Saturday, April 14 • Kickoff: 7:30 PM • Lockhart Stadium Big win to open up the season against Edmonton, now the champs come back to Lockhart for a rematch of the 2011 finals. A chance for revenge! Losing Hassan to that ridiculous red card will hurt, looks like Abe Thompson could get called in to start up front, though maybe Mark Anderson or Darnell King will get the nod alongside Herron. Minnesota drew 0-0 with Carolina in their opener at the Metrodome. Should be a tough match. Tailgate starting around 3:30 PM. See you there!
First, they're in first. I'm wondering if King is this year's Nunez. Invaluable spark off the bench. Abe in line for the spot start if healthy, but if not would Anderson or Nagime get the nod? Hoping Laing & Blake got the rust/jitters out respectively. Biggest change I'd "like" to see-a #2 playmaking option. Watching that 94 minutes last night, the biggest void seems to be Mayen. Restrepo had that sidekick helper when he got closed down last year to help relieve pressure and vary the attack-but I'm concerned we don't have that guy out there right now-and a good defense like Minny will hamper us even with 11 men. Otte might be that guy when healthy. Anderson could be that guy if he moves to outside mid. Marco Polo clearly isn't that guy (Mr. Moto when healthy?) and Lorenz seems better suited to assist from distance-as last night indicated.
He tweaked his hamstring before coming off against Edmonton, hopefully it wasn't serious...but either way, if it was anything with the hamstring, that usually takes at least a week.
We might see the double AA's up front - Abe & Anderson if Herron is nursing the Hamstring. Either way, Stahl needs to clear the ball better - his "pop fly" first touches were a bit scary at times. Hopefully he was just knocking the rust off.
Thank you NHL for scheduling the Panthers home games on Friday and Sunday so I get to go see the Strikers on Saturday Sounds like the opener was a hell of a win, considering the red card.
Yeah real pleased with how the Panthers scheduling worked out. Home games as bookends to the weekend with the Strikers in the middle, and home games 5 and 7(if necessary) on Saturday the 21st(Strikers in San Antonio) and Thursday the 26th. I'll at the BAC Friday night and Lockhart on Saturday, can't wait!
Soccer America reports that San Antonio sold 8000 seats & Orlando sold 10000 for their home opener! Come on Striker fans - Step up, show up, & pass the word. We need bigger turn out for our team.
Yep, we can't let up. Gotta tell everyone you know to come out to Strikers games. That being said, it should be somewhat expected for those two towns to do a bit better than us at drawing fans(at the present time) for a few reasons. Orlando are defending champions(we were close but not quite). San Antonio has not had any pro soccer since (I think) the old NASL and the Thunder. Both cities only have NBA teams as major league sports and are generally accustomed to supporting minor league sports. Meanwhile we live in an unusual double market(Miami/Fort Lauderdale) with all 4 major league sports teams, 3 huge state colleges that get major coverage(UM/FSU/UF) and tons of Latin/Euro soccer snobs who are "too good" for American D2 or even MLS. It's an uphill climb for sure, but considering that I think we've done pretty well so far with the new Strikers.
All we can do is keep trying, dr. Wear your Striker gear as often as you can & have a few schedules with you. Odd how the red & yellow hoops can start a conversation....
San Antonio will be SOLD OUT, 11,000+. Nothing less than they deserve, they've done a fabulous job in the front office.
It's a rarity if I step out of the house without either Strikers or F19 gear on lol. Always trying to work in a plug for the Strikers whenever possible. In fact I'll be at the Panthers game tonight rocking my scarf. We've got some posters and info cards at a few places around town too, like Soccer Max and Fox & Hound: Doing our best to spread the word! Rome wasn't built in a day, after all. We'll get where we need to be so long as we keep up our end of the bargain with undying support(and if the team stays around). Check out the Impact's attendance journey through D2: 1994 3,216 1995 5,075 1996 4,868 1997 5,066 1998 4,008 1999 Did not participate 2000 2,338 2001 2,103 2002 5,178 2003 7,236 2004 9,279 2005 11,176 2006 11,554 2007 11,035 2008 12,696 2009 12,033 2010 12,397 2011 11,514 Long term growth overall, big uptick as/after the Expos/MLB were leaving town. I'm somewhat hopeful that the Marlins more or less abandoning Broward/PBC could have a similar effect for Strikers attendance in the summertime in upcoming years.
We may not hit our stride until the Panthers & Heat seasons end. Maybe the Marlins move will help, too. We'll see. Again, all we can do is keep plugging away. Emails and all that are fine, but, it's fannys in seats that speaks loudest. Too bad that the folks in Miami-Dade can't seem to grasp that. Or, at least, one person doesn't....
What are everyone's predictions for the lineup tomorrow? Who replaces the suspended Hassan? Does Orozco come in for the unconvincing Blake? Glaeser Blake- Stewart- Ståhl (c)- Laing Morales- Shanosky- Restrepo- Lorenz King- Herron I believe King gets the start this week. Word is Abe and Anderson aren't 100%, but could feature off the bench. I think we'll see Otte as well. For me, Blake keeps his place in the lineup. After a worrying start, he settled into the game. Despite injury rumors, Herron should be able to last another hour or so.
Might be an odd formation then. Hassan suspended. Abe & Andy hurting. Anderson too? Might be King alone up top-unless Nagime or Pecka is ready. I think Blake gets a chance to build on the 2nd 45 he played a week ago.
With the front line busted up and few injury updates from the team, I see this as a possibility. They use Morales as a forward during preseason (versus Barry). I haven't heard Herron is out, so I'm hopeful. Blake wasn't bad, just shaky. He's got big shoes shoes to fill in Martyn. [LINEUP-4-4-2]Morales, Herron, Lorenz, Shanosky, Restrepo, Otte, Laing, Ståhl, Stewart, Blake, Glaeser[/LINEUP-4-4-2]
Herron will start. No doubt about that. Though, chances are that like last game he will need to be substituted at some point. Abe picked up a knock pretty early in preseason against T&T and he's not fit to start. Anderson is still taking classes at Barry and apparently missed a lot of training this week. He's not injured, but like Abe, he also isn't ready to start. It's either going to be King up top with Herron, or, like Newtbomb suggested, Morales moves up top with Herron (where he played most of preseason), and Otte comes in at right midfield. This is possible but Otte can't last 90 minutes, and with the likelihood that Herron can't either, this leaves coach Shore with only one other substitution. As far as Nagime, he was injured for all but the final week or so of preseason so there's little chance he'll even make the 18-man roster at this stage of the season. Pecka meanwhile is a holding mid, and is introduced if coach wants a real ball-winner in midfield. I think Blake will keep his place. Like you said, in the second half his play improved and the team will need him to build on that. Anyway, I'm pretty excited for this one. Minnesota should be a real test, but I think we get the result.
0-0 draw, probably a fair result. Strikers had a few good chances but wasted them, Stars' Van Oekel made a very nice save to keep Herron from his second goal of the year, Glaeser had a few nice ones as well. Restrepo I thought did not have a very good game. Toni Ståhl however was fabulous and probably kept the Stars from scoring on several occasions. Otte came on late and looked like he's not fully recovered from his knee injury from last year, was unable to catch up to a few balls down towards the corner. Attendance was 2,916. Not great but not horrible either. Next home game is the 25th, Wednesday night(yes they did move it to 7:30 PM, it's not at 1:00 as the pocket schedules state). 21st, next Saturday, we're on the road vs. San Antonio at 8:30 PM. Watch Party at Duffy's in FTL off 17th Street(same place as uniform unveiling).
It was a win for the wind. Atmospheric conditions MotM for me. Played for both teams....like a testimonial. As good as Strep was a week ago.....he cost them 3 tonight. Overdid it by leaps and bounds. 1 v 6 just isn't the way to go young man. As mentioned, Otte a shell of himself. Minn. the far more composed side-would have won going away if not for Stahl and Matt in the cage. King continues to impress. Laing and Blake were MAJOR disappointments. Wind kicked their asses up and down the pitch. Useless. Aly Baba returns next week. Herron gutted it out-almost scored. Hopefully they can get the result in Alamo town.
First time seeing the team this year. A few thoughts... 1. This team looks way more organized on defense than last year. Very few defensive lapses. I only saw Glasser yelling at the D twice...whereas last year it seemed to happen regularly. Center of the D was particularly strong. 2. Seem to have more speed on the wing...and there was a concerted effort to use it. 3. Walter Restrepo plays with a lot of effort...he needs to kick it out to the open wing quicker, but you can't fault the guy's effort. Crowd wasn't big, but the people that were there were pretty vocal for a 0-0 draw. Marlins were at home...but that's no excuse. Strikers need to get on GROUPON again to build early season crowds like they did last season. Plus, the $5 parking fee was a major turn off (and the way they were collecting it backed things up to the street). Good news...this is a better team than last year...or at least they play better as a team.
Whatever works. It's a chicken/egg argument, but people you're trying to grow the game with want to be entertained. That means goals and results. FtL admittedly handicapped for this particular game-but there were opportunities to be had to get 3 pts. and they all completely botched it. I go to a # of games a year. I can't do season tickets for a variety of reasons.....but I have to tell ya.....I'm going to end up attending a few less games than originally planned BECAUSE of the parking ! I understand they own the property now, and they're within rights to charge it. However; you don't have the attendance to mandate it-and in this economy it just takes away or reduces available options to extend your evenings out over time........ Product isn't good enough/desired enough to gouge your steady customers. Mistake.
Learn to live with the parking fee. problem is Traffic was upset that the team that cost the most to run last year, guess who?, lost to team that cost the least in the final. That, plus a change of guard in Brazil with the incoming execs less interested in running 3 teams in North America, and you have a substantial loss of revenue in budget cuts to something that is now of much less interest. The Strikers have few choices for income. One is the parking fee. Not attending because of it is shooting yourself in the foot. Less income, less team. Maybe no team in time. Probably no MLS either. Your choice. Pay to survive. Or do without. It's a bitch, no one like it, but there it is.
Agree with Lucky. The parking charges, I think were a mistake. Although the revenue is needed, the fan base isn't big enough to support it. I was thinking about it on the way home after the match... 10-15 dollars per person for a professional sporting event is a good night out. The percentage increase of the five dollar parking kills it.