Ft. Lauderdale Strikers Earn Three Valuable Points at Home Against Montreal Impact
With four games remaining in the NASL regular season, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers needed something to snap them out of their scoring lull that had haunted them for nearly three games.
Needing a victory against Montreal to hold off the Impact for the sixth- and final-playoff spot, Strikers midfielder Gerson Mayen scored what could be the goal of the season. The goal was not a “golazo” in the traditional sense but one of emotional significance for a team desperately searching for a win.
The beginning of the match saw much of what has come to be expected from a Montreal – Fort Lauderdale match. Both teams played well on defense and allowed few scoring chances.
In the first half, it would be Ryan Pore who nearly scored the game’s first goal. Pore saw his header narrowly miss and go wide, hitting the side net. Pore would be at it again later in the half. His effort from distance, which could not be reached by Matt Glaeser, narrowly missed the goal and bounced off of the cross bar.
The Strikers would create a flurry of opportunities towards the end of the first half. Leopoldo Morales saw several attempts saved by Bush. One notable save came off of a corner kick, but Bush was able to push the ball around the post and out of play.
The Impact had three shots in the first half. Glaeser was forced to make one save.
The game lacked many scoring opportunities from both teams at the start of the second half.
It wouldn’t be until the 71st minute when that all would change thanks to Gerson Mayen, on loan from Chivas USA, who would get the Strikers a much needed goal.
Mayen’s goal gave the Strikers a 1-0 lead. Mayen wound up beating an offside trap then getting Evan Bush to move to his right thus creating an open and clear path towards goal.
Montreal responded to the goal with attacking play. After the goal, Montreal took the game to Fort Lauderdale looking for the equalizer. The Impact would take five shots in the second half.
Brian Shriver nearly finished off Montreal late in the game on a counterattack, but missed wide right of an open net after Bush got caught out of position.
By the numbers
The Strikers had 13 shots, 9 of those on goal. Evan Bush was forced to make 8 saves, keeping Montreal in the game.
Player of the game
Evan Bush for the Montreal Impact had a wonderful game in goal. Even though his team lost, Bush kept the Impact in the match with several stellar saves especially those which came off the foot of Leopoldo Morales who in his defense looked lively in the Strikers attack.
Coach Shore comments after the game:
On team play:
“I thought we played well and controlled the game,” Shore said. “I thought we had a lot of chances, but again I was worried going into halftime.”
On the Mayen goal:
“For Mayen to find that spot of the field, he showed his composure on the goal and took the shot well,” Strikers coach Daryl Shore said. “It was good to see him get the goal.”
Looking ahead
The Strikers welcome the league-leading Carolina RailHawks on Wednesday. The RailHawks will be without Etienne Barbara after he was given a red card during Saturday’s match versus FC Tampa Bay.
Montreal will continue their road trip by traveling to Bayamon to take on the Puerto Rico Islanders on Wednesday.
Lineups
Montreal Impact: GK Evan Bush, D Simon Gatti, D Hassoun Camara, D Cameron Knowles (77’, Anthony Le Gall), MF Luke Kreamalmeyer, MF Ian Westlake, MF Amir Lowery, MF Ryan Pore (57’, Leonardo DiLorenzo), MF Sinisa Ubiparipovic, F Mircea Ilcu (45, Mignane Diouf), F Miguel Montaño
Fort Lauderdale Strikers: GK Matt Glaeser, D Scott Gordon, D Martyn Lancaster, D Toni Stahl, D Lance Laing, M Polo Morales (88’, David Santamaria), M Bryan Arguez, M Gerson Mayen (78’, Wellington Pecka), M Mike Palacio (82’, Martin Nunez), M Brian Shriver, F Abe Thompson
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Yes, the Strikers definitely needed a gift from God. On their own, they have some serious consistency issues.
^ The consistency problem has had a lot to do with Coach Shore’s revolving door starting 11 IMO. It seems that every time it looked like they were putting something together this season, the lineup would see a shakeup for no apparent reason and we’d fall back into poor results. Hopefully whoever he sends out there from here on gets results.
This win was absolutely essential. Now we have some breathing room from Montréal and are within striking distance of 3rd place. It was nice to finally break through and get a W against Montréal, especially after that last game up there where a clear goal for us was not given after it was cleared away a good foot past the line.
They gotta keep pushing and strive for 3rd or 4th place. With the other 3 potential first round opponents, being on the road is not anything the Strikers need. It would either be a long flight to Minnesota or Edmonton, or taking a trip to the hostile confines of St. Pete, a week after we wrap up the regular season there.
GO STRIKERS!!
@Bart – Did you even watch the game Bart? If so you would have seen that the Strikers dominated nearly the entire game, and if not for Bush making some high quality saves, this game would have been a blowout. Sure they have consistency issues, just like most teams. Hell, even the Railhawks had a stretch of it not long ago. F19 is right when he says the biggest problem with getting some consistency has been because of the constant lineup changes, due to both injury and whatever odd system it is that he uses to determine who plays from game to game. Not happy with a lot of his decisions, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Strikers were the far better team Saturday, and fully deserved all three points.
@Armando – Nice report. One thing I’d disagree with you on though is the play of Morales. While that one shot he took that Bush made a nice save on was quality, for the most part I’ve been pretty unimpressed. Part of it I won’t put on him, and that’s his complete lack of chemistry with the other players. It’s been painfully easy to see this on the field the last few games with so many new signings immediately thrust into the starting lineup at the expense of other players who seemed to be playing well together on the recent unbeaten streak. As noted above, Shore’s need to constantly change the lineup gets frustrating.
Restrepo has fit in and played the best of all their mid to late season acquisitions. He hasn’t played much recently and I have to believe it’s because that injury in Edmonton on that terrible surface was worse than originally thought. Otherwise, if he’s been out due to coach’s decision (wasn’t even on the bech last game) I may have completely lost faith in Shore.
@Strikers Return – Thanks for the match report comment.
Here’s why I like Morales. Pace. Plain and simple Morales can exploit opposing defensders with his speed. I don’t feel he’s the next Barbara but he fills a void on this team. Outside of Shriver, who do you see on this team (midfielder or forward) with that kind of speed?
You could make a point about Nunez and Granado but Coach Shore must keep them on the bench or out of the line-up for a reason(s).
You make excellent points about team chemistry and the starting line-up. I will not disagree with you on that one but again I am not with the team day in and day out so I don’t know what the coach sees or thinks.
Also, how many times have we seen Lance Laing fly down the left flank, attempt a cross into the box, and no one be in front of goal?
We may disagree on Morales but at the end of the day, you can’t coach speed.