Strikers Lose Heartbreaker at Home; Striker vs. FC Tampa Bay Re-cap
The atmosphere? Electric. The crowd? Well over 3,600 hundred fans in attendance. The result? Disappointing for those home Strikers fans who were hoping for a Strikers win.
FC Tampa Bay traveled to Lockhart Stadium on Saturday and came away with three crucial points. The Strikers were left in utter shock and disbelief after another loss at home. Looking to add depth to the squad, the Strikers came into the match with added firepower upfront in the form of newly acquired forward Leopoldo “Polo” Morales making his first start and 2nd appearance for the team.
Tampa Bay head coach Ricky Hill kept his line-up consistent with what has worked well in the last five matches. Up top, forwards Mike Ambersley and Aaron King led the attack while Jeff Attinella, near the top of the NASL standings in terms of goalkeeping saves, and team captain Frankie Sanfilippo anchored the defense.
Tampa Bay got off to a flying start in the ninth minute with a goal from King which was set up by a touch pass from Ambersley. It appeared King was left alone in the area and he found enough space to place his shot out of the reach of Strikers goalkeeper Matt Glaeser. The goal was King’s eighth of the year.
In the 10th minute, Ambersley beat the offside trap and was able to get behind the Strikers defense. Glaeser came off his line to try to stop Ambersley, who passed the ball to Mozzi Gyorio. Gyorio’s accurate shot attempt was well saved by Glaeser who had bought himself enough time to come back into a position to thwart the attack.
The Strikers would have to wait until the 28th minute to threaten Tampa Bay. Brian Shriver used his pace to attack down the right flank. His low cross was met by Morales. His effort however was not well placed thus it was saved by Attinella.
In the 55th minute, the Strikers earned a free kick just outside of the area. Cristian Arrieta stepped up to take the free kick. His right-footed effort bounced off of the goal post and into the area. A few Strikers tried to get a shot off but Tampa had recovered in defense and forced a shot which sailed well high of goal.
The Strikers were on the attack again in the 63rd minute, Mike Palacio’s corner kick was headed onto goal by Arrieta. Attinella made a beautiful reflex save to deflect the ball over the crossbar.
The match was put beyond reach in the 77th minute. Mike Ambersley was placing pressure on the Strikers backline. Martyn Lancaster attempted a back pass to Glaeser but Lancaster did not strike it cleanly. Ambersley and Glaeser tried to reach the ball but it was Ambersley who won possession. Glaeser was caught off of his line leaving Ambersley to score with an empty net. The goal was Ambersley’s 11th of the season.
By the numbers
Tampa Bay had zero offsides calls to the Strikers’ three.
Once again the Strikers had an advantage on corner kicks over the opposing team. The Strikers had nine corner kicks to Tampa Bay’s three.
Player of the match
Mike Ambersley posed a constant threat for the entire match. He scored a goal and assisted on Tampa Bay’s first goal of the match. The wily veteran showed great poise in attack. He made a strong case to be in contention for the NASL Player of the Week award.
Postgame comments from Strikers head coach Daryl Shore
Shore was asked what happened on the pitch. He did not try to mitigate his disappointment of the result.
“We were beat by a better team tonight. Can’t make excuses, they wanted the game more and it meant more to them. We didn’t show up tonight. We had a good week of practice and we came out here and were flat. There are no excuses. We’ve put ourselves in a hole and next week we will find out what we are about.”
Looking ahead
Tampa Bay has a five point lead over FC Edmonton who currently occupy 4th place in the NASL standings. Their next match will be on the road where they will play the league-leading Carolina RailHawks.
The Strikers will welcome the Montreal Impact to Lockhart for their final meeting of the season. The match has major playoff implications. The Strikers, who hold the sixth and final playoff spot, currently hold a three-point lead over the Impact.
FC Tampa Bay Lineup: GK Jeff Attinella, D Frankie Sanfilippo (Captain), D Andres Arango, D JP Rodrigues, D Takuya Yamada, M Mozzi Gyorio, M Shane Hill (Chad Burt 53′), M Keith Savage, M Tsuyoshi Yoshitake, F Mike Ambersley, F Aaron King (Warren Ukah 68′)
Ft. Lauderdale Strikers Lineup: GK Matt Glaeser, D Toni Stahl (Walter Restrepo 59′), D Cristian Arrieta, D Martyn Lancaster (Captain), M Lance Laing, M Mike Palacio, M Bryan Arguez, M Gerson Mayen (Abe Thompson 67′), F Martin Nunez, F Leopoldo Morales (Yoximar Granado 78′), F Brian Shriver
Scoring Summary:
FCTB: Aaron King – 9th minute (assisted by Mike Ambersley)
FCTB: Mike Ambersley – 77th minute
Caution Summary:
FCTB: Andres Arango – 6th minute
FCTB: JP Rodrigues – 42nd minute
FCTB: Mike Ambersley – 77th minute
FTL: Walter Restrepo – 87th minute
Final Stats:
FCTB: 9 shots (4 on goal), 5 fouls, 4 saves, 3 corners, 0 offsides
FTL: 10 shots (4 on goal), 10 fouls, 2 saves, 9 corners, 3 offsides
Attendance:
3,685
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You can call us the Rowdies. It might not be a corporate reality, but it is the real name in the hearts and minds of the fans. (excellent blog by the way)
@Soccer Budgie – But the team cannot call itself that and neither can the media. Although I don’t really think Tampa’s struggles in attendance is entirely due to losing the Rowdies name.
Really disappointed in the crowd though. They drew nearly 6,000 for the Tampa game that was rained out in June. I was reading some Strikers fans say they could get 7,000. One guy said maybe 10,000. The Strikers have lost some fans as the season has dragged on which is not good.
“Polo” and his ridiculous haircut can back back to whatever team loaned him to the Strikers. He was terrible. There was little communication and no chemistry on the field for the Strikers at all thanks to yet another episode of musical lineups. Pathetic. Get that Morales guy out, get Palacio out, and put Abe and Restrepo back in the starting lineup, like they were when we were actually winning games and getting points a couple weeks ago!
One last note – I too was HIGHLY disappointed in the announced crowd. First off I was shocked that it was announced at only 3,700. It certainly looked and felt like more. But regardless, we had over 5,000 for the rescheduled Wednesday match earlier in the season, so this one in the stretch run of the season was really weak. Come on Striker Likers! No wonder we’re the butt end of every single bandwagon fan joke in American sports……
Soccer Budgie,
Looks like the Strikers had an answer to that with TIFO at the last derby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPScwW8L-Bs&feature=player_embedded#!
@BQ – THAT was the lone highlight of the night for Striker Likers. That company in Texas must really be asking for a LOT of money for the Rowdies name rights. It makes tons of sense from both the Tampa FC perspective, as well as the league’s perspective to get the name. They obviously want it as they tried to use it last year, but I think it has to be inevitable for them to overpay to get it at some point, don’t you? Why not just bite the bullet and do it sooner rather than later?