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BEFORE THE WHISTLE | The Race To The Championship Is On

Three points separate FC Edmonton, New York and Indy at the top of the Fall Season Standings, with Minnesota and Miami FC lurking menacingly
Jack Bell (@JackBell} | Aug 26, 2016

Photo credit: Tony Lewis/FC Edmonton

FC Edmonton, the New York Cosmos, and Indy Eleven are setting the pace atop the Fall Season Standings, but the race is far from over for the title.  

Here are some of the key storylines to watch for as Week 9 of the Fall Season continues:

Two RailHawks On Parallel Tracks: Carolina (3W-3D-3L, 12 points) got back in the win column last week after a five-game streak without a victory and the dangerous tandem of Matt Fondy and Mexican star Omar Bravo presents a tantalizing two-pronged threat to New York (6-2-2, 20) at Shuart Stadium on Saturday night. Fondy, the USL Golden Boot winner last year, and Bravo, a El Tri veteran, have each scored four goals since Bravo’s North American Soccer League debut in late July.

Nesta’s Men Are Hot And Back Home: Alessandro Nesta and Miami FC (4-3-2, 15) pocketed four points from their two-game road trip to Oklahoma and Ottawa and, with a game in hand, are poised to continue their march up the standings. Revamped Miami FC has lost only once in its last seven games, picking up ground and 14 points as Ariel Martínez has come alive, supported by the likes of Kwadwo Poku, Gabriel Farfan, and the impressive play of Calvin Rezende. Minnesota (4-3-3, 15) visits Ocean Bank Field hell-bent on avenging a 4-0 loss in their last meeting.

Eddies Look To Keep Streak Going: A few weeks ago, first-place FC Edmonton (7-1-1, 22) visited the Caribbean and on Sunday afternoon Puerto Rico FC (1-4-5, 7 Fall) heads to Clarke Field. Edmonton has won nine straight at home, powered by goalkeeper Matt VanOekel and the league’s stingiest defense (three goals against). But after the game, the Eddies will bid good luck and farewell to its pair of Canadian internationals – Nik Ledgerwood who is headed to World Cup qualifiers and youngster Shamit Shome who will join the U-20 team for a series of games. Carmelo Anthony’s club is winless in its last five and winless on the road, though striker Héctor Ramos (seven goals) continues to befuddle opposition defenses.

For The Cosmos, Home Is Where The Points Are: New York plays four of its next five games at home and will need to continue its unbeaten run at Shuart Stadium this year if it hopes to make the postseason and defend its NASL title. The Cosmos close out the Fall Season with five of their final seven matches on the road, where the club has a 3-1-6 record in 2016. New York has notched consecutive wins on late goals, by David Diosa against Tampa Bay and from Salvadoran international Andrés Flores last week at Puerto Rico. Adam Moffat has scored three times over the past three games, but the Cosmos will need Juan Arango to break out of his three-game scoring drought. The return from loan of Jimmy Mulligan has given Giovanni Savarese another option at the back and the shift of Hunter Freeman to central defense has appeared to stanch the flow of late-game goals by the opposition.

Indy Eleven Still Seeing Double: The Spring Season Champion has designs on becoming the first NASL club to do the double and finish first in the Spring and Fall. But Indy Eleven (6-1-3, 19 Fall) stumbled against the RailHawks last week and fell victim to a late goal, a turnabout of sorts since the Eleven are in the habit of punishing opponents in the waning moments of games. Eamon Zayed scored his 12th goal of the year last week to keep pace with Christian Ramirez in the race for the Golden Boot and defender Greg Janicki continued to confound when he scored his fourth. Ottawa Fury FC (3-1-6, 10 points) has been riddled with injuries, but managed to take a point on Wednesday against Miami FC with its leading scorer, Carl Haworth, sidelined.

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