Photo via Fort Lauderdale Strikers
After a seismic shift in the Fort Lauderdale Strikers roster, both on and off the field, which has seen several familiar faces leave, along with numerous new ones entering the fray, the South Florida club is set to kickstart its 2015 campaign with a bang, and try to clinch that Soccer Bowl title that it so narrowly missed out on last year.
With a new ownership group and a strong finish last year under head coach Gunter Kronsteiner, the Strikers are looking to build on last season’s performance, despite the dramatic roster change.
The club’s top scorer Mark Anderson will undoubtedly be sorely missed, along with talents such as Darnell King, Fafa Picault and Martin Nunez, and new head coach Marcelo Neveleff will be relying on the new incoming talent to gel together and to take the team forward in 2015.
Three young Brazilian loan signings from top-flight clubs Fluminese and Corinthians, as well as a former Brazil international, Leo Moura have signed for the Strikers, as the club looks to its new South American talent to give its NASL title challenge a boost.
Head coach Marcelo Neveleff’s side was unlucky to miss out on the NASL Championship last season, after suffering a narrow defeat to the San Antonio Scorpions in the final, just as they had in 2011 at the hands of the NSC Minnesota Stars.
However, a a new look squad and an impressive pre-season campaign has given the Fort Lauderdale Strikers a breath of fresh air and a run of confidence heading into the new season, and a stern test against the New York Cosmos awaits them on the opening day.
Here is a closer look at the 2015 Fort Lauderdale Strikers:
FORT LAUDERDALE STRIKERS SEASON PREVIEW
2014 FINISH: Overall – (11-7-9), 40 points (4th in combined standings); Spring Season – 4-1-4, 15 points (5th in Spring Season); Fall Season – 7-6-5, 27 points (4th in Fall Season).
KEY ACQUISITIONS: Leo Moura, Marlon Freitas, Stefano Pinho, and Victor “PC” Pagliari Giro, Stephane Guillame, Fabian Kling, Jordan Graye, Jose Angulo, Frankie Sanfilippo, Evans Frimpong, Dani Sanchez, Ryan Adeyele, Karsten Smith, Joe Nasco, Walter Ramirez, Jonathan Borrajo.
KEY LOSSES: Mark Anderson, Stefano, Justin Chavez, Marius Ebbers, Rafael Alves, Darnell King, Martin Nunez, Wellington Pecka, Fafa Picaut, Stefan Antonijevic, Kamil Contofalsky.
NEWCOMER TO WATCH: Leo Moura. The ex-Flamengo player comes with a litany of honors in his home country, and has earned a cap for the Brazilian national team at his peak. Moura has been handed the captaincy by the club, such is his level of ability and experience. The 36-year-old has spent ten years with Flamengo, winning nine titles and served as the Rio de Janeiro club’s captain from 2010. A talented right back for most of his career in Brazil, however Moura is expected to slot into the center of midfield or on the right wing for the Strikers.
PRESSURE IS ON: The task at Marcelo Neveleff’s hands is to ensure that the Strikers progress this season, and not fall anywhere short of the playoffs. However, that objective will be incredibly tough with a dramatic offseason, which sees an almost completely new roster at Fort Lauderdale.
OUTLOOK
It’s difficult to predict how the season will play out for the Strikers with such a shift in the club’s backroom and playing staff. Although the departure of attacking talents Mark Anderson, Martin Nunez and Fafa Picault may hurt, the team has definitely acquired some added guile up front with a host of new talent, both young and experienced.
Marcelo Neveleff’s side will be pushing for a fourth place finish or higher in the regular season, and aiming to clinch the NASL Championship for the first time if they make the playoffs, having lost in two recent finals. That is the ultimate goal for the Argentine head coach.
“Seventy percent of the players are new so we’re trying to build a new team and we’re trying to play another style. I don’t like to compare last year with this year, but what I know is that this year we are working really, really hard and hopefully now we will start with three points,” Neveleff told SBI.
A squad with such an influx of players in its roster usually takes time to gel, and time will tell how the team fares after their opening game with the New York Cosmos, but after an impressive pre-season with four wins from six matches, four clean sheets and just two goals conceded, the Strikers are ready to start the season with a bang.
“These seven weeks have been a great seven weeks of work. Everybody enjoyed, everybody competed,” said the new head coach.
“I think it’s a combination of both (time and patience) and me as a coach, doing my job of bringing the players together, and trying to find the right combination on and off the field. Time and work together will help us gel always, and obviously when you get results that helps even better.”
In Victor “PC” Pagliari Giro, Marlon Freitas and Stefano Pinho, the Strikers have a trio of bright young Brazilian talent on loan who will feature for the entire 2015 season,and the head coach is excited to see them hit the ground running, and linking up with the key players from last year.
“They look pretty sharp. They will be a big part of the squad. All three of them have a lot of technical quality and the desire to win games, and compete which is going to make us even better,” he added.
“Also Aly Hassan, he was here last year, and Ivan Guerrero. Guerrero, he’s a real veteran and he trains like an 18-year-old boy, and he leads by example.”
Aly Alberto Hassan, one of the key returning players for the Strikers has particularly impressed the new head coach in pre-season, and the forward is hoping to add to his goalscoring tally from last year.
“Personally, I just want to score goals. That’s my job – to score goals and win games,” Hassan told SBI. “As a team, we’re looking to make it back to the finals and win it this year. Last year we made it to the finals and went on a great run, and we’re not looking at doing anything less than that. We want to make it there again and win it this time.
“It definitely hurts that we lost some of the key players from last year but I think that this year’s squad is very good. I think we’ve progressed. We have a lot more depth and a lot of quality players. It’s going to be a good year.”
The Strikers star signing, Leo Moura, will be looked to for guidance and leadership on the pitch with his wealth of experience in the Brazlian top flight and has been handed the captain’s armband upon his arrival.
“He’s the most mature guy,” said Neveleff. “He has a lot of experience and hopefully he can be our leader both on and off the field. But on the field especially, he can pass the ball and dictate the tempo of the game.
“He’s a very good right back. I’m trying to find the best position for him – the best position where he can really help the team. Right now we used him as a right back in practices, and I guess number seven on the wing, that’s where I feel he is very comfortable and I can see him helping big time.”
“Definitely his presence makes a difference. He’s a great player and a great person on top of that,” added Hassan. “He’s a good leader in the locker room and on the field, and it’s someone that we all have to look up to, and he’s there for us to give us advice and help us through the season.”
“We want to play the ball out of the back with the ball on the ground, be really really aggressive, a lot of pressing really high and trying to keep the ball away from our goal. Hopefully people will see a really aggressive Strikers team,” said Neveleff.
Strikers supporters will be excited to hear Marcelo Neveleff’s plans to inject an attacking style of play and aggressive pressing philosophy into the squad, but whether he can achieve the same results or better than last year will be the biggest challenge of his inaugural season.
“I expect the team to be fighting for the top spot of the standings, but like I told the players we need to go a game at a time and see where that leads us.The first objective for us is to get three points this Saturday against New York Cosmos, which I feel are a great team in this league.
The New York Cosmos, who have added Real Madrid and Spanish legend Raul to their roster, travel to Lockhart Stadium on Saturday to take on the new look Strikers squad, but Aly is confident in his side’s ability and is aiming to start the season with a home win.
“I’m not so worried about them, it’s more about us. As long as we do our part, I think we’ll be fine,” said Hassan. “So it’s just a matter of us doing what we’ve been training for these last few weeks, and implementing what Coach Neveleff has been coaching in pre-season into this first game, and hopefully we get a result.
“He (Raul) is someone that you always look up to, but at the end of the day we’re all in it for the same thing – to play and to win games. It’s going to be nice to say that I stepped on the same field as him but once that whistle blows, he’s not someone that I’m going to be too fond of because he’s on the other team.”
“I do have big expectations,” added Neveleff. “As of right now, the new owners came and they asked me to help out with the coaching. We did agree on doing it, but right now with all these things going on we don’t have time to sit down and discuss the long-term.”