Scorpions leave Florida still winless; Recap
By: Kevin Collins
For the third time in four games, the San Antonio Scorpions left the pitch without a win. The only point so far this season came last week against Minnesota United. While another point looked secured in Jacksonville, a deep-into-stoppage-time goal by Alhassane Keita sealed the first NASL home victory for the new expansion side.
The Scorpions gave up an early goal in the fourth minute but quickly equalized off a Play of the Week nominee goal by San Antonio’s leading scorer, Omar Cummings. It stayed 1-1 for the rest of the game, until Keita’s late winner. Like the previous three games, defense was the issue for the Scorpions. Defensive laps and being one-step behind the attacker seems to be the trend for the Alamo City boys.
The Spring season championship is surely out of reach now for the reigning NASL Champs. In order to call the Spring any sort of success, moving up the table will be a necessity – getting as many points as possible in order to make a run in the Fall. While this is a terrible start to the season, I hope that the club gives head coach Alen Marcina at least another game, if not two, to turn things around before making significant changes in leadership. I have always been behind Marcina, but there are some in the front office whom I wouldn’t mind seeing removed before the Spring is up.
The Scorpions return to Toyota Field this Saturday, May 9th, to host the Carolina Railhawks.
New York Cosmos v.s Ottawa Fury FC
A great night in Coney Island, Brooklyn , in which the Cosmos got the three points. Lucky Mkosana scored in the 14′ . Lucky gets a great through ball from Leo Fernandes and puts it in the back of the net to put the Cosmos up 1-0. The Cosmos throughout the match were always a step ahead of the Fury.
In the second half , there was a questionable offside call. Raul is attacking , and there are two defenders in front of him , they end up failing , no contact was made. Raul passes the ball to Walter Restrepo , and Walter puts the ball in the back of the net . The linesmen calls offsides , it was a late call , and to this day don’t understand how it was offsides .
The Fury are low on confidence dropping three points against the Cosmos and getting knocked out of the Amway Canadian Championship. The Fury currently sit in 9th place and have four points , they host the Rowdies in week 6.
Tampa Bay Rowdies v.s Carolina Railhawks
An exciting match that went back and fourth . The Railhawks score an early goal in the 6th minute. Nacho Novo was the goalscorer . Novo is 2nd on the top goalscorer list with 3 goals . After that goal there were some exciting chances from both sides. Also Novo took another shot on goal . Santos took a shot on goal and hit the crossbar. In the 19th minute Rowdies midfielder Martin Nunez scores to put the Rowdies up 1-1.
In the Second Half there are a lot of chances from both sides. Both clubs had some great chances but couldn’t finish , to put their club ahead of their opponent. In the 76th minute Georgi Hristov gets a red card for fouling Wells Thompson . It is going to be a huge blow for the Rowdies to be without Georgi in week 6 , when they travel north of the border to face the Fury.
Fort Lauderdale Strikers v.s Atlanta Silverbacks
The Strikers and Silverbacks played to a scoreless draw. The Strikers had questionable the best chance of the night in the 71st minute with Stefano Pinho’s header from close range that hit the post , the Silverbacks defense cleared the ball . That was the best chance and the Silverbacks defense stepped up .
“We were trying to break them down, but we couldn’t,” said Gonzalez. “It was a good effort from us. The team played well, it was just a matter of putting them in the goal.”
In week 6 the Strikers have a bye week . The following week the Strikers will face the Rowdies . Next up for the Silverbacks is Minnesota United FC .
FC Edmonton v.s Minnesota United FC
The ever dangerous Miguel Ibarra , puts United on the board by scoring in the 2nd minute. In the 51st minute Lance Laing scores an equalizer goal . In the 71st minute Tomi Ameobi puts the Eddies up 2-1. Daryl Fordyce gets a straight red card for protesting the penalty kick call. Jaime Watson steps up to take the penalty and puts the ball in the back of the net. The final score was 2-2 . A well deserved result since it was a close match and bot sides had great chances.
“It was an excellent performance from start to finish against the best team in the league last season,” FC Edmonton head coach Colin Miller said. “There are so many positives it’s just really disappointing to drop two points today. I thought Matt [VanOekel] had his best performance of the season today.”
Next up for the Eddies is they travel to New York to take on the Cosmos. For United they host the Atlanta Silverbacks in week 6.
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