5 THINGS | What To Watch For In Fall Season Week 5
Ottawa Fury FC, a team with growing confidence, has not lost a game since May and takes its three-point lead and 10-game unbeaten streak to western Canada. New York, which went undefeated in winning the Spring Season title, is still searching for its first win of the Fall Season. Among the league’s three Florida teams, Tampa Bay has lost three straight, Fort Lauderdale is unbeaten in four and Jacksonville had a week off after beating the Cosmos to end a three-game losing streak.
Here are the five keys to keep an eye on this weekend.
1. Top-of-the-Table Clash In Canada: SMS Equipment Stadium in far off Fort McMurray, Alberta, will host on Sunday afternoon the all-Canadian battle between the top two teams in the Fall Season (so far) -- Ottawa Fury FC (4W-1D-0L, 13 points) and FC Edmonton (2-2-1, 8). Ottawa has won three straight matches at home and is unbeaten in its last 10 games. The Eddies dropped a game at home last weekend to visiting Atlanta, a disappointing return home after a three-game, 10-day road trip in which the club claimed five of a possible nine points. Lance Laing, who missed the past month while on national team duty with Jamaica during the Gold Cup, brings his six goals back to the club.
2. Ramirez On A Roll: Christian Ramirez, last year’s Golden Boot winner after scoring a league-leading 20 goals, is back on track. The Minnesota United striker has scored a goal in each of his past three games as the Loons (2-1-1, 7) have gone unbeaten in their last four league games. With the transfer of his buddy Miguel Ibarra to Club León of Mexico’s Liga MX, the spotlight is now firmly on the young striker (24) from California in Friday night’s match at Jacksonville (1-0-3, 3). The Armada FC were off last week after defeating the Cosmos, 1-0, on July 18 to end a three-game losing streak in which they failed to score a goal.
3. After Three Re-Up, Can Cosmos Move Up?: New York last week announced contract extensions for Danny Szetela, Hunter Freeman, and one of their international stars, Ayoze. Unbeaten in the Spring Season, the Cosmos are winless and in last place in the Fall Season Standings and now face a schedule of three games (two at home) over only seven days.
4. Crunch Time for Rowdies: Tampa Bay (1-0-3, 3) finished a point behind the Cosmos in the Spring Season, opened with a win in the Fall Season, but has now lost three straight league matches. Over the past couple of week, the Rowdies have called in reinforcements, first adding Freddy Adu and this week announcing the addition of the 6-foot-4 striker Omar Salgado on loan from Tigres of Mexico’s Liga MX. Like Adu, Salgado, who was born in Texas, spent time with the U.S. Under-20 team that was coached by Thomas Rongen. A difficult trip to Carolina awaits this weekend. The RailHawks (2-1-2, 7) have a four-game unbeaten streak at home.
5. Kronsteiner Puts Strikers on the Right Track: Günter Kronsteiner took Fort Lauderdale to last year’s league championship game, lost to San Antonio and then found himself out of a job and back in his native Europe. New owners (from Brazil) and new players (mostly from Brazil) opened the Spring Season with a loss to the visiting Cosmos and never seemed to recover, finishing in eighth place. Re-enter Kronsteiner, who was brought back to fan acclaim before the start of the Fall Season. Now, with largely the same roster but an old/new guy in charge, the Strikers (1-3-0, 4) are unbeaten in the Fall Season before traveling north to face New York on Sunday afternoon.
