By TRAVIS CLARK
Two new teams played their first-ever matches, but it was second-year club Austin Aztex that emerged big winners as the USSF Division 2 kicked off over the weekend.
The Aztex, fresh off a maiden season in which they look every bit of an expansion team, opened up 2010 by defeating last season's champion the Montreal Impact by a 2-0 score in Austin. Goals came from Lawrence Olum and Jamie Watson stood up, as Austin 'keeper Miguel Gallardo earned his first shutout of the season.
Montreal's new signing Reda Agourram couldn't pull one back for the visitors, who struggled to cope with the small pitch. Montreal will hope to bounce back in the home opener up in Saputo Stadium on April 25 against the visiting Portland Timbers.
Here's a look at the rest of the action from the USSF Division 2's opening weekend:
CAROLINA BESTS A.C. ST. LOUIS
A season of high expectations officially got underway as the Carolina Railhawks took care of new club A.C. St. Louis, 2-0. New Railhawk signing Etienne Barbara's brace in the first half was all the stout Carolina defense needed, holding St. Louis scoreless through 90 minutes — though the visitors missed a glorious chance to pull one back in the 29th minute when John Lesko failed get his header on target. Eric Reed's solid performance in goal was enough to earn Carolina the clean sheet and three points.
MINNESOTA LOSES CRAYTON, GAME
Through the game's first half, Minnesota had successfully frustrated host Vancouver. Lacking that killer touch in the final third, the Whitecaps were given a unusual boost when Minnesota keeper Louis Crayton was stretched off near the half's end. His replacement, 34-year-old Joe Warren, was making his first professional appearance in four years.
The new keeper gave Vancouver a shot of confidence, as Warren struggled in the transition. Two second half goals from Luca Bellisomo and Marlon James earned a 2-0 win for the Whitecaps.
MIAMI, ROCHESTER TIE IN FLORIDA
New eras began for a new-look Rochester side and a re-tooled Miami FC. Christian Gomez made his second-division debut for Miami, but it was the Rhinos who took the lead when Tyler Roselund set up Ryan Heins for the game's first goal in the 21st minute. Needing a spark, the Blues sent on Paulo Araujo Jr., who paid dividends when he scored on a 47th minute corner kick. Abe Thompson came close to a late winner for Miami, but the two sides shared the points in a 1-1 draw.
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What did you think of the first week of USSF Division 2 action?
Share your thoughts below.
Going to see the Railhawks for the first time this season on Friday versus Minnesota…can’t wait. Carolina has a great soccer park and a loyal fan base. Would love to see them get an MLS team one day. Raleigh-Durham cracked the top 50 in US city population a few years ago, has fantastic infrastructure, and a stadium that has plenty of space and ability to be expanded to MLS-level capacity. As well, “soccer IQ” and interest is very high in this region, and I don’t think an MLS team would have any problem selling tickets.
I am more excited this year about Div.II soccer in the US than ever before. It just seems like soccer is shaping up huge for the future.
I know huh, It just seems more vogue to have a sponsor. funny!
How’d Gomez do?
The Austin game was fun. There were no jitters from the Aztex players this time as the Impact tried to score late in the game. Thanks for keeping Div 2 on the radar here!
funny how the USL/NASL team kits look so much less minor league than MLS kits. at the risk of sounding xenocentric pretentious here…i still cringe every time i see REVOLUTION in “stylish” font written across new england’s shirts. can’t we throw a Gillette logo on there or something? hehe
The stadium in Fenton looks a lot better than I expected, but tickets+parking cost more than some MLS games.
AC St. Louis is a joke. A player who forgot his ID and missed 30 minutes while the team played a man down, plus a coach who had to pay his way on to his last team.
Having a “professional” team in St. Louis is actually hurting our chances of getting into MLS.
Carolina – 2,013
Miami – 1,235
Vancouver – 4,934
Austin – 2,642
It looks like the NASL will be keeping track of those numbers here:
http://nasl.com/schedule/year/2010/time_zone/0
Or look at the photo above.
AMD, very nice. I should try google before I post.
Who’s the sponsor?
Speaking of the Aztex, there is an interesting article on Yanks Abroad chronicling the ups and downs of goalscorer Jamie Watson.
Any attendance numbers?
Very glad to be able to get SBI coverage of my Railhawks!
Good news: The Austin Aztex have kit sponsorship from two legitimate national companies, a partnership with a premier league club, and a manager with Colaship experience.
Bad news: The Austin Aztex are named the Austin Aztex
Hmmmm…NSC didn’t play Two-Boys, no wonder they lost! ;P
What’s not mentioned about the ACSTL-Carolina game, a quite patheitc fact, is that they STARTED the first 37 minutes with 10 men. Long story short, a foreign striker forgot his ID/passport at the hotel and had to go retrieve it.
As the lineup was already turned in, any replacement would have counted as a sub, so mastermind Claude Anelka (he who paid £300k or so to manage Raith Rovers) decided to start a game shorthanded, likely something that has rarely happened at any level of competitive soccer. Two goals were scored early and sealed the deal. We’ll see if Nic’s brother can keep up the mind boggling decisions, as it only took him one match to make his (skid)mark on this club.
Onwards and upwards though. First home game should be pretty exciting around here.
Haha. What Ives failed to mention is that one of the AC St. Louis midfielders who was on the starting lineup forgot his ID at the hotel and had to run back to get it. He missed the first 30 minutes. Oops lol. No idea why they didn’t just put in a sub!
After last season’s games against the Impact I was just hoping for a decent showing, so 2-0 was great.
Look forward to more USSF-2 coverage, thanks, Travis.
Good start for the Railhawks!
This should be an interesting year that will catch my eye as there are MLS auditions going on practically every week. The PAC NW should be soccer crazy this summer. Love it. Vancouver may enter MLS next year as the best team North of the border with zero MLS experience…that was low.