The Aztexan

The Aztex have a hurried finish to their season this weekend, starting at 6:00 CT Friday evening against the Carolina Railhawks in Cary, North Carolina.

The Railhawks are also playoff-bound, currently holding the top spot in the NASL Conference, which would give them the second seed. They’ve had a pretty strong run lately, winning 3 and drawing 1 of their last 5, though two of those wins were against the dead-last Crystal Palace Baltimore. Their third win, however, and their most recent match, was a 2-1 home win over the Puerto Rico Islanders (match report/box score).

The Aztex will welcome back a couple of players to the squad (Lawrence Olum, Joey Worthen), but unfortunately may have to do without a couple of others (Eddie Johnson, Michael Callahan). The team’s trip continues to Canada on Sunday, to face Montreal, and so they’ll also be without a couple of other players who can’t easily cross the border there & back: Haitian Mechak Jerome and Cuban Yordany Alvarez.

A win on Friday will give Austin the league title (whatever that title turns out to actually be called). A draw or a loss doesn’t ruin their chances, as there’s still the game on Sunday, and there’s still Rochester‘s Saturday match in St. Louis, but a win clinches.

Aztex fans will congregate, as usual, at Mister Tramps on 183 for the watch party, at 6:00. Being a Friday night, without competition from college football, we’ll have the big screen room. There will also be some folks from the Aztex organization there, with some playoff tickets to give away. What better way to end the week? Come on out and cheer on our boys in red & white!

Most readers are probably aware of these, but I don’t post every week when there are new episodes, so I thought I’d just give you a quick reminder. There are now three, count ‘em, three weekly(ish) radio show/podcasts that cover pro soccer in Austin. (If you’re not sure what a “podcast” is, start here.)

• In The Mixer, Chantico’s Army — “Join Matthew and Eric weekly as they discuss the Austin Aztex, USSF Division II and the world of soccer with guests from around the globe.” They’ll apparently invite anyone on this one; for example, I’m one of the guests on this week’s episode. But it’s pretty good anyway. Also available for free on the iTunes store.

• Futból en Vivo, KOOP 91.7FM, Tuesdays at 1:00 PM — “A bilingual soccer program with a first half hour in Spanish and the second one in English. A program with news and events related to the sport around the city (Longhorns soccer, Austin Aztex, Austin city league) and the world. It will include analysis of the World Cup in South Africa, listener participation and commentaries about how soccer explains the world.” Also available for free on the iTunes store.

• Aztex Coach’s Show, AM1300 “The Zone”, Wednesdays at 6:30 PM — I don’t have a link or a web-ready blurb for this one; I guess AM radio stations aren’t on the cutting edge of Interweb high technology. It’s a half hour of chat with head coach Adrian Heath, and it’s a real gem. He’s a real sports junkie, and a natural on the mic. He talks Aztex (of course) as well as soccer around the world. (The killer for me on this one is that I never remember to listen to it when it’s on. Thankfully it’s recorded and MP3′d for members of Chantico’s Army, available on their site, logged-in members only. Don’t tell anyone.

I finally took the time to copy the page over from my previous blogging system, where it was frozen in the past, with no way to take new comments. Sadly, it was prompted by yet another new candidate for the Hall of Shame. Bookmark it and be ready to email the link at offenders as necessary: It’s Aztex. With an “x”.

The Free Beer Movement — Chicken Soup for the Solo: Support Hope Solo’s Recovery

Long time readers of the Free Beer Movement know how much we love Hope Solo. She’s even an honorary “free beer mover” after she bought St. Louis Athletica fans’ beer during her time with the club before they folded.

That’s why the Free Beer Movement is organizing a get-well campaign for Hope Solo. We call it “Chicken Soup for the Solo”.

What do we want you to do? We got Hope Solo some chicken noodle soup and we want you to help us send it to her.

Read it all.

Another great night at House Park! A huge reported crowd of 5,800 was on hand (thanks in part to bunches of free tickets) for a beautiful evening, an exciting game and plenty of goals.

AC St. Louis didn’t play like they had already been eliminated from the playoffs. Though getting the worst in the end, they did put up a fight, including coming back from a two-goal deficit before halftime.

The win, along with Miami FC once again getting the better of first-place contender Rochester Rhinos, puts the Aztex back at the top of the standings. Ironically, earning that 1st seed in the playoffs would ensure a first-round pairing with 8th seed Puerto Rico Islanders. With Austin’s 1-1-2 record against them this season, they are exactly the opponent that fans didn’t want first.

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

• box score — USSF

• Aztex Reclaim League’s Top Spot With 4-2 Win Over AC St. Louis — AustinAztex.com
  

  Austin came out of the gate with a firestorm on St. Louis goalkeeper Alec Dufty, who was able to ward the Aztex off for only the first 14 minutes. After a corner kick was given to the Aztex, Jamie Watson drove a ball deep into the box that was headed by Jay Needham and punched out. On the rebound, Michael Callahan lined up and drilled the shot past Dufty, who could do nothing to stop it after the initial diving save. The goal was Callahan’s first points of the season and first career goal for the Aztex.

• Austin Tops USL Conference, Carolina Tie With Vancouver for NASL Conference Lead — NASL Fanatic
  

  Aztex’ Coach Adrian Heath must have had the right message for his players at halftime, though. Five minutes into the second half, forward Maxwell Griffin beat Dufty with a chipped shot for his ninth goal of the season. Austin pretty well had the run of play in the second half as the AC St. Louis team looked to run out of steam, although the big crowd at House Park had to be a bit worried, considering Austin’s penchant for giving up late goals recently. Former Crystal Palace Baltimore forward Randi Patterson put their fears to rest in stoppage time, though, as he beat Dufty one on one to give the Austin an insurance score and the win.

• Pair of unlikely goals help send Aztex over AC St. Louis — Austin American-Statesman
  

  With the score even at two goals a piece in the 51st minute, [Max] Griffin chased down a Yordany Alvarez pass . As a St. Louis defender bore down on him, Griffin chipped a shot at a tough angle from more than 20 yards out that hung in the air and floated just over the fingertips of St. Louis keeper Alec Duffy for a goal that put the Aztex up for good in a 4-2 victory over St. Louis.

  “Right when I got the ball, I looked up and saw (Duffy) take a couple steps off his line and said, ‘Why not just try it?’\u2009″ Griffin said.

  [Editor's rant: bless Colby White for writing these pieces, and bless the Statesman for running them, but I can't turn a blind eye to the shoddy editorial quality anymore. Take this bit I've quoted, for example. Spaces around punctuation, "a piece" vs. "apiece", computer character artifacts ("\u2009") and last but certainly not least -- St. Louis' goalkeeper's name is Alec Dufty. I'd expect better from my middle-schooler's language arts homework, let alone the website for Austin's daily newspaper.]

• AC St.Louis Falls 4-2 to Austin — Floodplain Footy
  

  Austin commanded the second half with an early 50th minute goal, and a score in extra time. By that point St. Louis was riddled with injuries as Troy Cole, Zach Bauer, Jack Traynor, Mike Ambersley, and Brad Stisser all encountered problems.

  “The injuries just made run out of juice in the second half,” said [St. Louis coach] Schilly. “The pace of the first half was as fast as we have seen and played all year. We certainly made our chances and could have been up as much as 3-0 early on. Austin then scores on their first two chances. I hate losing, but I am happy with this performance. It was a hell of game.”

• Video: Austin Aztex 4, AC St. Louis 2, 9-25-10 Highlights (4:59) — AztexSoccer on YouTube

  Update: The highlights video has been re-edited to include the 3rd (my personal favorite) and 4th goals. This video, unfortunately, doesn’t capture two of the loveliest goals we’ve seen at House this year; there’s a glimpse of Callahan’s rocket shot, but no trace of Griffin’s beautifully floated chip shot. And oddly, there’s footage from another game entirely: one of Eddie Johnson‘s goals against Minnesota on Sep. 4. But the interviews are good (and from the right game), and I do like that big white “Come And Take It” flag that’s carried by behind Miguel at around the 4:07 mark.

Next up, the end-of-season whirlwind begins. The Aztex hit the road for two more quick games to finish up the season: Friday the 1st in Carolina, and Sunday the 3rd in Montreal.

Then they’ll turn around again a few days later and play the first playoff game on the 6th or 7th, and then back to Austin for the second playoff game on the 9th or 10th. (That’s right, I said “9th or 10th”. Although everything I’ve seen to date, including the ticket sales page, says the 9th, rumor has it that if we do face Puerto Rico, the home game might wind up on the 10th.)

The Reds are back in town! This is it (kind of)! This is the final home game (sort of)! This is the big finale (in a way)!

Saturday night the Aztex will finish out their regular season home schedule, hosting AC St. Louis at House Park at 7:30. As we’ve known for some time, of course, it won’t be the last game we see them play here – there will be at least one playoff game here, on Sat., Oct. 9.

St. Louis, on the other hand, will not be playing any postseason games, as they have now been eliminated from playoff contention. Their two remaining games consist of Saturday night’s game here in Austin, and hosting the Rochester Rhinos the following week.

St. Louis’ most recent game, of course, was last week’s dramatic, last-minute 2-1 win over our own Aztex, in St. Louis. We’ll hope to see that loss avenged this week.

The Aztex will be looking not only to recapture the league lead, and the higher playoff seeding that goes with it, but also to regain some of the momentum they had earlier in the season. With the exception of a few on the injury list (Lawrence Olum, Joey Worthen and Stephan Campbell), plus yellow-card accumulation for Leonard Griffin, the squad should be at full strength.

As always, fans will gather at The Tavern starting a couple hours before the 7:30 kickoff. If you haven’t been able to join us yet, we’d love to have you. Join us in cheering your Austin pro soccer team on to a strong, rallying drive to end the season!

Come on you Aztex!

United Soccer Leagues — A Fine Footballing Life

After Everton, Heath would be on the move for the rest of his playing career, joining up with Kendall again when he made his move into coaching as an assistant and player for Sheffield United. Short spells in charge of another former club Burnley and the Blades didn’t offer much chance for him to show what he could be capable of. Neither did two spells as caretaker manager at Coventry. It was during his time with the Sky Blues that Heath began to look west, towards the United States.

Really nice, long piece on our own Austin Aztex head coach, Adrian Heath. Read it all.

Major League Soccer — Long road leads back to bigs for LA’s Marshall

“Yohance did quite well getting thrown into things quick,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. “He did a decent job and played with a lot of confidence. He’s going to be a candidate to be in our First XI Friday.

“He was with us all last year and he returned to us from Austin as a better player. I know he’s going to help contribute to our team for the remainder of the year.”

Read it all.

AustinAztex.com — Defender Mechack Jerome to Participate in Caribbean Nations Cup for Haiti

The Liancourt, Haiti, native will suit up for his national team when they travel to Trinidad and Tobago for the second round of qualifiers from November 2-6, then again for the finals from November 24-December 5 in Martinique.

Read it all.

Aztex fans may have felt that last Thursday’s late draw felt like a loss, but after Saturday night in St. Louis, now we’re remembering what an actual loss feels like.

It feels pretty crummy, if you’re wondering. And it’s causing no small amount of worry: did the Aztex peak too early in the season, instead of now, when they need to? Were the months in first place built more on results against low-end teams than we realized? As the vision of a first place finish fades, the specter of facing Puerto Rico — one of Austin’s toughest foes this season — in the playoffs looms large.

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

• box score — USSF

• Aztex Drop Road Game to AC St. Louis, 2-1 — AustinAztex.com
  

  The Aztex (14-5-8) offense stalled all night long with just four first-half shots against an opponent that they managed to fire off 27 shots on goal in their last meeting.

  Austin started the game with five reserves in the starting 11 and never quite gelled through the contest. The first half ended scoreless with just one corner kick for both teams combined and Sean Kelley’s first save of the season. Saturday’s match was also the first time this season that Aztex goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo was not on the pitch.

• Saturday Night Fever: D2 Expansion Teams AC St. Louis and NSC Minnesota Rock ‘N Roll — NASL Fanatic
  

  Mindful of the young Saints’ penchant for surrendering late goals, the minutes clicked away much too slowly .As the game moved into stoppage time, history repeated itself and Eddie Johnson lasered a shot past Dufty to tie the score. All the good work done by Dufty and the backline of Jack Traynor and rookies Mark Bloom and Zach Bauer seemed to go to waste as with very little stoppage time remaining, the game looked to end as a draw.

  But, for AC St. Louis, history was made anew. With time running out, veteran Luke Kreamalmeyer found Luis Gil and the teenaged Californian beat Kelley to win the game. Gil’s first professional goal coincided with the Saints’ first come from behind victory, and the crowd erupted as disappointment turned to joy instantly.

The Aztex don’t have to wait long for their shot at revenge. They host AC St. Louis at House Park this Saturday, in the last home game of the regular season. That first-place spot is still in reach: Austin trails Rochester by a single point, and still has a game in hand over them. Here’s hoping that our boys can regain the momentum we saw earlier in the summer.