Simple. Win at Carolina and the Aztex clinch the league title. Watching party starts at 6 p.m. at Mister Tramps at the big room. Yes we got the big screen to ourselves so get there early if possible. I mentioned seven reasons why YOU SHOULD BE THERE on my blog. So lets make it a very good Friday folks.
Adrian told me on Monday, and said on Wednesday's "Aztex Coach's Show" that Eddie sustained a slight concussion on Saturday night, which was the reason he went off at the half.
Did he go out at half or just after? I had gone in search of ice cream at halftime but I remember walking past the bench right after Max's goal (which was at the 50' mark) and Eddie was sitting on the bench rubbing and holding his head looking really out of it. It looked like he had just come off...
Well. That'll teach me for saying to Lisa "Never mind. I don't need to listen to it. I usually know everything they're talking about, and Ahmad ends getting them to talk about Europe the last part of the show anyway." ...and speaking of Euro soccer talk on the radio, I came across a show last night on KVRX -- the Student side of KOOP -- 91.7. Seems as they have a Euro Footie show on at 7:30 on Thursday nights. So now we have soccer shows on Austin radio 3 times a week. Can you believe it?
Despite the loss, it was pretty well played. I thought we had the edge for most of the match, but the score would have been much higher for the Railhawks if not for Gallardo. The flub on the last goal aside, this game went a long way toward making me a believer in him. I honestly thought that our starting midfield would make the game a cakewalk, with Olum and Alvarez and Fuller all being very careful and conservative passers. But in the end it just meant we got exploited on the long ball while our wide defenders were forward. Still, I thought it was a good game for us. The scoreline doesn't do it justice. What do our chances for the top seed look like now?
We can still clinch it, and the league, with a win vs. Montreal. Less I'm mistaken, which does happen I've been told.
The current status for us to be in the #1 seed is: If Rochester loses or draws today in St. Louis, the Aztex are the #1 seed, no matter what happens in Montreal. If Rochester wins in St. Louis today, the Aztex must win in Montreal to be #1 see. A loss will give us 53 pts to Rochesters 54. If we draw, the Rhinos get the #1 seed based on head to head play. So I would encourage everyone to watch the Rochester v. AC St. Louis match
Fun times at Tramps. We were a little better than the scoreline indicated. It seemed like they had a ton of space wide in our half, and we didn't spread the field as well when we attacked. I wonder if that was by design, or if they simply are used to playing narrowly as a team on House Park's skinny pitch.
Well, it's simple now. We need to win in Montreal. St. Louis gets a stoppage time goal called back for offside (I think), Rochester wins 2-1.
Greetings from Berlin, all!! Unfortunately, I missed the AC St. Louis v. Rochester match, but at this point, as I look at the standings with only one match left, I frankly see this as a win/win situation. If we draw or lose this afternoon in Montreal, then the team will face the Impact in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. As we're the higher seed, the team will stay in Montreal for the Wednesday match, reducing the stress of travel. Naturally, if we win, we win the regular season title, but then have to travel from Montreal to Austin to Puerto Rico for Thursday night's match. I'll be watching from here, and updating at the @Aztex_Matchcast Twitter site.