The Strikers are in the Championship Series!! Can you believe it?! The fun is not over folks! We start in Blaine, MN at the National Sports Center for Leg 1 on Saturday night at 8:30 PM. We are undefeated vs. Minnesota this season, with out last match a 1-0 win on the road on August 10. Overall record was 2-0-2. But they are playing pretty well right now so it'll be another tough series. Big watch party for the game this Saturday night at Duffy's Sports Grill in Fort Lauderdale: 1804 Harbor Shops Road, Ft Lauderdale, FL, 33316. It's in the Publix plaza just off the 17th Street Causeway. Hope to see everyone come out! CHAMPIONSHIP!!!
Its going to be fun. It would be nice to get a crowd of 10,000, which I belive is possible, especially if we do well on Saturday in Leg 1.
A big result on Saturday in the road leg would surely help build the buzz for the return leg at home. Not too often do you get the chance to see your local team lift a trophy at home. Heck, in South Florida it's only ever happened once, the '97 Marlins at Joe Robbie Stadium. The '06 Heat and '03 Marlins won it all on the road, and the '72 & '73 Dolphins played in the Super Bowl which no one has ever won at home. There is a once in a lifetime chance to witness history on the 29th. Hopefully the word gets out and the media picks up on it.
And the final is against Minnesota, the place that stole my team in 1983. Okay, so the Robbies just up and moved them but I won't let that stop me wishing a whupping on the bastards from Minnesota. The Strikers never won a first division title (stupid Cosmos!) but claimed a second division crown in 1989. Another one is damn overdue.
What league was the 1st div in 1989? Who were the 1st Div Champs? I've got a bumper sticker from that time declaring the Ft Lauderdale Strikers as American Soccer League & National Professional Soccer Champions. Wasn't the ASL the top league then? ETA: To answer my questions - ASL was Div 2....as was the Ft Lauderdale Suns Championship in 1984. There is nothing I could find to support the 1989 claim on a national championship. Since the ASL was the top league then why not claim it?
The Strikers, ASL Champions, defeated the San Diego Nomads, WSL Champions, to claim the "National Soccer Championship". While technically both D2 leagues, there was no D1 league at the time. So the Strikers were the best soccer team in the US in 1989. Have a look here: http://white.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1989.html
Fair enough. I can live with it. We have to remember that 1989 was the year before we had our 1st WC appearance in decades. It was a rather dark time for the sport here in the US. Stuff like the Strikers and Nomads were all we had. But it was a time when my son & I fell in love with the Strikers. Just like others did a few years before then, and a few more have now. It's all good, IMO.... I just hope it continues so my grandkids can catch the fever, too...
There was no 'First Division', with capital letters, but -come on- there was a top division, the first division (without capital letters) which has the right to concede the national title to its champion.
Would require exhibition between the two to decide state supremacy... at least in the preseason next year. That would be cool.
It would have to be a home-and-away series. Maybe that will demonstrate to our ownership the importance of being in the same league as Fort Lauderdale and Tampa Bay (at least til MLS comes calling).
Can't wait for Saturday night! Watched all of the other Strikers away games at home on my computer, but definitely want to come out on Saturday and hang with the Ultras and Flight19 guys at Duffy's! About time I met all you guys, and what better time than with our boys playing the first leg of the title chase! As for the game itself, I expect we'll see the same lineup pretty much that we've seen the first three playoff games: Glaeser, Marty, Stahl, Laing, Gordon, Arguez, Restrepo, Palacio (if he's healthy), Mayen (I hope because I think he's shown better than Pecka), Abe, and Shriver. We're going to have a tough test trying to get some goals by that wily veteran Joe Warren in net. When he is really on, he is a game changer. I think our D needs to be the focus this game. If we can get out of Minnesota with a clean sheet, that would be awesome. But I think as long as we don't allow more than one, we'll be in great shape the way our attack has been working lately. I'd love to see a 2 - 1 Strikers win in Blaine, but honestly, I'd be perfectly fine with a 1 - 1 draw as well. I think we have a real advantage here at home for the final leg. But it's crucial to get a result in Minnesota that allows us to best take advantage of having that second leg, just like we did against Puerto Rico. Go Strikers!!!!! See you guys at the watch party Saturday!!!
Got an e-mail from the sales staff of the team last night. It was mostly to explain the promotion they'er doing for season ticket holders, enabling them to get free GA tickets, or $5 reserved tickets for each regular ticket they purchase for the final game. A great idea that has already worked well this season, and I think is going to elicit an even better response for this championship game. I've already got two extra reserved tickets spoken for (to just the right type of people too, ones that haven't been to a game yet this year) and fully expect to be able to have the other three used as well. Just wanted to comment on something else that was in the e-mail: "This is a great opportunity for all of us to get together and show MLS that South Florida needs to be on their radar." I've been saying for awhile now that these playoff games, and especially now this final match, are what MLS will be paying attention to. We need to show the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers are a supported American professional soccer club. But is anyone else besides me raising an eyebrow and cracking a smile that the above quote was in an official Strikers team e-mail to fans? To all the people who like to say, "Traffic has never mentioned anything about MLS." what exactly do you think this means? DR, myelf, some others around here have always fronted the notion that if we supported the Strikers strongly enough, Traffic would have no choice but to consider MLS for them. Or at the very least, it would certainly make the team much more attractive to an outside investor wanting to try for an MLS team. This is a BIG opportunity people. This might be THE BIGGEST opportunity in 10 years to show everyone in the soccer world that the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers are an MLS viable franchise. This is where we can really start that. The perfect storm is brewing. South Florida loves winners, but has no others right now. The Strikers are doing it on the field. Tim Robbie is working his tail off in both sales, and with sponsorships. The Schliltterbahn deal looks very likely to go down in the near future, and that means paid for upgrades to Lockhart. And the rebrand has been a great success, even without a lot of advertising spending by Traffic. Can you imagine what they could do by spending some money being able to promote the fact that the Strikers were the NASL champions if they were to take the title? Again, South Florida LOVES winners. We need to push now. If we can all keep working with the team to continue to build momentum, and if the boys can keep winning on the field, we can make a legitimate claim to Traffic that they NEED to be looking at MLS. They don't have to abandon D2. The Railhawks and Silverbacks provide two opportunities for them to keep a presence there. Plus, getting the Strikers into MLS would open the door to actually starting to make profits for Traffic in their North American soccer ventures overall. Sounds like a winner all around to me. It all starts with us people. We need to spread the word everywhere and to everyone in South Florida about the championship. We need to get all those bonus tickets used. Hell, even if it isn't with those bonus tickets, where in the world can you attend a national professional sports league championship game for $10 for GA or only $15 for reserved seating?!? The south side stands are going to be opened, and I want to see them as full as the north side! 10,000+ at Lockhart! Ft. Lauderdale Strikers baby, yeah!!!!!!!!!
We've all talked this up before. I think a derby involving Orlando, Tampa, and Ft. Lauderdale would be awesome, and it would have the potential to develop into something very strong. It already exists for Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale of course. But I think Orlando would fit nicely into a three way derby a la the Cascadia Cup. I think it would be well supported by fans, even as preseason friendlies. We all need to push this idea to our respective ownerships!
10,000 should be the minimum goal for this game. I am bringing 'a pile' (that would be more than 10 in my southern culture) to the game. Its going to be fun; the crowd will be intense, and we will experience an EPIC moment in sports history for South Florida!. All season ticket holders should, at minimum, invite their neighbors with the free 4 genral admission, and triy to pile up (that would be more than 10) on the reserved $5 tix. What a sight it would be to see a full Lockhart Stadium for a soccer game. Not since the Fusion lost to the San Jose in overtime has Lockhart hosted such an event.
I just posted a status about the Strikers on my facebook page and within seconds, 2 of my facebook friends liked the Strikers facebook page. Success so far I've only been to 2 games so far (Opening and last Tampa game) but I will be bringing at least 10 people with me and hopefully I can recruit a few more through facebook
Maybe not. Stars 3 v 1 Strikers. Strikers have to score a bunch at home & cool down the Stars to overcome this score. Exactly what I was afraid of...
Ugh a really terrible result tonight. Down 2 goals coming home, and while we did beat them 3-0 the last time Minnesota was at Lockhart, they've dug quite a hole for themselves. Our best looking chance of the night came from the Stars defense who headed in the own goal. No real dangerous attack whatsoever. Need an offensive outburst from the start to get it going in leg 2 IMO. We have to score early. That would energize what should be a very good crowd and make it interesting.
A 3-1 loss is going to be tough to overcome. This is not a good time for the Striker goals to dry up. The Stars were the better team last night. Heck, they scored 4x (once for us)! Not sure if it was the cold or travel, but the Strikers looked flat for most of the game. Gleaser appeared weak as well. What's with all the punches. Catch the ball! Far too many give aways on forced passes as well. Not the Strikers team of the past 5 games... The guys need to step up and put the ball in the back of the net Saturday. Perhaps Coach Shore should replace the flopping Chacho too. If nothing else, I hope it is hot and a lot of fans show up next Saturday - maybe that will slow down the Stars.
It looked like he chested into his own net to me. I was laughing for a solid minute. We reverted to our mid-season tactics. Trying to lob balls into the box after Abe's subbed out instead of before when we were trying to dribble in or shoot from anywhere within 30 yards.
I definitely think the cold played a part in our play, the field didn't play well for our style either. Hopefully being at Lockhart poses some kind of difficulty for Minnesota in return. If Palacio is 100%, I have no idamndea why Coudet is playing. Their midfield ran over us yesterday in part because he can't cover enough ground. Mayen looked to have lost some form yesterday as well for most of the game.