 4, when the NSC Minnesota Stars make their sole trip to the Lone Star State this season.

The Austin Aztex will return to House Park at 6:00 Sunday evening, playing the Carolina Railhawks for the first of just two matchups this season.

The Railhawks are currently in second place in the NASL conference, their 8-6-7 record giving them 31 points. They’ve been on a busy schedule the last couple weeks; Sunday’s match will be their fifth in 15 days. Most recently, they beat Miami FC (because, come on, who doesn’t beat Miami?) 2-1 on Wednesday (match report/box score).

Railhawks head coach Martin Rennie had this incisive tactical observation about the contest:

[Austin's] record is very good this season and they are high up in the league standings because of their good results.

Well. He seems to have it all figured out. One can only hope Austin can come up with something to outfox him.

I expect the Aztex to field a lineup closer to their usual starting eleven than they did in last week’s 2-0 loss in Puerto Rico. They’ll have to do without Jamie Watson, who is still out with the fractured collarbone he picked up on Aug. 7, but I’m sure Max Griffin and Yordany Alvarez will start.

The game kicks off at 6:00, so the pregame gathering at The Tavern will start around 4:00. With temperatures predicted to top 245 degrees (Celsius), hydration will be key for supporters who want to last the full 90. If you get to feeling too sorry for yourself in the heat, you can take comfort in one fact: at least you’re not the poor wretch who has to wear the Sgt. Pepper costume at this game^*.

Kidding aside, don’t forget that after Sunday, there will be just two more regular-season home games (9/4 and 9/25). School starts back in Austin next week, so this is the last weekend of the summer for families with school-age kids. What better way to spend an August Sunday in Texas than coming down to House and watching your Austin Aztex whip up on some Tar Heels?

Yo si le voy, le voy a los Aztex!

^* Apologies to the poor wretch who has to wear the Sgt. Pepper costume at this game, if he or she reads this blog. Actually, more than apologies: if the supporters find out who wears that costume on Sunday, I’m sure that person will drink free all night at Cuatro’s after the game.

A blog post on a not-well-respected site called MLSRumors.com today suggested that the Austin Aztex and Rochester Rhinos are considering moving to Division 3 next year, in response to the Division 2 standards recently announced by USSF.

As you might guess from a site with “rumors” in its name, and which deals mostly in headlines with question marks at the end, they should be ignored. They’re trolling for page-views, and I’m not going to contribute by linking to them. (You can Google them easily enough, though I assure you: you’re not missing anything.)

Neither I nor anyone I know has heard the slightest hints of anything like this. Further, a fellow Aztex fan (thanks, Jeff!) sent me this statement, which he received from Aztex CEO Djorn Buchholz:

“I can assure you that the rumors you heard on MLSRumors.com are just that, rumors. This club has no intention of playing D3 soccer. Yes, the new D2 standards are quite strict, but our ownership group has assisted US Soccer in setting those guidelines and we meet them. I do appreciate your email and rest assured, we will play D2 Soccer for years to come.”

Update: Brian Quarstad at Inside Minnesota Soccer has more on this: Quelling Rumors – A USSF D2 Update. He adds a statement from Rochester Rhinos owner Rob Clark, and he has a good summary of what kind of shape all the teams, current as well as possible future, look like.

Humph. It’s been a while, but I remember now: losing isn’t nearly as much fun as winning. I summed up my opinion on Twitter last night late in the game: “Who are these people in red & white, and what have they done with my Aztex?” The team I saw on the video feed (in between bouts of camera-induced motion sickness) just seemed off. Off pace, off target and generally off their game.

There shouldn’t be too much shame in it: Puerto Rico ain’t a bad team. They did just knock the LA Galaxy out of the CONCACAF Champions League. That’s what makes their constant time-wasting tactics that much harder to take. Islanders! Cut it out! It’s embarrassing! Goalkeeper Bill “Not Yet” Gaudette, of course, is the worst. I heard they were going to give him a newly coined Time-Waster of the Match award . . . but were afraid of how long it would take him to accept it. I heard it takes him 10 minutes to make a 3-minute egg. I heard when he falls out of bed he doesn’t hit the floor till morning. I heard he doesn’t like molasses, because it pours too fast.

Ahem. You get the idea.

Meanwhile, Rochester‘s 2-1 win over Montreal lets them nose into first place (42 points to Austin’s 41). But the Aztex have 3 games in hand, which should make the Rhinos nervous in spite of last night’s showing in Bayamón.

Here’s a rundown of other post-match coverage:

• box score — USSF

• Puerto Rico Ends Short-handed Aztex Streaks — AustinAztex.com
  

  Prior to tonight’s contest at J.R. Loubriel Stadium in Puerto Rico, the Austin Aztex had two seven-game streaks in the works — they had yet to be defeated on the road all season long and had not lost since June 12. The Islanders ended both of those marks though with a 2-0 victory over the short-handed Aztex, who were playing without two of its top three scorers or its top midfielder.

• Aztex 0, Puerto Rico 2 :: Match Report — Chantico’s Army
  

  In the first half, we knew right away that the Aztex were having difficulties. The passing and ball management, which had been so crisp and clean this year, really seemed to revert to the ball management of the 2009 Aztex. Passing was lethargic, there was propensity for long ball play, and the Islanders seemed to be on the other end of Aztex passes as much as we were. Although the Aztex may very well have had trouble with the pitch, which was very wet and pocked, the familiarity with the Bayamon field had to help the Islanders. This was evidenced by the number of opportunities Naranje had with multiple shots on goal in the first half, that test Aztex goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo.

• USSF D2 Saturday Action: Islanders Upset Aztex; Rhinos Win Again and Slip into First Place — The NASL Fanatic
  

  Although the Aztex were without key players Maxwell Griffin, Jamie Watson and Yordany Alvarex [sic], they still outshot the home team , 16-8. Props to veteran Islanders’ goalkeeper Bill Gaudette on keeping the clean sheet. Colin Clarke’s Islander squad is peaking at the right time, leveling their league record at 7-7-7. The Islanders begin group play in the CONCACAF Champions League this Tuesday when the match up with Honduran team CD Olimpia.

The Aztex return home this weekend, hosting the Carolina Railhawks at House Park on Sunday, Aug. 22 at 6:00 PM.