Miami FC’s nine game undefeated streak comes to an end in Montreal
Posted by Editor on July 20, 2008
It was just that kind of a night. The kind of night where nothing seems to go your way no matter how much you try to change your luck. The Blue’s just could not seem to catch a break on Friday night against the Impact, and discontinued their undefeated streak by losing 3-1 in Montreal’s brand new Saputo Stadium in front of a crowd of 12,000+.
Early on in the match Miami earned itself a Penalty Kick when the Impact’s goalkeeper Matt Jordan tackled forward Sean Fraser inside the penalty box. At this point the Blue’s should have gone up 1-0, but Afonso, who is normally automatic, sent the PK sailing way over the cross bar. The shot looked like it would have been good if the goalposts were mounted on ten foot stilts.
In our team’s defense, I would like to suggest that maybe there is some paranormal meddling in the mix here. Miami FC has a lifetime record against the Montreal Impact of 0-4-4, it is the only team left in the USL-1 that we have never beaten. Watching Afonso miss that penalty kick so early in the match, I knew it was only a pretense of what was to come. My theory is that the Montreal front office has placed some sort of a curse on us, dooming us to play incompetently against the Canadian side these past three years.
The two sides will not meet again in the 2008 season, unless the improbable situation of both teams making it to the playoffs happens. The Blue’s are currently in eight place in the standings, with the Impact close behind in the tenth place spot.
Regardless of Friday’s results, our boys in blue will need to look ahead and focus on the task at hand. We have 11 regular season games left on our schedule and we’ve played an average of 2.7 games more than all other teams in the league, meaning we really only have about eight games left to pick up points.
As an example of how thirsty we are for wins, last place Minnesota is only three points behind us while having played three less games. Meaning if the season were to end today, they would have three chances to pick up a win and challenge us for our eight place spot.
I don’t want to sound the alarm just yet though, there is good news too. Currently we are only three points behind fourth-place Seattle, making a win at our next home game in Tropical Park Stadium that much more important.
We will face the Atlanta Silverbacks on Sunday, July 27 at 6pm (ET) and you can be damn sure that this team will not go down easy. The way I see it, 15 points in the next 11 games should be the minimum par set by head coach Zinho in order to guarantee a playoff birth.
Heres to our next undefeated streak and run for the 2008 USL-1 playoffs!!
