The Florida Derby is back! For real this time! No FCs, no Mutiny, no Fusion, no Blues, no sock mascots, this is the genuine article! Fort Lauderdale Strikers vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies! The Rowdies have outshot their opponents in recent games but only came away with draws. The Strikers defense will need to be solid. We'll have Toni back on Saturday which will be big. But we won't have Herron for sure. Hassan will need to follow up his performance from the PR game. Abe will be back, perhaps he steps into the starting role now. Or it could easily be Anderson or King. We're hoping to have around 20-25 Striker Likers up there with us cheering the boys on. Let's take the Coastal Cup!!
After last night's performance I have some hope we'll actually win this game. Having Toni back will certainly help. Even though I thought Conor Shanosky did a reasonably decent job of filling in for him last night, Toni's the man that slammed the door shut in both shutouts the Strikers had to start the season. We'll probably need that kind of play on Saturday. Herron's injury may or may not be season ending. I'm hoping it isn't, but, because of it he'll certainly be out Saturday. We'll need another great effort from Aly then. Plus, another young man will have to step up as a dependable goal scorer to take some pressure off of Aly. Maybe the very speedy Mr King is our man. I hope so. If not, maybe Mr Halili Nagimi will finally get onto the pitch to show his stuff and give Restrepo, Lorenz and Laing another target to bedevil the opposition. I'd like that. I'm sure Daryl Shore would like it, too... GO STRIKERS!!!! I hope I can get to Al Lang Field Saturday to cheer you on.
Though our record against Tampa is abysmal, I think we have a good opportunity to get a result this time around. We're in form, while they've been struggling. Herron's absence is a big loss for us, but Hassan's stellar display Wednesday has proven that he has the potential to fill his shoes. We just have to be careful about putting too much pressure on the boy, he's only 22. Having Ståhl back is a huge boost, as this allows Shanosky to go back to midfield, presumably replacing Pecka. Last season I was very critical of Pecka, but I felt he had a great game against San Antonio, and was even better against the Islanders. If he keeps it up, when Motagalvan recovers from his injury (still a couple weeks away) and Gebor grows in to professional soccer, we will have some healthy competition in midfield. Props to everyone who is traveling up for the match. Hopefully for the next one the FO can play up the rivalry and try to get more people to go. Oh, and as far as the Rowdies outshooting their opponents, their shot count is always suspiciously high when they're at home... Just saying.
Agreed...he's made it clear he's a natural DCM, but he wasn't beating out Arguez last season and he'll have a hard time beating out Shanosky this year. He can still come in handy in situations where we need 2 DCMs to hold a lead...or someone's hurt or suspended.
Getting excited for this trip! WE ARE THE STRIKERS, THE STRIKER BOOT BOYS, AND WE ARE MENTAL, AND WE ARE MAD, WE ARE THE LOYALIST, FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS, THAT THE WORLD HAS EVER HAD! SRB
I'm assuming you haven't watched any of our games (why would you, I concede) if you think our shot count is "suspiciously high" at home. What about our shot count on the road, then? The problem is that too many of those shots aren't good, although more than enough of them HAVE been good enough for us to have had better results in the past couple of games. The only form we've yet to find is our goal scoring form. We aren't giving up many goals, but we aren't scoring many either. We are creating the chances, and at least in one game (Carolina) we were ridiculously unlucky to not have scored a handful. But our goal scoring is definitely a concern for us. You guys weren't lighting it up either until some unknown kid up and scores a hat trick against PR By the looks of things, both teams look pretty even coming into this and it's going to be a dog fight. Should be fun and we hope to see more than the usual number of travelling supporters.
As much as we have tried, people are terribly unorganized getting up there lol. Plus there are a lot of people who want to go but work Saturdays(use all their off days for home games) or who genuinely don't have interest in going. But with our organized official supporters convoy plus other general fans, there should be at least 20-30 Striker Likers up there. However many there end up being, we will be loud . Should be a good one, looking forward to it.
Perhaps my phrasing was wrong. What I meant is your stats guy probably doesn't know what constitutes a shot. The shot counts are always high at Al Lang, for both teams, but especially the home side. What about your shot count on the road? It's significantly lower, probably because it's more accurate. Either that or teams take a lot more shots at Al Lang than any other venue. Case in point, compare eleven shots in the game in Puerto Rico and Atlanta, with 22 in just one game at home. All I'm saying is that your stat guy is counting "shots" that wouldn't normally be considered a shot, i.e. one that is blocked almost immediately. "Suspiciously high" was the wrong term, I'll give you that, but there's no denying that the stats at Al Lang are higher than at other stadiums. I'm not picking on your stat guy, (believe me, it's a tougher job than it looks!) all I'm saying is don't put too much stock in the fact that the Rowdies are outshooting everyone.
My point was, we are out shooting all opponents so far. But arguable many of those shots aren't of the best quality. And we did pepper Carolina in that one home game with a ridiculous amount of shots. It was stupid. How we didn't come away with multiple goals and all three points will remain a mystery for all time.
Strikers reporting Herron out 8-10 weeks. MCL/meniscus Good news for Andy-but I don't know what that would mean in terms of the season. Last time I trust the booth dudes, promise.
I guess the dude who "reported" it thought the meniscus counted as two ligaments. Hopefully he can be back this year for you guys.
If the injury doesn't require surgery, he'll miss the next sixteen matches, and could potentially be available for the first match in August against the Silverbacks. If he does need surgery... well, I think that could be it for Mr. Herron.
2-0 Tampa with less than 30 min to play. Really underwhelming effort against a team they can never beat when it counts.
Final was 3-1 Tampa Bay. As you say, they seem to have out number big time. Discouraging, especially when you consider that we have another road game Wednesday in North Carolina. Four games in 12 days. Then a 10 day break until we visit PR. It is possible we could have more losses than wins when we face Minnesota at our next home game on May 19.
lol what nonsense. You guys created some really good scoring chances and only woodwork kept you from scoring at least another (well woodwork and our beast in goal) It was a pretty damn entertaining game. The first half was dominated by the Rowdies sure, but the Strikers made it more than even in the second, despite the scoreline. You just lost. You didn't look tired and lazy, ffs. Have more pride in the performance and your team. Everything else is excuse making.
You're giving the Strikers a bit more credit than they're due speedcake. The effort by the Strikers in the first half was just not good enough. Not really much else to say about it. It looekd like only Glaeser had showed up in the first 45 minutes, and he was the only thing that kept them in the game at that point. I'll grant you your comments on the second half. I'm guessing Coach Shore got in a lot of faces in the locker room, because they did improve markedly in the second 45. Credit the Rowdies keeper for some good saves. My personal opinion from watching the stream was that the penalty call was very soft. Was it a foul....eh....perhaps....but it was real soft. And then that was it. Tampa smartly sat back and defended more after going up 2 and it worked. I thought Orozco played ok in his first start. I have to admit that Pecka has really shown some improvement, and I'm glad it was him that got the starting nod over Morales. Didn't have the heart to rebutt some of the posts on the Strikers FB page that are obviously from family of Morales complaining about him not starting. Sorry, he's shown absolutely nothing in his time here (since last year). King is starting to remind me a lot of Shriver. Great speed, runs onto long balls, but never seems to quite be able to get solid scoring chances, but seems right on the cusp. Maybe he'll break out one of these games like Hassan did. But I'm going to guess that Wednesday in Cary it's Abe we see starting up front with Hassan. Why do we always play our worst games against those damn Rowdies?!?
I had posted that on my phone so apologies for not making it a bit clearer. Assessment v. Excuses... tough one there. The first 45 minutes were tired and lazy. That is an assessment. No excuses there. Too many times was a striker dispossessed from the ball and instead of immediately tracking back to regain possession, he stood there. That is laziness. Tired because there were too many lapses of concentration on the defense's part. Having a man totally unmarked and coming in on that first goal is proof of that. The second 45 was a different game, granted. I believe that Shore gave the hair-dryer treatment in the locker room because the lads came out with a bit more fire but it was too late. At that point, it was absorb the attack and counter which Tampa did... and fair play to them. Tampa won the match, no excuses. To say that the Strikers were at their top form would be a lie. Their passing wasn't as consistent as it was in the PR game. Credit where it was due, the players did do a lot better in the second half but it wasn't enough and it was too late. If they could have played like that in the first half the story may be much different (again, laziness). This was only my assessment but it would appear that it was also that of some of the players who felt that they did not play up to their potential. That's all part and parcel to the game. Roll on the next match.
Aly will be on ULTRAS ALIVE tonight. I'm sure he'll be asked about the teams performance in St Petersburg. That should be interesting. As will any comments about the upcoming away games in Carolina & PR. My understanding is that the entire Rowdies match will be discussed. That, too, could be interesting. Might be worth listening to....