We saw a large slate of matches played over the last weekend with their fair share of ups and downs. Some clubs had worse weekends than they would've hoped after a decent enough start to their season, while other clubs kept up some of their momentum that appears to be building over each successful weekend.
Two clubs that have been seen going in equal and opposite directions squared off against one another over the last weekend for the Willie Bee trophy as Atlanta played Nashville in back to back games. The initial match saw Nashville run out 2-1 winners at Ezell Park thanks to the stunning ability of giving the 'Backs the Fenger not once but twice. Sadly enough there was no magic left for the Wizard of Ig in the return leg as the Apes fell to the boys from the Music City 3-1.
This weekend holds its own challenge for the Atlanta side as they're away at Richmond. Richmond, coming off a disappointing draw with Long Island last weekend, will surely be looking to correct that against Atlanta on Saturday night. Their friends, the Metros, will be squaring off with the Charleston Battery, who was also undefeated on the weekend, for the early season lead in their division.
The Battery soundly defeated the Wilmington Hammerheads in Open Cup qualifying on back to back nights to put them quite near the driver's seat for their Open Cup group. A pair of 2-0 wins did the trick for them while Charlotte kept hope alive by taking two from former D3 rival Carolina. The Dynamo were hardly that in getting beaten 2-1 and 3-1 with Caleb Norkus getting his first two goals of the season in the second match. The Eagles will have to wait a week, though, before they try to build on any momentum they may have gained as they are off this week.
Speaking of surprising results Connecticut have been able to maintain their surprise start to this season by defeating Boston and Rhode Island in more Open Cup qualifying matches. Their regular season truly starts this weekend, though, as they'll get the chance to take on two-thirds of the Canadian contingent as they meet Montreal on Sunday and have a rare Tuesday meeting with Toronto. The Wolves will also have a load off their minds heading into these matches because they've already locked up qualification into the next round of the U.S. Open Cup.
The Canadian clubs that will be the opposition for the Wolves this weekend just so happened to match up against each other last weekend with the Lynx using home ice… I mean home field advantage to defeat the Impact 1-0. Grzetic was the only scorer in this match and he'll take his scoring touch and five consonants out of seven possible letters for a triple word score when the Lynx take on Rochester at home this weekend. The highlight for this one could very well be in the stands where the Lynx supporters will be as much of the show as their beloved team.
Rochester was able to finally gain what appears to be a reasonable result when they pasted D3 New Hampshire for a 4-0 victory at home last weekend. Before they face the Lynx on Sunday, though, they'll have yet another U.S. Open Cup qualifier against Western Massachusetts. Look for several starters to sit out this one while the reserves look to pull out a win against the Pioneers. At this point it seems that the Rhinos may want Sunday's points more than Saturday's.
Aside from facing the newly rejuvenated Wolves, the Impact will also be taking a shot at the Pittsburgh Riverhounds who have also been fairly surprising considering the circumstances from their pre-season. The Riverhounds will look to steal some points against the Impact who have performed beneath expectations of late before they meet up once again with Pennsylvania rivals Hershey. The Hounds finished off Northern Virginia 3-1 but drew 1-1 with the Cats in Open Cup play over the weekend. The Wildcats and Riverhounds will finish their business with each other after their draw last weekend.
Cincinnati and Indiana played against each other in a match involving two clubs who could both be on a substantial rise from last season. Then again the Riverhawks could be just as bad as last season. The 'Hawks have had a very tough time collecting points of late but have shown an ability to be tough at home. Witness their victory over the Thunder at home a few matchdays ago. Unfortunately for them, though, they had to go to Indiana where the Blast has been equally tough. Rodrigo Costa continues to prove his worth by scoring against the Hawks in the 3-2 Blast victory.
This weekend both clubs will face off against Milwaukee, not at the same time, even though that might give them a slightly better chance of winning. On Saturday Milwaukee will visit the Blast while Cincinnati get the trick played on them that was played on Indiana earlier this season and visit Minnesota. The following day the 'Hawks have agreed to meet the Rampage at their home field and graciously accept their likely defeat. Then again the Rampage has hardly been on one so it wouldn't be all that surprising should Cincinnati sneak out a win.
Milwaukee will finally be returning home Sunday after playing three consecutive matches away from the friendly, if not sparsely populated, environs of Franklin Park. The Rampage went on a Western swing through the Pacific Northwest as they visited Vancouver and Seattle. They got a split on their trip by defeating the Whitecaps at Swangard while dropping a 1-0 match to the Sounders on the carpet. Milwaukee gets to gear up for the next weekend of action by facing their nemesis the Minnesota Thunder on Wednesday.
Seattle and Vancouver both have some interesting matchups ahead of them this weekend as the Whitecaps get a visit from El Paso and Seattle spend their weekend in Open Cup play against Utah and Northern Nevada. Vancouver should have a nice tussle on their hands when they meet up with Carlos "Money" Farias and his Patriot mates. Meanwhile, the Sounders will look to secure their spot in the Open Cup with wins against the always tough Blitzz and the always re-shuffling Aces.
Northern Nevada will hope to pull off an upset after dropping both of their road games against their A-League opposition for an Open Cup spot. They dropped their first road match on the bouncy green stuff 3-0 to the Sounders and went to Portland and got shell-shocked while only losing 1-0. The one goal was not indicative of the onslaught the Aces goalkeeper held up under. The more telling stat was 30-7, which would be the shots in favor of the Timbers.
El Paso will also play an Open Cup match in the upcoming schedule, as they'll face the Tucson Fireballs at the friendly confines of Socorro. They'll look to be a bit more successful this week than last after falling to Portland 2-1 on Wednesday and losing two points to the Thunder at home last Saturday. The Patriots need to grab another win before their early season momentum slips away.
Minnesota, while lucky to gain a draw with El Paso last Saturday, lost out 2-1 to San Diego the night before. While it was a bit of a tough visit to the West Coast it may be one that proves a turning point for the team. They gained a draw against a tough El Paso team and narrowly lost to San Diego who now appear to be much, much stronger than expected.
After defeating the Patriots on Wednesday the Timbers will look forward to Saturday's match against Western Conference foe San Diego as they prepare for the bulk of the A-League regular season. A team that has continued to sign top quality, high priced talent will look to gel as the season continues to roll on. This could turn out to be a marquee match with the shocking success of the San Diego club going up against the Timbers who have yet to quite live up to all of their expectations.
In other action last week the Long Island Rough Riders played against the Richmond Kickers. The two clubs played off in a match of favorites for their group's Open Cup berth yet could only manage to score… well, they didn't actually score but let's pretend they did. Ah, much better now. Okay the two clubs played to a 0-0 draw that saw both teams squander their opportunities to pull clear of one another. They both head into this weekend with interesting matches ahead of them.
Richmond have proven that no one should really know what to make of them much like their opponents this weekend. Those opponents? They're none other than the anomaly known as the Atlanta Silverbacks. The 'Backs are hoping that Iggy Moleka gets some of his magic back and the Kickers are hoping to figure out just what kind of attacking options they have. Henderson and Jeffrey have cooled considerably but will be looking to re-ignite the Kickers attack. On the other side of the weekend Richmond will take on Indiana next Thursday.
Long Island gets yet another Open Cup match for their efforts when they play the New Jersey Stallions. The Stallions will be hoping to pull of an upset as they may not be capable of taking the top spot in their group but they certainly can help to ruin the Riders chances. Overall, it's going to be a quite bumpy and drawn out week of action for the A-League so buckle up and enjoy what surely could be a rough ride through the games.
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