The final home game of the regular season is upon us, and it's another must-win for the Strikers as they face the last place Silverbacks. 3 points locks up a 4th place finish or better, and that means a home game in the quarterfinals. It also keeps very much in the race to place 3rd, which practically doesn't mean much, but would mean a finish ahead of Tampa Bay which emotionally would be big(at least for us fans). Worst case has to be a tie. That would still give us a shot at the home game in round 1, even if Edmonton wins. If FCE ties or loses then we would still clinch the home game, even with a loss vs. ATL, as we have the tiebreaker with them. Tampa plays Minnesota on Saturday and Puerto Rico in PR next Wednesday before the clash in St. Pete with the Strikers for the season finale. If the results play right that will be a big game to decide who gets 3rd place.
This is the first time I hope you guys get a win. Rowdies and Strikers finishing 3rd and 4th means the possibility for a championship series between us is real. That would be epic. It'd be cool to meet earlier, but a final would be sick. carry on.
Good stuff DR. I think the formula is two points in the final two games guarantees us at least 4th. Obviously we'd like to just get it out of the way Saturday with a win against the last place Silverbacks. Plus, we owe them a stomping for the earlier defeat at their hands here at Lockhart. I've been saying for a couple of weeks now that we were going to ultimately wind up in 4th, and I'm sticking with that prediction. I think we win Saturday to lock up the 3rd seed, but I think finishing 3rd or 4th ultimately doesn't have any real benefit one way or the other. Some might say that assuming the higher seeded home teams hold serve in the first round, finishing 3rd would get you PR in the semis rather than the Railhawks. But honestly, I think the Strikers splitting the season series with Carolina has them confident that they could win a 2-leg playoff with them as well. In the end speedcake is right, a Tampa/Ft. Lauderdale NASL finals would be the best thing the league could probably hope for notoriety wise. I've said that since before the first whistle. Some of that is lost thanks to the "Rowdies" still not being able to be billed as such , but it would still be Tampa vs. Ft. Lauderdale which is a rivalry every North American pro soccer fan should be aware of. But let's bring it back to our primary focus, which is Saturday night. Can't ask for more than having your destiny in your own hands. Win and we'll be back at Lockhart at least once more this year. Come on guys! Don't take this team lightly, they beat you once already. And I'd love to see a great crowd, but I'm beginning to doubt that will happen again until we host a playoff game....
Gotta win tomorrow and lock up the home game. We can also root for Montréal to beat Edmonton, as a loss by the Eddies also clinches 4th for us, even if we lose our last two games. The only possible meetings between us would be either round 1 or the finals. If we don't play in round one that would mean that even if both clubs won, they'd go on to face PR and Carolina and not play each other. I'm confident in the Strikers chances vs. the top two as well. We were 2-0-2 vs. Carolina, winning twice at home, and 1-2-1 vs. Puerto Rico, and that would be 2 wins if we did not give up a 90th minute equalizer in the first game in Bayamón.
Why does this match have to take place the same night as the best college football day/night this state has seen in years? If I didn't have tickets to Miami-OSU (and Gators-Tennessee that I gave away)....I would be all over it. Oh well...get a big win and i'll be there for the playoffs! Go STRIKERS!
Yeh, I don't see us pulling in any big attendance numbers for Atlanta (maybe 2500), even with 'Big O' pushing the issue on radio every time he gets a chance. "You know the Heat & Strikers are the only local teams going to the playoffs this year and this is a big game". LoL Love it! I know I'm often the pessimist when it comes to attendance, but I suspect any home playoff match to pull about 5k (just cuz that's the kind of sports culture we live in). The paper will push it and we might get a mention or two on the TV that will pull in the curious and casual. My prediction: 2-1 Strikers. We don't match up well against Tampa, so I have a feeling this will be our last chance for the full three points. Let's show those 'Backs OUR backs Saturday night!
TWC predicts a 10% chance of rain from 7PM on. It should be a good, if humid & hot, night for soccer. I don't think I've got baby sitting duties this evening, so I should actually be able to attend... GO STRIKERS!!!
Strikers 1 v 1 Atlanta. Strikers tried to blow it by giving up a goal in the 90th, then scored in the 92nd to tie it. Still tied w/FCTB for 3rd, but Edmonton's loss gives us a bit of breathing room to keep a 1st round home game. ETA: At least we had a decent crowd. Over 4,600 attended.
Edmonton's loss guarantees us a home game. If Montreal sneaks in, I'd much rather finish fourth and line up against Edmonton and Carolina than Montreal and Puerto Rico. Hopefully Tampa beats Puerto Rico on Wednesday and us beating them will still let us remain in fourth.
I'm not too keen on facing Montréal, if they get in, either, but I'd still rather finish ahead of FCTB in the table for pride's sake. We've not lost to Montréal this season, and we've proven we can beat Carolina and Puerto Rico. Aside from TB there is no team have yet to defeat. As for the game tonight... nearly a crushing defeat. Had we lost we still would have clinched the home game since Edmonton lost to MTL, but man it was just so frustrating to see all those chances go for naught in the first half. Thank goodness for Shriver in extra time and the tie. Crowd was 4,688, 4th best on the season. It's a shame we didn't win any of the games in front of big crowds this season. Hopefully that changes in the playoffs and we tally 3 more victories at Lockhart in 2011. Tonight's crowd brings the final regular season average to right around 3,800. Could have been better with some better results on the bigger nights, and if that May 14th FCTB game did not get rained out. But still easily more than 3 times what Miami FC pulled in last season, with quite honestly what was a mediocre team. Too many draws. Hopefully a solid run in the playoffs can nudge the overall average above 4K. Still, the rebrand was a massive success in my book.
Yes, I'll have to call the rebrand, and the season, a successful one for attendance. Bringing in an average of a few hundred under 4K in attendance with a very mediocre team, and their mediocrity was in full view last night, is exceptional. A few of the 11 ties becoming wins would have easily put us over 4K for the season. We've got 1 more regular season game away against FCTB in St Pete. Since we don't seem to match up with them it seems that 4th place is where we'll end up. Not what I wanted, but much better than 7th or 8th place, by far. Then the playoffs begin & I'll get to use the playoff ticket I got last night. Here's hoping for the best, a championship, but I'll take whatever I can get from this team. At least we made the playoff this season. I'm really not used to that. Heady stuff for this old man. I hope my heart can stand it.... GO STRIKERS!!!! ETA: The weather for last night's game was near perfect. Too bad we couldn't have had that on that rainy night in May. ETA2: It had to happen. The Strikers game last night had a very nice write up on page 13 of the Miami Herald's Sports section. This may be a 1st this season.
I was there last night. Weather and night were absolutely beautiful. Game was entertaining and a nice turnout.
Having seen the crowds lately, I was convinced we'd topped the 5k mark at least. Nice job by the front office to come up with the marketing ploys to get us a nice crowd.
Did you see the number of kids in the crowd? Especially those wearing team uniforms? Now that the various clubs and AYSO Regions are back in session these are prime targets for the FO. There also seemed to be quite a few families in attendance. Now that summer vacation is over they may need a cheap Saturday night's entertainment. Going to a Striker game fills that need admirably. Tim Robbie is probably playing this to the hilt with every group/family discount he can think of. If it puts fannies in the seats I'm all for it. Hopefully this will eventually pay off by making some of those kids fans when they are adults. I was able to get my son to a couple games this year. We started off by going to Suns games & Striker games in the '80s. We even brought his 3 year old with us once. He intends to bring that, by then, 4 year old to a couple games, or more, next year. He's also going to try to find a youth program for him in the next year or so. This is what Tim & the FO are trying to foster. Hook the little ones for life... I also think he's got to try to get the adult diehards into the fold. I renewed my season ticket Saturday night. He's got to think of a way to continue that trend. And, to get more folks to jump onto the bandwagon for 2012. We had over 1,000 season tickets sold for 2011. IMO, trying for 2,000 or 2,500 for 2012 is doable. I hope Tim & the rest of the sales staff in the FO go for it (anything above 2,500 would be gravy......)
I'm with Heggis, about midway through the first half when it looked like the entirety of the crowd had arrived, I was thinking we were well over 5,000. It certainly felt nearly as full as opening night. As for the game, my first reaction was to be disappointed that we did not finish our numerous opportunities and get a win. But let's keep in mind a few things. First, there was no way Edmonton was going into Montreal and getting a result Saturday night. Coach Shore, Clavijo, Muzzi, whoever in the organization would tell you til they were blue in the face that they weren't paying any attention to that. But, I think they absolutely decided they were going to rest players they need to keep fresh for the playoffs in two weeks. Arguez, Arrieta, Restrepo, and Mayen were all out, and only Restrepo ultimately played. Actually, he might have been the only one even on the bench. Anyway, what we saw Saturday isn't, can't possibly be, the lineup we'll see October first, probably against Edmonton. Considering that, the fact that the Montreal game was pretty certain to go their way, and the excitement at the end with the tie, and then nearly the winner that was ruled offside, made it an "adequate" evening for the team. If we really needed this game badly, I think, or at least certainly hope, we would have seen a different lineup, and a different result. Was good to see a lot of the kids back at this game again. I think those school kids that sold over 1,000 tickets for a fund-raiser ought to be hired as interns in the FO immediately too! LOL