Well, that was a schizophrenic weekend, wasn't it, Charleston? As a Battery fan, I'm left a bit numb after the demolition at Paetec. It's hard as a fan to re-focus on the positives of a surprising 90th minute win in Montreal. At the beginning of the weekend, it would have to be said that getting 3 points for the boys from the Baud on this road trip would be quite a success indeed. However, shipping 5 goals to an increasingly formidable, dare I say, dominant Rochester team is no way to limp home.
Saturday saw the only two matches of the day end in draws, 1-1 in Minnesota as Miami paid a visit, and 0-0 between Atlanta and California. The Victory appeared to tough out winning the point on the road to keep themselves on life-support in the League while the Apes continue to slip. Any reasonable Atlanta fan would have to say they needed to get three points off the visitors in this match but were disappointed with only one to show at the end of the day.
In the land of the dark clouds, there was little lightning to go with the Thunder (and Miami) as the two combined for just two goals on 30 total shots. Looks like both teams need some target practice. Still, a draw seems a logical result considering these two feel like they've been playing each other once a week for the last couple of months. I'm looking at the schedule now in a bit of disbelief at the fact that this was only their second meeting. It really feels like we've been talking about them playing often. Maybe the southern heat's getting to me down here.
Seattle rounded out the week's action by winning at Carolina, 1-0, in the FSC game on Friday. How many of you were surprised that Sebastian LeToux was the scorer for the Sounders? Yeah, that's what I thought. He's quickly climbing up my MVP ballot at this rate. Still, you had to feel for the Railhawks as it seemed that they'd be able to get something out of this one late in the proceedings.
After the action, our top 5 in the standings are Rochester, Vancouver, Seattle, Montreal and Charleston, in that order. However, Seattle and Rochester, beware the games in hand! Charleston, Montreal and Vancouver all have at least 2 games each in hand on the Rhinos and Sounders. I'll tell you who I like in that department, though, Portland. The Timbers have only played 8 matches to the Rhinos 14, are letting in less than a goal per, and are nearly averaging 1.5 for each time they take the field. This team is looking dangerous and could take advantage if the slide in form by both the Whitecaps and Impact continues and the Rhinos and Sounders cool off some. The Battery, my Battery, look too inconsistent right now to sustain any long-term challenge but that's why we play the games.
Speaking of the games, the Timbers can take things into their own hands tonight against Montreal. A win in this game will boost them past both the Impact and Battery into 4th, however, they won't play again until next Thursday when they travel to Kezar to play the Victory. I would blame this kind of schedule on the baseball team that cohabitates PGE but looking over their schedule that doesn't seem to be the culprit. At any rate, if they can win tonight it will give them momentum heading into the California game.
Montreal, on the other hand, will want to reverse things which they can finally begin to do on their most significant road swing in some time. After facing the Timbers they'll travel up I-5 to face Seattle. These two games featuring the Impact could be the tightest and most tense affairs of the weekend. The Sounders are in great form right now, especially LeToux, and Montreal might be getting a little desperate. If they lose tonight in Portland, this one will take on a lot more importance for the Canadian club.
A couple of other teams getting back into the swing of things after being off last week are Puerto Rico and Vancouver. In fact, the 'Caps will make the longest road trip of the year this weekend to face both the Islanders and Miami FC. We'll just gloss right over the fact that back in Week 1 I would have called this as a championship game preview and glide right into calling this a nice test of Vancouver's resilience on Sunday evening after their game with Miami tomorrow night. Both, La Futbol Club and los Islenos will want to take 3 points from one of the League favorites to get their own boost in the standings but there's no doubt Bob Lilley wants to get no less than 6 points to show Rochester they mean business.
Who do the Rhinos face while this is going on? California's visiting the Paetec house of pain in a match that no doubt will feature many odd shouts out of Laurie Calloway and, what I expect to be, three points to the home team. Rochester look to be hitting their stride right now but it remains to be seen how long they can keep this going. It's all well and good to be the best team in June but most everyone around the League would rather have that distinction in September. Bear in mind, though, that the Victory seems to come alive when people count them out but for now I just can't see the upset happening. The plucky Victory will stop by Minneapolis on their way back to the Left Coast, as well.
The biggest of matches, the hardest of the hard to predict, the best of the be… okay, maybe not all of that but this weekend does mark two huge matches for the Southern Derby. First up is the FSC game of the week as Atlanta head to Fort Blackbaud to take on Charleston. The Battery will hope to play like they did in Montreal whereas the Silverbacks will do their best Rhino impression to try and put as many as possible past stalwart goalkeeper, Dusty Hudock. Then, in what is undoubtedly some sort of evil Railhawk plot, the Battery will travel to Cary less than 24 hours after what should be a draining affair in the swampy Southern heat. With that in mind, if Carolina don't wind up with a commanding haul of 6 points from two Derby matches after this weekend they'll have left the door wide open for both Atlanta and Charleston.
With all of this going on over the weekend it'll be hard to focus on much else but keep in mind, FSC's going to be tracking the US Men in the Gold Cup and then in the middle of next week it's the Third Round of the US Open Cup. Some of the matches I'm really looking forward to there are:
Richmond v. Cleveland - two USL2 titans go at each other for the right to play an MLS club.
Carolina v. Bavarian SC - last USASA team standing against USL1 expansion club, good times
Atlanta v. Charlotte - more almost Southern Derby action for the 'Backs. I actually like the Eagles in this one, probably for no real good reason.
Seattle v. Portland - a Cascadia derby match in the Open Cup? Yes, please!
Along with these games, there's Harrisburg (USL2) v. Ocean City (PDL), Rochester v. Western Mass (USL2), Charleston v. El Paso (PDL), and Minnesota v. California… again! It should be noted that El Paso looks pretty good, too, so don't be too surprised next week if they should sneak through. At any rate, as always, tune in to FSC, logon to usllive.com, and get out to the park this weekend. It's shaping up to be a good one.
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