The Aztexan

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!