NASL Sides Enter Fall Season With New Opportunity

Photo credit: Miami FC

As the Fall Season begins, it offers new opportunities to NASL clubs. One that can end in silverware and a berth into The Championship, the league’s four-team postseason format.

“It is a fresh start because the table starts at zero,” Miami FC midfielder Richie Ryan told NASL.com about the second of the split seasons. 

Ryan, 31, was a member of last year’s Ottawa Fury FC squad that overhauled its fortunes to claim the Fall Season trophy and make a run into The Championship Final.

Other teams and players around the league took notice last season and will know that a slow start in the Spring Season can be washed away with a strong Fall Season.

“We know it is doable,” Jacksonville Armada FC coach Tony Meola said. “We don’t talk about it much, but I know it’s been mentioned before and the guys are aware of it. In a lot of ways it lets you know there are opportunities.”

Miami, which finished the Spring Season in eleventh place, and Jacksonville, which ended just one place higher, both retooled their squads to better their chances at climbing up the table in the Fall Season. Two berths into The Championship are also awarded to the teams with a strong record in the Combined Standings (that didn’t win one of the season championships), stressing the importance of each game.

For Miami, in came Kwadwo Poku and Gabriel Farfán to add to the late Spring Season arrivals of Ryan and Michael Lahoud. Jacksonville added a pair of Swedes, Alexander Andersson and Nicklas Maripuu, and two loan signings, Karl Ouimette and Zach Steinberger.

To have a successful Fall Season, it’s imperative to get off to a fast start and to have strong team chemistry, noted Ryan. Miami can take plenty of positives from the way they finished the Spring Season, keeping a shutout in three of the club’s last four games.

“It’s important to keep clean sheets in this league,” Ryan said. “If you keep clean sheets you have a shot at winning games. We need to build on that.If we start winning games, we start building the confidence.”

For Meola, a first-year head coach, he’s taking a very simple approach.

“I hate clichés and everybody that knows me knows I hate clichés, but we have to take it one game at a time,” he said.

“The guys have worked really hard, we’ve pushed them really hard. Hopefully in the near future we can get the results that we think we can get.”