For all you American Soccer Fans out there. Heres a good story about our friends at the Fort Lauderdale Strikers that pulled off some incredible wins late in the season, then not only made it to the playoffs but BEAT THE TOP SEEDED TEAM this weekend!!! STRIKERS WIN! STRIKERS 2 UNITED 1 (5-4) Strikers defeat Minnesota United in Penalty Kicks Congrats to them! Check out the story below. strikers/news/detail/uuid/nd80z69ypg1mk0f5hkrixg5/match-recap-strikers-at-united#.VGFQSjTF94J __________________________________ Strikers defeat Minnesota United FC in shootout, will play San Antonio in Soccer Bowl The Fort Lauderdale Strikers had to play 120 minutes and take six penalty kicks to pull off the upset in Minnesota defeating the leagues top seeded team, Minnesota United FC, 5 penalty kicks to 4 after a 1-1 draw. The win gives the Strikers the berth in the Soccer Bowl against the San Antonio Scorpions next Saturday, November 15th. Minnesota took the lead in the 34th minute on a goal by Miguel Ibarra. NASL leading scorer Christian Ramirez sent a long ball from midfield to the top of the box to Ibarra who got around Strikers defender Stefan Antonijevic. Strikers keeper Kamil Contofalsky came up and Ibarra managed to chip the ball over the keeper who watched the ball roll into the goal. The Strikers came out in the second half and applied pressure to the loons but were unable to find the goal early on. The Strikers made several strategic moves to bring in added offense, bringing in Aly Hassan, Jenison Brito and Martin Nuñez late in the second half. Fort Lauderdale thought they had the game tied in the 67th minute when Fafa Picault found Hassan who buried the ball in the back of the net, but the play was called offside. Contofalsky made several huge saves including stopping a diving header from Ramirez in the 69th minute. Just a few minutes after, still upset about the offside call, Strikers head coach Gunter Kronsteiner was ejected from the match for arguing with the fourth official. The Strikers finally scored the equalizer near the end of regulation in a somewhat controversial goal. Fafa Picault attempted to slot the ball into the middle of the box but the Minnesota defender kicked the ball, which continued moving forward. Nuñez got the ball off the defenders foot and scored the game tying goal. The referee conferred with the line judge and they decided the goal which had been disallowed, would count because Minnesota had redirected the ball. The match ended 1-1 in regulation and went on to two 15 minute overtime halves. Minnesota was forced to play a man down for most of the overtime when just minutes into the first overtime, Jamie Watson was forced to leave the game due to injury. Minnesota had already used its three subs and therefore had to play with just 10 men for the rest of the game. The Strikers had a couple of chances to score in overtime, including an opportunity by Hassan in the 99th minute, when he received the ball from Picault just six yards away from the goal, but put the ball wide of the net. In the 105th minute, Mark Anderson, who had earlier in the game hit the crossbar from about 35 yards out, found himself in a one on one against Minnesota goalkeeper Matt VanOekel, but VanOekel was able to get a hand on the ball and send it wide of the net. The match would end in a 1-1 tie and the teams went into a penalty shoot-out. After Hassan made the first penalty shot, Contofalsky made a diving save on Minnesotas first shot, taken by Kevin Venegas, giving the Strikers the advantage. The teams traded goals until the Strikers fifth attempt. Trying to put the game away, Brito took the penalty shot and attempted to slot it to the bottom left but hit the goal-post, keeping the loons hope alive. Both Pablo Campos for Minnesota and Pecka for the Strikers made their next attempts. Then Aaron Pitchkolan took the next shot and Contofalsky once again came up big, stopping the ball and giving the Strikers a birth into The Championship Final. GOOD LUCK TO THE FORT LAUDERDALE STRIKERS from the Cape Coral Hurricanes organization, players and fans!!! BRING HOME THE CUP!
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 23:57:03 +0000
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