Reminder, ATL! A Champion will be Crowned, Here, on Saturday

[lethalweapon3]

Atlanta’s brutal sports Floptober? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Yes, there is still ONE more chance for the ATL to celebrate a professional sports title this year! And, it’s this Saturday night… and, it’s in our house!

Soccer Bowl 2013 will be at Atlanta Silverbacks Park (in Chamblee, just north of Spaghetti Junction) and feature our hometown Silverbacks against the New York Cosmos. Things kick off Saturday night at 7:30 PM Eastern. Tix are available via the Silverbacks’ website (http://atlantasilverbacks.com/fc/) and at the NASL championship website (http://naslsoccerbowl.com/). For those who can’t make it, the game will be broadcast online at ESPN3 (http://espn.go.com/watchespn/), and also en Español via ESPN Deportes.

The North American Soccer League (NASL) decided to try out a split-season scheduling format for 2013, accommodating the delayed rebirth of the legendary New York Cosmos franchise in time for the second half of the year. The leader of the first (Spring) half of the season standings earned the benefit of hosting the one-game NASL championship, the reinstituted “Soccer Bowl,” against whomever won the second-half (Fall) title.

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This past Fourth of July, that Spring Season title was clinched by your Atlanta Silverbacks, on the strength of a 6-3-3 (W-L-T) record, after the Carolina RailHawks fell short in its final Spring game. This will be the first NASL Soccer Bowl championship hosted in Georgia since 1971, when the Atlanta Chiefs, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, fell to the Dallas Tornado in a best-of-3 series. Atlanta soccer fans may be celebrating its first NASL championship since the Chiefs took the trophy back in 1968.

After going 4-6-4 in the Fall Season while probably resting key players, the Silverbacks get to play for the championship before their adoring fans… and more than a few people feeling nostalgic about the Cosmos and striving to re-live past glories. Six-time NASL champs before dissolving in 1982, this new edition of the Cosmos entered the NASL in July and blazed through the league, sporting a 9-1-4 Fall record. New York is undefeated in their last 11 matches, and this reincarnated club seeks its first NASL title since 1982.

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Brian Haynes, a longtime Trinidad and Tobago midfielder, started his professional career at the Omni, as a star for the Atlanta Attack way back in 1989, winning his indoor soccer league’s Rookie of the Year award. Almost a quarter-century later, Haynes is the Head Coach of a Silverbacks squad captained by defender Martyn Lancaster and starring forwards Pedro Mendes and Ruben Luna (tied for 7^th in the NASL for goals) along with Danny Barrera (tied for 2^nd in the league for assists).

You can “Vote for Pedro”, as Mendes is currently in the lead in the online voting for NASL Goal of the Year. (http://www.nasl.com/index.php?id=3&newsid=5813)

It’ll be the first chance at a title for guys like midfielder Lucas Paulini and defender Shane Moroney, who literally started from the bottom on the 2011 roster that, returning after a two-year pro soccer hiatus, finished dead last in the NASL with a 4-20-4 record. Goalkeeper Joe Nasco overcame a slew of collegiate injuries to succeed at a Silverbacks tryout in 2012 and has been occasionally spectacular at the net this season.

The Silverbacks organization’s technical director is the legendary Eric Wynalda, once the U.S. National Team’s all-time leading scorer and the first player ever to score a goal in the top-tier Major League Soccer (MLS) league back in 1996. Wynalda served as the interim head coach steering the Silverbacks’ impressive turnaround in the 2012 season, building momentum toward the first half of 2013, and is a “Fox Soccer Daily” analyst for Fox Sports 1.

Silverbacks fans got a taste of the Soccer Bowl last Saturday, when the Cosmos just happened to stop by for the final regular season game on the schedule. It was the first visit by a team called the Cosmos since Giorgio Chinaglia took on Ted Turner’s Atlanta Chiefs in 1980s.

Side Trivia: the Cosmos’ signature emblem was designed in the 1970s by the same Atlanta-based artist that designed the Chiefs’ logo. Wayland Moore, also former graphics director for the Atlanta Braves, is still around the Atlanta area and still selling his paintings online. (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/610739-new-york-cosmos-a-conversation-with-the-artist-behind-the-logo)

With both teams largely holding their cards last weekend, New York scored a goal against Atlanta’s backup keeper in the first half and hung on for a 1-0 victory, despite the Silverbacks controlling most of the action on the pitch. Lancaster sprained an ankle and exited early in the contest, but will be fine for the Soccer Bowl. Atlanta went to the Big Apple in September, and played the Cosmos to a 1-1 draw in Long Island.

In the Fall half of the season, despite their lack of success on the road, the one-nil setback to the Cosmos was the Silverbacks’ only home loss in the regular season since late August (3-2-2 at home). They have not given up more than a single goal in any Fall game at Silverbacks Park, nor in any home games since June.

LET'S GO SILVERBACKS!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Bump!

One more reminder for tomorrow night. Same time as Magic-Hawks unfortunately, but locals not at either game and out-of-towners can also watch online via ESPN3.

Other team news from today...

Silverbacks' Pedro Mendes wins NASL Goal of the Season:

http://www.nasl.com/index.php?id=3&newsid=5867

Silverbacks' Brian Haynes wins NASL Coach of the Year:

http://naslsoccerbowl.com/index.php?id=785&newsid=5875

Go Silverbacks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

As expected, a lively crowd tonight! Sorry the 'backs couldn't pull it out, but no doubt all the fans were having a good time!

Great coverage of tonight's Soccer Bowl from 92.9 The Game.

http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2013/11/09/silverbacks-fall-to-cosmos-1-0-in-nasl-soccer-bowl/

~lw3