Well, let's throw this out there and see what sticks. Season #16 approaches this weekend against New Orleans. The Shell Schockers take on the Patriots at Patriot Stadium Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m. MDT to start things up. Most of the team's youngsters return, but I understand it might be a slow start while the vets finish up seasons elsewhere. Patriot Stadium continues with improvements. From a purely selfish point of view, it's a good thing that they're lifting the press box above the bleachers so stat guys, announcers and ink-stained wretches can actually see what's going on in the near corners. Both teams will have locker rooms instead of everyone taking turns. Probably the best tailor-made facility for a PDL team around, though I hesitate to say "soccer-specific". The locker rooms and team rooms are a converted warehouse at the back of the team offices, the stadium seats are benches brought in from the city parks, the press box is a converted portable building of the type many might remember taking classes in when things got too crowded on campus. Ahh, but the smell of flame-broiled burgers and dogs, a couple thousand cheering fans led by Barra '91 -- the mini-pines finally uprooted from the southside touchline! -- yes, soccer is back in the home of the Southern Conference champions and PDL finalists and is better than ever. Here's to another appearance on FSC this August with 7,000 more El Pasoans, some of that 2005 regular-season offense this time and/or a goalkeeper anywhere near as good as Andy Gruenebaum. Game On!
Re: Official 2006 El Paso Patriots Thread Ah Moriarty we meet again. looking forward to the Laredo/El Paso match up on the 20th. Will ya'll be webcasting the games again this year? Waco Joe
Re: Official 2006 El Paso Patriots Thread I hope EPP does. Does Laredo Heat? Vamos Laredo! Sos campeon!
Re: Official 2006 El Paso Patriots Thread As far as I know Laredo has not set up webcasting yet. Waco Joe
Re: Official 2006 El Paso Patriots Thread Waco, Chapulin -- good to see you both. How -- and, perhaps more importantly, where -- is your son, Waco? As for webcasting, yes...at some point.
Re: Official 2006 El Paso Patriots Thread He went down to Mexico shortly before Christmas to see what he could make happen down there. Got the royal run around. A couple of weeks in Monterrey and then three weeks in Irapuato before he had enough and came back to the states. He tried out for the Minnesota Thunder but nothing came of that. So now he is with Laredo for another season. He will probably go back to Hardin Simmons to finish his degree and graduate this December andthen who knows. Waco Joe
Re: Official 2006 El Paso Patriots Thread Good to hear he's set to graduate, although I'm sorry to hear nobody wants to give a big gringo a shot. Maybe he could come on up to our border town? Say what you will about Cd. Juarez, but ain't no chiefs of police been shot by the cartels lately.
Re: Official 2006 El Paso Patriots Thread Good start with a 2-0 win. Enrique Cervantes puts in a 45th-minute penalty while Omar Mora took a great feed from U-23 newbie Lorenzo Villar and put it away in the 74th. Mario Cardiel started in goal, which is the same as the start of last season, but coach Jesus Enriquez found a former Mexican National Team goalkeeper living and working in El Paso to be his goalie coach. That's a first. Back at it, 7:30 p.m. MDT tonight. No phone line yet for webcasts, but there will be perhaps by next Saturday's Laredo match.
Re: Official 2006 El Paso Patriots Thread YES! I had a friend who played long wayyy back in El Paso. So. I've always been interested in following EPP. But. Now with LH. I am interested in following these two PDL teams.
Who was the player? (Not that I'd remember, necessarily.) Glad to hear we'll get at least one listener. If I know Waco Joe, I'm sure he'll be there, too. Patriots go to 2-0 with a pair of wins over New Orleans. Second game was 3-1. The new forward, Lorenzo Villar, looks solid, scoring the first one by being in the right place at the right time. N.O. keeper thought a long pass from the back was too far so he comes out to get it, but the kid steps ahead of the D and chips him from 20. Danny Frias is back in a good way. Got the PK match-winner and ripped a roof shot to seal the deal on a great pass from Paul Cabrera.
Looks to be another stellar year of coverage from the EP Times! I didn't even know the home opener had happened until seeing a blurb on Friday nights game. What were the crowds like for the first two games?
Yeah. They just changed sports editors and were very understaffed for all the stuff happening with HS sports out of town in regional competition and the C-USA track championships and so on, and so forth. Unfortunately, I missed their deadline for getting anything in for Sunday, but their deadline is ridiculously early (10:30 p.m.). Last season, the added pressure of having a new Spanish-language daily that covers the kee-rap out of this team, relatively speaking, forced them to staff it. I'm hoping that starts next Saturday. However, the crowds were dismal, so I'm not sure that it mattered so much. About 700 Fri. and 350 Sat. Made for a very quiet night. But they have a big radio presence in Exa 98.3 to build on in the future. I think that will help them eventually. As for week one, there was just a lot going on elsewhere.
Very good player. Plays in the local MASA league here in the McAllen. I forget his last name, but his first name is Omar. He might have been 19, 20, or 21 when he played with EPP. Unfortunately, he has a short temper on the fields that hampers his betters instincts. Shame he is not putting to play in his skills at a higher level.
Sorry to hear that. More positive news...looks like we have a webcast! Haven't been to the stadium yet to check it, but should be working, hopefully with a good signal. Go to elpaso-patriots.com, or click on this link... http://live.webcastwarehouse.net/patriots
Ah, yes! Sorry about the lack of a webcast. We seem to have our tech issues resolved. (My computer is a sucky little piece of crap, but it didn't have the right yin to go the yang. Now it does. My technical ability is, perhaps, explained with my description.) Congrats to the Heat, 3-2 winners for the first time. Waco Joe, your son was great and he had solid help. Laredo controlled possession much of the match.
Patriots have lost three-in-a-row -- Yikes! Waco, tell Ryan to take it easy on the boys this weekend. Maybe pull a matador...just once. No Frias for him to worry about, either. He got red-carded Saturday at DFW. Hopefully, Larrosa's back this weekend. The team needs help.
The EP DFW score shocked the heck out of me. We played DFW the next day and the scoreboard wasn't working. They said all their scoring from the previous night broke it! Ryan was at ya'lls game and said that El Paso got jobbed royally by the refs. You needed the ref we had Sunday night. No nonsense, did not fall for diving or put up with DFW's head hunting. Of course we still got called for more fouls, most of them within 25 yards of the goal, but sometimes I think that is just part of our defensive strategy. I'm sure EP will turn it around. You better, that highest point second place for postseason is going to be hard to get! Waco Joe
Second, eh? We shall see, Holmes. We shall see. Looks like the Mid-South has stepped up a bit, at least early. Or the Patriots have stepped down. I appreciate Ryan's words, however, getting jobbed by the ref is going to happen, especially at the PDL level, and this team has a decade-plus history of losing its cool when things don't go its way. Part of learning to be a pro is dealing successfully with this stuff, and it doesn't help the youngsters when vets like Samano and Frias get the boot. So, two Saturday's hence, El Paso will be without its veteran center defender and the PDL 04 scoring champ/05 MVP. As I said, hopefully Larrosa's back to pick things up a bit, because it certainly doesn't get any easier when you play the division leader. For now.
El Paso lost four straight, got one then gave it back vs. DFW. THEN got one and gave IT back vs. New Orleans. Yeezh. The more they proceed without Miguel Larrosa, the more it's obvious how much this team misses his speed and tenacity. He was the engine, and now he's in Paraguay because somebody figured out he's pretty good. Though it takes 11, Larrosa's absence is the easiest thing to pick out in terms of what's missing for a team that went to the championship last season. Something's gotta give or this team isn't making the playoffs.
I believe he is, though I don't know the name of the club in Paraguay. Last season you'd watch him take off on of those slashing runs and get all the way down near the goal line and wonder how he was ever going to get out of it. Many times he didn't, but he always managed something eventually, if not just opening things up for everybody else. Enriquez called him the engine of his team last season. Hopefully, they can find some consistent offense. I said Frias needed to step up. Really, it probably needs to be someone other than Frias, just so teams won't key on him. Big games this weekend.
So it's pretty much a done deal this season. Jorge Muniz has been great in net since they found him, but now the offense is on the fritz. Frias and Mora miss Larrosa and Andrade, though I understand both had their shots this last weekend in a pair of 0-0 ties. Yikes! The team with the deadliest offense last season and the top scorer in 04 can't find the back of the net. Goal differential is +1 (18f, 17a). If Augusta notches a single point in its final five matches, she's all done for 06. EP needs August to tank all the way and can allow but a single DFW win. Otherwise its on to 2007. Everyone ready for First Division? [Wink]
Hey, it's a real live webcast! Whaddaya know! Go to the Patriots website (elpaso-patriots.com) or click here: http://live.webcastwarehouse.net/patriots. Matches tonight (Fri.) and tomorrow night, kickoff 7:30 p.m., if interested.