Only One Spot In The Championship Remains As Eddies Punch Their Ticket
Five clubs are within three points of each other in race for final spot in postseason
Soccer in America is rapidly filling the sports pages of newspapers all across the country and the NASL is capturing its share of attention as the countdown to the Championship is on.
The news this week is that Canadian youth international Ben Fisk scored the second goal of his North American Soccer League (NASL) career to give his team, the FC Edmonton, a slim 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rowdies earlier this evening, earning the club a postseason berth for the first time since 2011.
Here is the news from the NASL press statement made available Sunday evening:
With three spots claimed after play in Week 15 of the NASL Fall Season — by Indy Eleven, the New York Cosmos and the Eddies — five teams are within three points of each other in the scramble for the final berth into The Championship, the league’s four-team postseason tournament.
The Rowdies’ loss leaves them in a fifth-place tie, on points, with Carolina, and just one point behind Minnesota United, which currently holds the all-important fourth position. The Loons played earned their second consecutive draw, picking up a point at Puerto Rico FC on Saturday night. Carolina, in a 3-0 win over Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, and Rayo OKC, in a 1-0 victory at Miami FC on Saturday, each took maximum points as the standings tightened ahead of the final three weeks of the Fall Season.
The Cosmos came back to score a late goal in a 1-1 draw at Ottawa Fury FC. New York now leads the Fall Season table by five points and the Combined Standings by six over FC Edmonton.
FC Edmonton 1, Tampa Bay Rowdies 0
On a snowy day in Alberta, FC Edmonton defeated a team from the Sunshine State, the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Clarke Stadium on Sunday. With the win, the picked up ground on the first-place Cosmos in the Fall Season title race.
FC Edmonton (9W-6D-3L, 33 Fall; 14-8-6, 50 Combined) took a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute. Dustin Corea curved a cross from the left into the Tampa Bay (5-6-7, 21 Fall; 9-10-9, 37 Combined) penalty area where it was met by Ben Fisk’s powerful, glancing header. The ball sailed past Matt Pickens and Fisk had his second NASL goal.
Tampa Bay traveled to western Canada on Thursday, leaving Florida before the state’s encounter with Hurricane Matthew.
New York Cosmos 1, Ottawa Fury FC 1
Ottawa Fury FC grabbed the lead early in the second half and controlled the tempo throughout the game, but the first-place New York Cosmos fought back to take a point on the road in 1-1 draw at TD Place on Sunday.
Ottawa (5-6-8, 21 points Fall; 7-9-13, 30 Combined) had the better scoring opportunities in the first half and its efforts were rewarded in the 54th minute. A bad clearance by New York (11-5-3, 38 Fall; 17-5-7, 56 Combined) goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer led to Ryan Williams dispossessing Ruben Bover and walking in alone to score.
The Cosmos pressed for the equalizer and finally broke through in the 79th minute. Andrés Flores crossed from the right side to Adam Moffat. Moffat fanned on his attempted shot, but recovered and headed the ball back into the middle where Juan Arango went high for a snap header that he buried into the upper 90. It was Arango’s team-leading 12th goal of the year.
Fury FC was the last team to defeat the host Cosmos at Shuart Stadium, back in September 2015. The Cosmos played Sunday’s match without defender Ayoze, who was suspended, while Lucky Mkosana was not available. Two New York players — Carlos Mendes and Sebastián Guenzatti — were forced from the game because of injuries.
Carolina RailHawks 3, Fort Lauderdale Strikers 0
The Carolina RailHawks scored two first-half goals and went on to defeat the Fort Lauderdale Strikers at WakeMed Soccer Park on Sunday afternoon in a game rescheduled from Saturday because of Hurricane Matthew.
With the win, the RailHawks stay in the hunt for a berth into The Championship, the NASL’s four-game postseason tournament. The Strikers’ postseason prospects took another hit with the team’s fourth straight defeat.
Carolina (6-5-7, 23 points Fall; 10-7-11, 37 Combined) nearly broke on top only six minutes into the game when Matt Fondy ran onto a through ball from Steven Miller and hit a low shot from 10 yards out that hit the near post and bounced away. In the 24th minute, Maicon Santos of Fort Lauderdale (4-5-9, 17 Fall; 8-8-12, 32 Combined) powered a shot from 30 yards that RailHawks’ goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre could only parry for a corner. Sylvestre faced seven shots and made all seven saves in his fifth shutout of the year.
Carolina took the lead a minute later. Fondy’s cross from the right was headed past Bruno in the Strikers’ goal by Austin da Luz, his fifth goal of the year. The RailHawks scored again minutes before halftime courtesy of a heads-up play by Nazmi Albadawi. He caught the Strikers trying to set up a wall and scooped the ball high in a quick restart from a free kick.
The pass found the unmarked Brian Shriver, who chested the ball, turned and smacked a left-footed volley past a stunned Bruno. With his 10th assist of the year, Albadawi set a single-season record in NASL Modern Era.
Matt Watson iced the three points when he smashed a long shot from over 30 yards out eight minutes from the final whistle.
Rayo OKC 1, Miami FC 0
After four consecutive draws, Rayo OKC scored an impressive win over Miami FC at Ocean Bank Field on Saturday and shook up the postseason race. A victory would have vaulted Miami FC into sole possession of fourth place in the Combined Standings, but the club now is only one point ahead of Rayo OKC — one of the hottest teams in the NASL as the Fall Season winds down and The Championship nears.
Rayo OKC (5-8-5, 23 Fall; 8-11-9, 35 Combined) took a 1-0 midway through the second half when Michel converted a penalty kick, his 11th goal of the year. Rhett Bernstein of Miami FC (8-5-5, 29 points Fall; 9-9-10, 36 Combined) was whistled for handling the ball in the penalty area. Michels’ spot kick beat Miami FC goalkeeper Daniel Vega low to the near post.
Devon Sandoval had the best chance in the early going when he took a lead pass and walked in alone on Vega, who parried Sandoval’s shot to Billy Forbes, who put his rebound wide in the 14th minute.
Bernstein nearly put Miami FC into the lead near the half-hour mark when his header from a free kick was powered wide of the far post.
Vega came up big again just before the end of the first half. Michel floated a free kick into the area and Futty Danso’s strong header was parried away by the Miami FC goalkeeper.
Puerto Rico FC 0, Minnesota United 0
The good news for Minnesota United is that it did not lose on a two-game road trip to Florida and Puerto Rico. The bad news — the Loons did not win either — playing to a scoreless draw against Puerto Rico FC at Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium on Saturday.
Minnesota (5-7-7, 22 Fall; 10-8-11, 38 Combined), which has not won a game in more than a month, took only two of a possible six points on the two-game road swing but finished the night alone in fourth place in the Combined Standings. Minnesota remains without a win on the road in the Fall Season. The three-game winning streak of Puerto Rico (4-9-6, 21 Fall) came to an end but the club has not lost in seven games.
Puerto Rico’s Sidney Rivera had a golden chance at the 70-minute mark, taking a pass from Paulo Mendes and unleashing a left-footed shot from the top of the area that was expertly blocked by the Loons’ Kevin Venegas. Just two minutes later, Michael Kafari probably should have put the hosts ahead, but the Ghanaian midfielder’s breakaway opportunity ended in disappointment with a harmless shot rolling into the hands of Loons goalkeeper Sammy Ndjock.
Late efforts by Minnesota — a free kick by Venegas, a hard shot from Ibson, and a Venegas blast from distance — all were close but ultimately off target.
Puerto Rico was missing three regular starters who were away on national team duty, while Christian Ramirez, the league’s leading goal scorer with 16, missed the match as he recovers from a high ankle sprain.
