6/6 Austin vs. El Paso; 6/8 DFW vs. Austin Thread

[VioletCrown]

Looks like it was a crazy weekend in our division, with the bottom teams winning games. DFW came out of a weekend against Laredo and Houston with 4 points, and everyone else except us is bunched up between 6 and 9 points. The pressure is on this weekend, as Houston (in 2nd, 4 points behind us) is on the road against the two last place teams, New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

El Paso hasn't won on the road yet, and away from home have given up twice as many goals as they've scored. To our advantage, El Paso goes up to DFW to soften them up for us Saturday night before our visit to DFW on Sunday. But it's an away game, and we've only scored one time in our 3 road games so far.

Last game against El Paso -- we tied them in El Paso 0-0.
Last game against DFW -- we beat them here 3-0, with two goals after Pope was double-yellowed out of the game for us.

It looks like DFW has changed substantially since we saw them 3 weeks ago (http://www.uslsoccer.com/stats/2008/657262.html), looking at their last home game (http://www.uslsoccer.com/stats/2008/657347.html). But I'm just scanning quickly.

Can we bounce back?

[FrogHammer]

Can we bounce back?

I have no comment this week...

[ReadyToDoIt]

If they win this one they should make the play-offs no? just wondering out of the 25+man roster, did all the players come from the try-outs?

[VioletCrown]

If they win this one they should make the play-offs no? just wondering out of the 25+man roster, did all the players come from the try-outs?

We have a long way to go before playoffs. Only two teams in our division make the playoffs, and we're not even halfway done with the season.

Regarding the roster -- I know that two players that are on the team that made the roster were at the tryouts. However, I also know that both of them were known to the coaches before the tryouts.

I have no solid info on it, but I suspect that none of the players that made the team were *only* found through the tryouts. I'm pretty sure that all players that made the team were known by the coaches before hand in one way or another.

But I'm just speculating, and could certainly be wrong.

[ReadyToDoIt]

o really , i didnt no they played home and away, so there is a good few matchs, left. o right so most of the players would be known around the austin area.

[VioletCrown]

o really , i didnt no they played home and away, so there is a good few matchs, left. o right so most of the players would be known around the austin area.

There's 8 teams in our division. But we play 16 games. So we need a couple extra games beyond a home and away to make up the difference. This year, we play El Paso 4 times total, 2 each home and away.

The games this weekend will be the first time we've played any team for the second time this year (hope that made sense!).

But we have yet to play Baton Rouge.

...good heavens. Looking at the schedule more closely, after this weekend, we will be halfway done with the season. Man, the PDL season goes fast!

[mgrayscale]

Is anyone else planning on going to Dallas for the match Sunday night against DFW? This will be the second match in 2 days for the Tornados, as El Paso plays them there tomorrow night.

[mgrayscale]

For those who couldn't make it to the game, the Aztex were once again victorious beating El Paso 2-0. It was a very physical game, with the Patriots (who some believe should be renamed "The Bruisers") knocking some of our boys about at will. But the Aztex bounced back, to score a splendid second half goal by Uriarte and a PK in the 93rd minute.

As a funny side note, the El Paso manager was ejected after mouthing off to the referees all the way from the bench to the locker room at the end of the first half. Then, when he tried to come back to the stadium for the second half, he had to be told (by 2 Aztex reps, an Official rep, and 2 RR PD) that he was ejected, and that meant he could not come back to the stadium. Their remaining coach did his best to emulate his mentor during the second half, unfortunately, without achieving the same results.

Next is the DFW Tornadoes on Sunday night in Dallas (actually, Richmond I believe). Then Tuesday, the first round of the US Open Cup against the USL1 Atlanta Silverbacks, who drew with the Puerto Rico Islanders in Atlanta, 1-1.

[Scooter Pete]

Good summary M, I just thought I would add a mention about the crowd size. Must have been at least 1500 -- my guess is it that the crowd was bigger than the home opener, although there seemed to be a higher number of kids so it was hard to tell. Fantastic turnout.

[FrogHammer]

It was encouraging to see so many great youth teams coming from Austin. That will be a great talent feeder for the Aztex for years to come.

[VioletCrown]

Good summary M, I just thought I would add a mention about the crowd size. Must have been at least 1500 -- my guess is it that the crowd was bigger than the home opener, although there seemed to be a higher number of kids so it was hard to tell. Fantastic turnout.

Good guess! Official number was something like 1540.

We had a few players that were regulars that didn't even see the bench -- Robin Martinez is the one I can think of. And, if I remember right, Willy Guadarrama should be back and available soon.

There was a new guy whose name I won't try and spell that looked dangerous in the second half. It really seems like this team is deep enough that we can almost play an entire second set of players against Dallas, so everyone will be pretty fresh for Tuesday.

If El Paso is as tough against DFW tonight as they were against us, it will be two beat-up teams on Sunday.

In other games:

Houston 1-2 Baton Rouge
Mississippi 0-3 Laredo

So we now have:

16 Austin
12 Laredo
9 Baton Rouge, Houston
8 El Paso, New Orleans
7 DFW, Mississippi

Austin's broken away from the pack, but Laredo's keeping pace.

Here's an interesting oddity that I noticed in the standings -- 5 of the 8 teams in our division have scored 9 goals.

I guess this says a lot (http://www.uslsoccer.com/stats/2008/Top10.8630213.html) about our division (scroll to bottom). No team from our division is on any other table. But there are 4 players from our division in the top ten for fouls. And Austin has two of them.

I haven't felt like we're a mean team. But we certainly dish it out.

Oh, almost forgot, there's one other area where the Aztex are high on the list (http://www.uslsoccer.com/stats/2008/Top10.8630213.2.html). Miguel (and our defense) is #1 in shutouts.

Uh-oh. I'm in danger of weauxfing.

I'll shut up now.

[mgrayscale]

There was a new guy whose name I won't try and spell that looked dangerous in the second half.

The players name was Karo Okiomah (#28). He seemed to have the height and speed that allowed him to drive into the box to chase or make opportunities. This will be helpful if he plays Tuesday night. I'm watching the Atlanta v. Puerto Rico match from last night (decided to sleep first), and the backline for Atlanta is pretty good. Our boys will need to pressure, make crips passes, and take as few touches as possible before a shot.

I won't give the final score for those of you who are waiting to see the match.

[willyaddy]

Hey you guys thanks for the game review. My son got sick so I wasn't able to go so I really depend on this board for information. Can't wait for Tuesday! In fact some of you can probably empathize with this. My wife who loves soccer but isn't as big a fan always stays home with our 1 year old during matches because he can't quite make through a match yet bargained with me that if she made the Tuesday exception that I would have to allow her a girls night for Thursday for Sex and the City viewing. Thank you Aztex for not making me go to the movie.

[ReadyToDoIt]

good win for the aztex
o and sex and the city is a good movie go and see it :D

[sokaymckay]

Don't go see sex in the city because then we'll all be expected to go see it.:)

[STXSoccer_dot_com]

STXSoccer.com Match Report - With Player Ratings (http://www.stxsoccer.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=571)

[FrogHammer]

Great read as usual, thanks!

[VioletCrown]

STXSoccer.com Match Report - With Player Ratings (http://www.stxsoccer.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=571)

Wow. What a thorough and wonderful report.

One small correction, as mgrayscale wrote, the new guy's name is Okiomah.

[VioletCrown]

If El Paso is as tough against DFW tonight as they were against us, it will be two beat-up teams on Sunday.

In other games:

Houston 1-2 Baton Rouge
Mississippi 0-3 Laredo

So we now have:

16 Austin
12 Laredo
9 Baton Rouge, Houston
8 El Paso, New Orleans
7 DFW, Mississippi

Man, bottom teams keep beating up on the top ones. Tonight's games:

DFW 2-1 El Paso
New Orleans 1-0 Houston

Home teams get the win again. Our division keeps up the low-scoring tradition.

Now, the standings are:

16 Austin
12 Laredo
11 New Orleans
10 DFW
9 Baton Rouge, Houston
8 El Paso
7 Mississippi

Every game is big. Baton Rouge and Mississippi have a game or two in hand over everyone else.

...So, Austin's only loss is to the last place team? Oy.

C'mon boys. Let's see a road win. OK, I'll be OK with a road tie and a road goal. And no more injuries before Tuesday!!!

[VioletCrown]

Wow. What a thorough and wonderful report.

One small correction, as mgrayscale wrote, the new guy's name is Okiomah.

Found a little more info on Okiomah. He's from Pflugerville, and his full name is Oghenekaro Okiomah. Say that three... nm. Try it just once!:)

He's going to High Point University (http://www.highpointpanthers.com/headlines/?HeadlineID=32358) in the fall (scroll down). He was with the Lonestars, so I'm sure some of y'all like STXSoccer should know him.