NSC Stars Win Season Opener; Takada Scores First-Ever Goal in New North American Soccer League
NSC Stars head coach Manny Lagos was happy with the result but not happy with his team’s performance in a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Silverbacks on Saturday evening. The game was the first for the Silverbacks in over two years since they have been on hiatus since the 2008 season. Lagos explained that sometimes teams don’t have good games. Then it becomes all about managing that game, keeping the score close and taking your opportunities, which is exactly what the Stars did Saturday evening.
“At times we were disappointed with our possession, particularly in the first half,” said Lagos after the game. ” I thought in the second half we came out with much more energy and played better until we scored and then we dropped down again. They had some really good young players and really came at us. We didn’t have the tempo of the game and they did which made it even harder on us. But we managed, not playing the best that we could and we were [still] in it in the end. We got the three points.”
The Stars kicked off their season at Atlanta Silverbacks Park in front of 3, 543 fans. The pace of the game was good but the young players that Atlanta put together in the span of a few short months played well as a team and often out-passed Minnesota in the midfield. The Stars lost possession far too often, particularly when moving into the attacking third.
The game remained a stalemate through the first half. Atlanta’s Matt Horth, who proved to be dangerous all game long, broke through the Minnesota defense in the 51st minute forcing Joe Warren into a reflex drop save. But Minnesota gained some momentum soon after and finally got their goal account started for the 2011 season in the 57th minute.
The Stars pressed the Silverbacks defense and Jeff Cosgriff spotted Kentaro Takada who had sprinted from his defensive midfield position after seeing space at the top right of the Atlanta goal. Cosgriff passed to Takada who took his chance well, pushed the ball forward and then blasted it past Silverbacks keeper Jimmy Maurer, putting the Stars up 1-0.
Kentaro Takada scored the first-ever goal in the NASL
The goal was not only the first of the game and season for the Stars, but was the first-ever goal in the new North American Soccer League as all games had remained scoreless up until Takada’s goal.
Minnesota’s lead didn’t last long as the momentum seemed to shift again with the Silverbacks pressing hard.
In the 64th minute Atlanta defender Mario Pérez sent a cross from the right into Minnesota’s box. The Stars defense showed some disorganization which was enough for Horth to find the ball and shoot from a sharp angle past Warren to even the score.
The score stayed even up and looked to be ending in a draw when Minnesota was fouled in the 90th minute. Andrei Gotsmanov took the kick from just outside the right side of the Silverbacks penalty box in added time. The kick had plenty of pace and curled to the left side of goal. Maurer jumped high and appeared to have the ball blocked but it slipped over his fingers and into the side netting, giving the Stars their first win of the season.
“I think our guys were really charging in there trying to make a difference, trying to get the goal,” explained Lagos. “I think it made their ‘keeper nervous. Andrei [Gotsmanov] put a little more pace on it then he had some of the other kicks and that was nice too because I think the ‘keeper was thrown off by that.”
“We’re happy with the points but it’s also disappointing because we just weren’t sharp enough. If we play like that often we certainly won’t be stepping off the field with 3 points.
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Wait…he wasn’t happy with the result, but he wasn’t happy with the way they played, either? There’s just no satisfying some people.
Better team won but better players lost, as it will take some time for Silverbacks to play as one.
Quite entertaining game and all three goals were nice.
Spectators should get their money worth and more in coming games.
So, to recap last night: the Silverback and Minnesota play very closely, with an injury time goal the decider.
Carolina and Puerto Rico play very closely, with an injury time decider.
Montreal and Tampa Bay play closely, with a late decider.
And Ft. Lauderdale and Edmonton play reasonably close, with the Edmonton goaltender making some big saves.
One of my worries going into the season was that there’d be a couple of walk-overs at the bottom of the table, making the playoffs a sure thing from the first week. While I guess that could still happen, last night’s results made me feel good about the compitition level of the league.
Ah, I think the Ft. Lauderdale keeper, Nic Platter, and the post made some big saves as well. Credit where its due.
IMS will have a weekend game review later.
It was great to be at the Sweetwater with 50+ Stars supporters to cheer the lads onto victory.
The first time I saw someone write that they said 30. The next time it was 4o. Now it’s 50+. Amazing.
How does this number keep growing after the fact?
30 supporters at kickoff, 50 by the end of the match … great way to start the season. See ya’ll on Friday for the next watch party, including post-game Socceroke, where we’ll hopefully be singing the Ballad of Bracadeldo.
That’s great to hear guys. Glad the party was good.
Is there lineups or a boxscore available from this game anywhere? I’m curious what both teams starting elevens were but can’t find anything…
Hey TM, good to hear from you. Sadly, it was never reported by Atlanta. I have spoken to several people at the NASL about this and I would expect that from now on we will be (should be) getting attendance, starting lineups, subs, and other stats as well. Shoot me an email and I can get you in touch with the Atlanta PR guy if you need them which I’m expecting you may.
Here you go:
20 Jimmy Maurer (goalie)
3 Shane Maroney (D)
4 Patrick Robertson (D)
2 Tyler Ruthven(D)
14 “Super” Mario Perez(D)
12 Fernando Gonzalez (M)
10 Lucas Paulini (M)
9 Junior Sandoval (F)
5 Ciaran O’Brien (M)
22 Jon Cox (F)
18 Matt Horth(F)
Subs
1 Felipe Quintero(GK)
13Willie Hunt (D)
15 Kohei Matsushita (D)
6 Jordan Davis (M)
7 Jose Parada (M)
21 Raphael Cox(M)
I also have Stars’ players and subs, in case you are interested