The Aztexan

photo: Montreal Impact/PEPE

Well, that’s not the first game result we wanted to see.

But it’s not the end yet, either. Remember, this Aztex team has one of the highest goal differentials in the league this season (13). The trick will be getting back to the groove they were in earlier in the year, when they were racking up all those goals. And they’ll have their chance to get that groove, Saturday night at House Park.

First, here’s a rundown of other post-match coverage from the first game, in Montreal:

• box score — USSF

  Attendance: 7,962

• Impact Repeat 2-0 Performance in Quarterfinal First Leg — AustinAztex.com
  

  Austin had few other chances in the latter part of the first half other than a volley by Johnson, but that was when Montreal really turned up the heat. The Impact came closest to getting on the board with a shot by Eduardo Sebrango that seemed destined for the back of the net, if not for a miraculous sprawling save by Gallardo to punch it wide. Gerba then sent the Impact into the half up by a goal.

• Montreal Defeats Austin, Carolina and NSC Minnesota Draw in Wednesday Night Playoff Action — NASL Fanatic
  

  “The effort from everyone was excellent today,” said coach Marc Dos Santos. “A 2-0 victory was a fair result in my opinion. They [Austin] put a little more pressure in the second half, but they were not able to create scoring chances against us. Defensively, we offered up another excellent performance. We now have to prepare for the next game and we must be willing to do whatever it takes to win the second leg. Nothing is won yet.”

Which brings us quickly, again, to the next Aztex match. The second leg of this playoff series will be played here in Austin, kicking off at House Park on Saturday evening at 7:30. Sure, ACL Fest is going on, but duck out for a couple of hours (you won’t miss anything, the band lineup is even lamer than usual this year). Pre-game festivities will begin, as always, at The Tavern around 5:30.

This is it! To keep from being eliminated, the Aztex will have to either win outright in regulation time by 3 goals, or at least win by 2 to force the contest to extra time, and then penalty kicks if necessary. Then they’ll go on to the semifinals, to face either the Carolina Railhawks or the NSC Minnesota Stars in the next round. They just need to find the back of the net 3 times first.

As mentioned above, this is a team that can get those goals. Three of the players on the league’s top 10 point leaders list play for Austin (Eddie Johnson, Maxwell Griffin and Jamie Watson). And we’ve seen goals from lots of other players besides them, as well.

These guys can do it on Saturday night. It will be an absolutely perfect night for live soccer in Austin. Come out and see it happen for yourself! Go Aztex!

This is it – playoff time!

All playoff rounds will be two-leg, home-and-away series, based on total aggregate goals across both games. Away goals are not worth more. The tie-breaker, if needed, will be extra time after the second game, followed by penalty kicks if necessary.

The first leg of this round between the Aztex and the Montreal Impact will be played tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 6 in Montreal. Kickoff is 6:30 CT. Join the Aztex organization, the Chantico’s Army supporters’ group and all of Austin’s soccer fans at Mister Tramps to watch tonight’s game.

The second leg will be Saturday night at 7:30, here at House Park. You can get half-off (almost) tickets to that game through Eversave, until midnight tonight.

Eddie Johnson and Jamie Watson will both be back on the roster for the playoffs, though Michael Callahan is still out after the blow to the head and 33 stitches he got on Sep. 25.

From Aztex site’s pre-game report:

Austin finished off the regular season with a 15-7-8 record and had the second most wins, the second least losses and second best goal differential of the 12 teams. The Aztex scored nine more goals than the next best offensive squad, the Carolina RailHawks, and sat atop the league table for the majority of the season before see-sawing with Rochester toward the end of the year.

The Aztex closed out the year with 12 points in their last 10 games to secure their place at the top half of the bracket, while Montreal’s sixth seed was the product of a slow start and furious finish. The Impact closed out the year 6-1-0, skyrocketing up the table to third in the NASL Conference standings, just two points behind Vancouver and four behind Carolina, who finished second in the league.

Contrasting Montreal’s furious finish with Austin’s recent run doesn’t look good. The Aztex dominated most teams for most of the season — including beating Montreal 2-0 in the season opener — but their results have not been nearly as strong lately. It’s hard to argue that the Impact don’t have the momentum heading in to these two games.

Will the red & white be able to rally? Will they pull out of the skid we’ve seen the last month or so? Will they claim the league trophy to make up for letting regular-season title slip away? We’ll start finding out tonight!

Hot on the heels of Friday’s disappointing 3-1 loss in Carolina, the Aztex will finish the regular season against hosts Montreal Impact today at 1:00 PM CT.

And with the Rochester Rhinos‘ 2-1 defeat of AC St. Louis last night, Austin must win this game to retake the top spot in the league. The red & white have never won in Montreal’s Stade Saputo, but in my opinion, this would be a great time to change that.

The Impact have been on a roll lately, winning five and drawing one in their last six matches. Most recently, they beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 more than a week ago (match report/box score).

Montreal have also qualified for the playoffs. Their seeding is locked at 6th, and can’t be affected by today’s result one way or the other.

Though Jamie Watson will be unavailable for the game, due to family emergency, and Eddie Johnson didn’t make the trip, we’ve seen the Aztex put together some great play even without some of their marquee players. Here’s hoping they want first place badly enough to step up and take it.

Aztex fans in Austin will gather, as always, at Mister Tramps on 183. Kickoff is 1:00 this afternoon; see you there!

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!

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!

The Aztex have a very short turnaround from Thursday evening’s last-minute 1-1 draw at Tampa Bay; they’re playing again Saturday night in St. Louis. Kickoff will be at 7:10 PM CT.

AC St. Louis and Austin both have four regular season games remaining, and they’ll face each other twice in that time. After this weekend’s game in St. Louis, we’ll see the struggling expansion side return to House Park next Saturday, Sep. 25, for the Aztex’s last home appearance before the playoffs.

St. Louis has had a run of draws and losses for the last month plus, except for a 3-1 win over Miami FC two weeks ago (but, come on, who doesn’t beat Miami? Oh, that’s right: Rochester doesn’t…). Most recently for St. Louis, they lost a home match to the NSC Minnesota Stars last Saturday, 3-0 (match report/box score).

The game, I just discovered, features a promotion by the “American Mustache Institute” and Hooters. “All fans with a mustache, real or fake, that purchased $5 parking, get in free*!”.

Here in Austin, the mustached and non-mustached are all welcome, as always, at Mister Tramps on 183. The food, service and beer have all been great and in good supply since we moved watch events there – come on out and join us! (The UT – Texas Tech college football game will be on at the same time, so the more Aztex fans we can muster, the better.)

Go Aztex!

The Aztex continue their barnstorming tour Thursday night with a stop in Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Austin has tied twice and won once against the Rowdies, so this year’s series bragging rights are still up for grabs.

Three points are also up for grabs, of course, as nobody is likely to forget at this point in the season. Tampa Bay is currently just on the wrong side of the playoff line, while Austin wants to reclaim the league lead from Rochester.

The Rowdies will also be looking to break a winless streak that’s pushing two months. Their most recent result was a 3-0 loss to the Rhinos in Rochester last Saturday (match report/box score).

The Aztex pregame post includes this update on who will and who won’t be able to play:

Midfielders Lawrence Olum (Groin), Joey Worthen (Hamstring) and Stephan Campbell (Groin) are still nursing injuries and remain out for the two road games this week. The L.A. Galaxy lost a defender due to injury and have recalled Yohance Marshall for the time being, but it is expected Marshall will be back with the Aztex before the end of the regular season to resume the title chase. Defender Jay Needham is returning to the club for the first game since August 22, when he left at halftime with an injured hamstring.

Here in Austin, fans will be gathering as usual at Mister Tramps on 183. Being a midweek game, we won’t have competition for the big screen from college football, but we still need a group big enough for them to let us have it. Kickoff is at 6:30, so although it’s a school/work night, it won’t be a late one at all. Come and join us!

The Aztex have a busy week on the road in front of them: 3 games in 8 days, and it starts Saturday night in Bayamón, facing the Puerto Rico Islanders.

Despite some success in the CONCACAF Champions League, where they’ve earned 4 points from 2 games so far in the group stage, the Islanders continue to struggle in regular season play. They’re in the playoff zone now, but barely, so they need these points. They’re winless over their last three, most recently a 1-2 loss to Montreal at home on Wednesday (match report/box score).

As the Aztex website says, they’ll be shooting for redemption with this game, hoping to avenge the 2-0 loss they suffered there less than a month ago. But they’ll have to do it, once again, missing a few key players:

Ruled out for the weekend match are: top goal scorer Eddie Johnson (Yellow card accumulation), midfielders Lawrence Olum (Groin), Joey Worthen (Hamstring), Stephan Campbell (Groin) and defenders Jay Needham (Hamstring) and Sam Brill (Muscle Strain). Also unable to make the trip due to his heavy travel load is newcomer Tsuyoshi Yoshitake, who the club recently received on loan from Crystal Palace Baltimore.

Nick Barbaro at the Austin Chronicle has a possible lineup, and honestly it doesn’t look too bad.

Fans will be getting together at 7:00 PM CT at Mister Tramps to watch the online video on the big screen; fingers crossed that we have more watching than buffering. The possibility of a drinking game that calls for a drink whenever the Islanders waste time has been shot down: even if we survived the alcohol poisoning, it would force the bar to close early, or make a beer run to HEB.

Pro soccer returns to House Park on Saturday evening at 7:30, reclaiming AISD’s high school football venue for a few hours. Our Aztex will be hosting the NSC Minnesota Stars for their second and final matchup of the season (the first was a 2-1 Aztex win in Minnesota on May 1).

The Stars are coming off a bye week, not having played since Aug. 21. Their 7-11-7 record has them struggling to garner enough points to stay in playoff territory. Their last game, a 0-1 home loss to the Portland Timbers (match report/box score), was the second such result in a row for Minnesota, following 5 straight draws. They’ll bring their backup goalkeeper for Saturday’s match, leaving starter Joseph Warren home with the red card he picked up in the Portland game.

The Aztex will be missing a few players as well: Stephan Campbell, Jay Needham and Lawrence Olum are out with hamstring and groin injuries. Sullivan Silva and Joey Worthen will miss the game as well, after picking up injuries (knee and hamstring, respectively) this week in training.

The Rochester Rhinos, current league leaders by 2 points, have a bye themselves this week. That gives the Aztex the opportunity to reclaim the top spot with a win Saturday.

In addition to the customary pregame gathering at The Tavern (starting about 5:30, 2 hours before the 7:30 kickoff), there will be a tailgate party, sponsored in part by the Free Beer Movement, in recognition of Brazil’s Independence Day. Starting at 4:30 in the parking lot of the Thundercloud Subs across 12th Street from House Park, it will feature live music by the Brazilian group Manga Rosa.

Even the Aztex ticket office is getting in on the celebration. You can get tickets to the game for just $9 (regular $15) in honor of Brazilian Independence (note that you have to buy those in advance, prior to 2:00 PM on Saturday).

We’re coming down to the last few games now. This will be the next-to-last regular season home game; the last one will be Sat., Sep. 25 against AC St. Louis. And there will be at least one more home game after that, in early October, seeing as our Red & White have already punched their playoff ticket.

A good game, a chance to reclaim the top of the league, a great weather forecast and an open invitation to a tailgate party with live Brazilian music. What more could you ask for? See you there!

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!