The Aztexan

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...)

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

We had a great crowd of predominantly Tigres fans at Dragon Stadium last night. The Aztex lost 2-1, but put up a very good game against the Mexican pros. The official attendance was a record-setting 4,743, but I don't think that included all the people sitting on top of cars and vans along the stadium driveway.

It even got the team some more coverage in the Statesman. Before the game, a nice story on the Guadarramas: For Austin dad, blood is thicker than soccer. And a short postgame story, too: Aztex lose exhibition against UANL Tigres 2-1.

Labels: gameday, U-23

Euro 2008 action day after day after day (minus a day or two). Semi-finals yesterday and today, and good games at that (i.e., they didn't sit at nil-nil for 90 minutes before anything happened). A fine-looking final on tap between Germany and Spain on Sunday.

FCD snatching a point out of their new coach chaos on the road from the orangemen in Houston tonight.

But the best is yet to come: three Aztex home games in three days. Another shot at El Paso (number 3 of 4 this season, for those counting), a first match against Baton Rouge, and of course the big Tigres game squeezed in on Sunday.

And don't look now, but there's 2 more Aztex home games on tap next week: Laredo on Thursday and Mississippi on Sunday.

If there's such a thing as too much soccer, I guess we'll find out in the next ten days. See you at the games!

Labels: gameday, MLS, U-23

Just found out about this: STXSoccer.com is going to have live updates of tonight's game. If you can't make it to Dragon Stadium, here's the next best thing!

STXSoccer will provide 15 minute updates for the Aztex-Silverbacks US Open Cup match, as well as halftime and goal updates. First update will air at approximately 7:27 p.m. Please watch the front page of the site.

Labels: gameday, media, U-23, U.S. Open Cup

Don't miss it: history will be made Tuesday night at Dragon Stadium. Of course, it being the first season of the club, history is made every time somebody turns around (first home game! first shutout! first 4-game winning streak! first opposing coach ejection! etc.). But still, this is big.

The Silverbacks are coming, if you hadn't heard. Furthermore, we are going to beat them. There, I said it. It made me break out in a sweat for fear of jinxing us, but I said it anyway! We are going to beat them, and beat them soundly. You heard it here first. And I hope you're there to see it with me!

In other major news, the Austin American-Statesman has a nice long story on the Aztex, including even a few pictures: Aztex, owner are on a roll.

Labels: gameday, media, U-23

• Well, we lost. And to Mississippi, no less.


• Atlanta's coming!


• Great home game on tap for Friday, against El Paso. From what I've heard, there's supposed to be some kind of mega-mondo-giganto turn-out of Lonestars. TOO BAD I'LL MISS IT. (I mean, it's my wife's cousin, I don't see why I have to go to the wedding...)


• Burnley's coming! (I know. "Who?" Maybe we can get Liverpool or Man U next year.)

And that's it. That's all I have time to write. Dissatisfied? Me too! But here's the secret (which is hardly a secret to much of anyone anymore, probably): I'm spending most of my Aztex-web-related time on the team's site. See, some time ago, they asked for some help running the site, and I was (and still am!) happy to oblige. That's me, the Aztex webmaster. If the roster info is out of date, you can blame me (though I'll pass the buck as quick as can be).

Meanwhile I also have a life, unfortunately. (Which is constantly interfering with being a soccer fan, I can tell you.) But between that, and already having written about most of the team news to one extent or another on austinaztex.com, I'm afraid I don't have much left for this weblog, and it's getting a little cobwebby.

Which I'd love to have it not be. I'd rather it were the one-stop shop for Aztex news and opinion: including links to whoever and whatever, reports from the depths of the forums, fan match reports, etc. But I just haven't got the time.

That's where you come in (as if you didn't see that coming). If you're interested in helping to keep this site limping along, drop me a line. Or talk to me in person, if you know me (but not at Friday night's game against El Paso, DAMMIT). I'm not sure exactly how it would work -- basically a group blog is all I'm thinking -- but if anyone's up for talking about it, I'm sure we could figure something out. I know a couple of you have done soccer fan websites before... (though I'm not sure whether that qualifies you, or excuses you! ;-)

Labels: gameday, U-23

Congratulations to the Aztex on their dramatic 1-0 win yesterday over the New Orleans Shell Shockers! The game was great, but I realized that it raised more questions than it answered. So last night I locked myself in a nice, dark, air-conditioned room with my trusty Magic 8-Ball, to get some answers.

Did the New Orleans Shell Shockers make any attacks at all?

My sources say no

Will I ever forget sunscreen at a mid-day soccer game in Texas again?

Very doubtful

Will the Austin Aztex U23s ever lose?

Better not tell you now

Will there be any games that are hotter than that?

You may rely on it

Is there anything in the Bush's sweet tea besides sugar and ice?

My sources say no

Will the Tilted Kilt's free-appetizer tickets ever have the team name on the back spelled correctly? Or the right team, for that matter?

Don't count on it

Did the New Orleans coach get the Oscar nomination — "Best Over-actor On A Sideline" — he was apparently hoping for in the last 15 minutes of the match?

Most likely

Who covered the mouth of the New Orleans goals with the plastic wrap that made Austin's shots bounce around inside the frame but not go in?

Ask again later

Who will Austin's U.S. Open Cup opponent be?

Cannot predict now

Could BigSoccer.com have possibly chosen a worse time to be down for maintenance?

My reply is no

Do we really have to wait 2 more weeks before the next home game?

As I see it, yes

Labels: gameday, U-23

Way to go, Aztex! The boys went to Laredo last night, and beat the Heat in the heat. (With a kickoff temperature of 106 degrees, that's not just a figure of speech.) Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the roadtrip myself, but a couple of other dedicated ultras did. Following is the fan report from Matt, aka 'mgrayscale' on the BigSoccer Aztex forum. Note that he wrote this up and posted it at 2:25 AM, after getting home from the game. Thanks, Matt!

• Jamie Watson was the goal scorer with a beautiful second half drive into the box that culminated in a turn of the defender from left to right in front of the goal and a right foot ding.


• Miguel Gallardo continues to keep a very clean sheet, and had some very good saves. He was challenged several times with some great shots, but he was more than up to the challenge.


• Beto was well adept at defending an evenly matched (size wise) striking line. He was able to kill a majority of the attacks that came his way, dishing out to the wings.


• The Heat are GOOD. This is a team that have a very good set of forwards, who are able to collect, turn and sprint down field before you even know the ball is coming.


• There were two reds against the Heat, but both came after the Aztex score.


• The Heat have the WORST announcer. All night he played bits and pieces of songs and sounds DURING PLAY!! Everything from Vanilla Ice to Homer Simpson. Yes, it was that bad.

In addition to the excellent game notes above, Matt also kept stats. Although they differ somewhat from the official USL match information, most notably in the fact that the official stats only show one red card, they're provided here as well.

Starting Lineups
Austin Aztex U23s	Laredo Heat
13 – Josh Alcala	4 – Leone Cruz
15 – Westley Allen	22 – Daniel Glavan-Barbosa
4 – Kieron Bernard	9 – Felix Garcia
11 – Andres Cuero	10 – Juan Ibarra
1 – Miguel Gallardo	21 – Dioniso “Nicho” Infante
6 – Ezual Lewis	11 – Gregory Mulamba
5 – Beto Papandrea	27 – Oliver Mulamba
8 – Marcelino Uriarte	7 – Carlos Ordaz
7 – Jorge Vega	23 – Stiven Ospina
14 – Juan Carlow Vicens	6 – Raul Quinones
23 – Jamie Watson	1 – Ryan Cooper
First Half
Austin Aztex U23s	Laredo Heat
Fouls
5	6
Shots
3	2
Corner Kicks
3	0
Offsides
1	4
Substitutions
0	0
Goals
0	0
Yellow Cards
	23 – Stiven Ospina (43:50) Illegal tackle
	22 – Daniel Glavan-Barbosa (44:50) Illegal tackle
Second Half
Austin Aztex U23s	Laredo Heat
Fouls
10	8
Shots
1	0
Corner Kicks
0	1
Offsides
0	1
Substitutions
22 – Robin Martinez for 7 – Vega @ 60:27	5 – Silas Blackwell for 23 – Ospina @ 50:14
9 – Edgar Alvarez for 13 – Alcala @ 64:27	13 – Adan Villavicencio for 21 – Infante @ 69:10
20 – Kevin Klaus for 23 – Watson @ 71:19	19 – Isaac Morales for 5 – Blackwell @ 76:00
2 – Andrew Taylor for 8 – Uriarte @ 86:37	20 – Charles Browne for 4 – Cruz @ 79:36
Goals
23 – Jamie Watson (66:47)
Yellow Cards
5 – Beto Papandrea (79:01) Illegal Tackle	22 – Daniel Glavan-Barbosa (61:50) Illegal tackle
22 – Robin Martinez (83:29) Unsportsman
Red Cards
	22 – 2nd Yellow @ 61:50
	6 – Raul Quinones (83:29) Unsportsman

Labels: gameday, supporters, U-23

What a night! The first-ever Austin Aztex home game was Saturday night, and if you missed it, you really missed something. The crowd was good, the team was good, the play was good; heck, even the result was good! (Austin soundly defeated the Houston Leones 2-0.) Not too bad a start for an expansion side.

Being brand-new to soccer in Austin, I have the opposite background as the author of this excellent post-game report:

I won't pretend to be a neutral observer for the home debut of the Austin Aztex U-23 squad. I didn't want to ask for media credentials because I wanted to sit in the stands and gauge the reaction of the crowd - if there was going to be a crowd. I wanted to do this because I want so much to see the Aztex succeed and enjoy a successful, professional soccer organization in Austin. I've been going to the Austin pro/semi-pro games since the days of the Soccadilloes and the Austin Thunder. I bemoaned the disaster that was the Austin Lightning. I predicted the scam that was the Austin Posse.

Nevertheless, I was also anxious to see what kind of crowd would turn out. Turns out, my worries were unfounded. The count from the Aztex front office is "nearly 1,500", which is fantastic. All in all, a great start for a season — and a team — that's just going to get bigger & better!

Hope to see you at Saturday's match against DFW Tornados!

Labels: gameday, rivals, U-23