The New York Cosmos are slowly turning into Everton with their late goals allowed, as they allowed a 90th-minute goal to Minnesota United's Christian Ramirez, who has given United's most important win in their season. This is not the first time that the Cosmos have allowed a late goal, as they did so against Indy and Ottawa earlier on this season.
However, from the Minnesota perspective, this game will be remembered fondly for years to come, as Ramirez gave them a win against the biggest club in the NASL. Ramirez will be key to United's success this season and moving forward when MLS will grant them a place.
The main headline for this week, however, was even more attendance issues for the Strikers. An official attendance of 1,097. This is not a typo. There were reports of lightning in the South Florida area that affected Miami's attendance tonight, as most people left during the 90-minute lightning delay. I am fully convinced now that the Strikers must pull all money spent on marketing in Brazil and reinvest it into marketing for their area. I think it is highly unacceptable that 1,000 people show up for a professional soccer game in South Florida, and the Strikers (and Miami) need to figure out that formula quickly. Regional rivals Jacksonville and Tampa Bay have figured it out somewhat.
Here are the results from this week of NASL play:
Strikers 1-1 Armada (Strikers down to 10)
Tampa Bay 1-3 Carolina
Minnesota 1-0 Cosmos
Miami 2-3 OKC
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
NASL Week 1 Recap
The first week back with the NASL saw Rayo OKC sell out Miller Stadium, with an attendance of 6,416, and a local derby that showed all the signs of becoming a true derby. Here are the results from the games I selected to be features for this week:
Carolina and Minnesota were the curtain raiser at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC. They played to an announced attendance of 4,159, which I find to be incredibly generous given all the empty seats I saw on my ESPN3 feed. However, those people were treated to 2 world-class goals that I'd put down as Goal of the Year contenders. The first was a screamer from Christian Ramirez from about 20-30 yards out that was calmly placed into the net. The second great goal was from Tiyi Shipalane who chipped the ball past Sammy Nojock, the United goalkeeper. The game winner was scored by Austin da Luz. All 3 goals were scored in the first half.
Next up was the South Florida Derby between the Strikers and Miami, who played to an announced attendance of 2,129. More on that later. Those people saw an intense derby with a referee named Jose Carlos Rivero who was very inconsistent with his calls. He awarded a penalty to Miami FC that was absolutely perfectly taken by Dario Cvitanich, who placed it into the bottom corner out of the reach of the 6'5" Strikers keeper Bruno. While watching it live, I thought the penalty was undeserved and that the Miami player went down very easily. Jorge Luis Corrales was booked twice in that game, earning him a suspension and earning the Strikers a one-player advantage. However, their last-minute goal was not from the run of play, either. That was another penalty awarded (this time I did not think it was dubious), and the penalty was converted by Maicon Santos. The referee called a total of 44 fouls in that game, some of which were extremely dubious.
Before I get into the Cosmos game, let me address the Strikers attendance (or lack thereof) for a few minutes. Several Strikers fans who posted in the Reddit matchday thread have said that the Strikers did not put an ounce of effort into their local advertising, instead their focus is on their international marketin to Brazil and China. To me, that is inexcusable. How will you be able to afford all of these trips to those places when you can't even get 4000 to show up to your stadium? If those posters are to be believed, and I have no reason not to believe them, the Strikers are really dropping the ball on their local advertisement, virtually conceding their market to Miami FC without making an effort to reach out to their local community. That kind of approach in this league is unacceptable and wrong. I will be looking very closely at the Strikers' attendance over their home games throughout the first half of the season, and I will see if they improve. However, some blame must also be placed on Flight 19's shoulders for not getting the word out to their members and their friends that this is the biggest game of their season because this is their derby. I would expect an absolute sellout with lines demanding tickets for a derby, especially on opening day. Just a brief message for them: if your club is not putting any marketing dollars into South Florida, you have to pick up the slack somehow. Call people, make posters and hang them up in businesses around the city, have rallies on gamedays, etc.
Now, onto the Cosmos game. The Cosmos and Ottawa played to an announced attendance of 5,094. The Cosmos scored 3 past their Soccer Bowl opponents. Newcomer Juan Arango scored 2 past the Fury, while Adam Moffat came off the bench and scored the other one. That game was a beautiful display of what the Cosmos can bring, and even with all the problems with Hofstra and the lack of public ransit, they should be getting more than 5000, especially since they are the defending Soccer Bowl champions. Hopefully someone (hint, hint, Albany) makes a ruling on the Cosmos stadium proposal as soon as humanly possible and approves it so they can get out of that dump. The fact that it was a Sunday night game is no excuse for who is in my opinion the biggest club in American soccer.
The 2 games I did not choose to write features on (Indy-TB; Rayo-Edmonton) both finished 0-0. Indy and Tampa played to an announced attendance of 5,740 at Al Lang Stadium in Tampa, which isn't ideal, and Rayo sold out Miller Staium, with an announced attendance of 6,416.
Carolina and Minnesota were the curtain raiser at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC. They played to an announced attendance of 4,159, which I find to be incredibly generous given all the empty seats I saw on my ESPN3 feed. However, those people were treated to 2 world-class goals that I'd put down as Goal of the Year contenders. The first was a screamer from Christian Ramirez from about 20-30 yards out that was calmly placed into the net. The second great goal was from Tiyi Shipalane who chipped the ball past Sammy Nojock, the United goalkeeper. The game winner was scored by Austin da Luz. All 3 goals were scored in the first half.
Next up was the South Florida Derby between the Strikers and Miami, who played to an announced attendance of 2,129. More on that later. Those people saw an intense derby with a referee named Jose Carlos Rivero who was very inconsistent with his calls. He awarded a penalty to Miami FC that was absolutely perfectly taken by Dario Cvitanich, who placed it into the bottom corner out of the reach of the 6'5" Strikers keeper Bruno. While watching it live, I thought the penalty was undeserved and that the Miami player went down very easily. Jorge Luis Corrales was booked twice in that game, earning him a suspension and earning the Strikers a one-player advantage. However, their last-minute goal was not from the run of play, either. That was another penalty awarded (this time I did not think it was dubious), and the penalty was converted by Maicon Santos. The referee called a total of 44 fouls in that game, some of which were extremely dubious.
Before I get into the Cosmos game, let me address the Strikers attendance (or lack thereof) for a few minutes. Several Strikers fans who posted in the Reddit matchday thread have said that the Strikers did not put an ounce of effort into their local advertising, instead their focus is on their international marketin to Brazil and China. To me, that is inexcusable. How will you be able to afford all of these trips to those places when you can't even get 4000 to show up to your stadium? If those posters are to be believed, and I have no reason not to believe them, the Strikers are really dropping the ball on their local advertisement, virtually conceding their market to Miami FC without making an effort to reach out to their local community. That kind of approach in this league is unacceptable and wrong. I will be looking very closely at the Strikers' attendance over their home games throughout the first half of the season, and I will see if they improve. However, some blame must also be placed on Flight 19's shoulders for not getting the word out to their members and their friends that this is the biggest game of their season because this is their derby. I would expect an absolute sellout with lines demanding tickets for a derby, especially on opening day. Just a brief message for them: if your club is not putting any marketing dollars into South Florida, you have to pick up the slack somehow. Call people, make posters and hang them up in businesses around the city, have rallies on gamedays, etc.
Now, onto the Cosmos game. The Cosmos and Ottawa played to an announced attendance of 5,094. The Cosmos scored 3 past their Soccer Bowl opponents. Newcomer Juan Arango scored 2 past the Fury, while Adam Moffat came off the bench and scored the other one. That game was a beautiful display of what the Cosmos can bring, and even with all the problems with Hofstra and the lack of public ransit, they should be getting more than 5000, especially since they are the defending Soccer Bowl champions. Hopefully someone (hint, hint, Albany) makes a ruling on the Cosmos stadium proposal as soon as humanly possible and approves it so they can get out of that dump. The fact that it was a Sunday night game is no excuse for who is in my opinion the biggest club in American soccer.
The 2 games I did not choose to write features on (Indy-TB; Rayo-Edmonton) both finished 0-0. Indy and Tampa played to an announced attendance of 5,740 at Al Lang Stadium in Tampa, which isn't ideal, and Rayo sold out Miller Staium, with an announced attendance of 6,416.
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