USSF Division II League Match ::  House Park Austin, TX Saturday, July 17, 2010
	V.
2	FT	0
Jamie Watson - PK (35') Max Griffin (68')
Attendance :: 3702

Sunday, July 18, 2010 :: The Austin Aztex came home to Austin on Saturday night, and found several challenges awaiting them at House Park.  First off, they found very hot weather.  Like those of you who participated in our recent organizational photo session, I've been on the field at 5:30 p.m.  The pitch is roasting, and I would guess it's at least 10 degrees hotter (F) than the air.  In a conversation with someone close to the team, they said that word was the warm-up would be shortened to 15 minutes.

The second challenge was an AC St. Louis team who has been on a phoenix like resurrection since the dismissal of former train wreck, Claude Anelka, as manager.  Although still at the bottom of the USSF Division II table, AC St. Louis has beaten Montreal, and drawn twice with Vancouver.  On his Wednesday night show, "The Austin Aztex Coach's Show", Aztex Gaffer Adrian Heath stated that part of their improved play is due to replacement manager, Dale Schilly, focusing more on the fundamentals of the game.  Unfortunately, some of these fundamentals must not have included the number of players you could take on a road game.  Before the match, as I was getting the starting line-ups from the press box, I found out that AC St. Louis had brought too many players, and were determining who would actually be on the roster, and who would sit in the stands.   

For the Aztex, this would be the first closest we’d been to a full complement of the squad for a while.  The lone hold out was Kieron Bernard who was out, this time with what I heard was a groin injury.  So without further ado, the starting lineups for the match are…

As the first half started, the Aztex came close to scoring in just the 5’, as Eddie Johnson was able to get a head on the ball right in front of the AC St. Louis goal, which went just over the cross bar.  However, AC St. Louis quickly realized that they were not able to match the Aztex for skill, and so they reverted to what I call, “The Dutch Way” (no insult to those of you who are Dutch).  This refers to the 2010 World Cup Final when The Netherlands quickly realized they would need to play a more physical game against Spain.  This was most evident in the 15’ when Lance Watson was taken down very hard in the box, resulting in a penalty kick.  The foul also resulted in the AC St. Louis goalkeeper Alec Dufty getting a yellow.  Dufty was lucky, as he should’ve received a straight red since he was the last man and the foul prevented a goal scoring opportunity.  Unfortunately, Eddied Johnson’s kick was blocked by Dufty causing the ball to go wide right.  The fouling continued though, even picking up the pace.  In the 21’ Jamie Watson had his legs taken out from under him, which was ignored by the ref.  4’ later, AC St. Louis finally got called on rough play as Zach Bauer (#2 for AC St. Louis) was shown yellow for wrestling Jamie Watson to pitch.  As play continued, the Aztex continued to try to find an opening for a score while trying to avoid the rough play of the St. Louis crew.  Finally, in the 35’, that opportunity presented itself again when Jeff Cosgriff was shows straight red by the official for a hand ball to block a score.  The foul not only resulted in Cosgriff hitting the lockers early, but a penalty kick for the Aztex, the second of the match.  This time, Jamie Watson took the honors and was able to collect his 6^th goal of the season, giving the Aztex a 1-0 lead.  In the 44’, the Aztex almost gained a second goal when Eddie Johnson was able to get one past Dufty.  Only an amazing hustle move by AC St. Louis Jack Traynor was able to save the goal, as Traynor was able to clear the ball off the line before it went into the goal. 

As the Aztex went into the locker room at half, they went in with a 1-0 as well as a man advantage.  However, the number of opportunities could’ve easily resulted in an Aztex lead of 3-0 at the intermission.  Additionally, AC St. Louis was lucky to not be down to 9 men.

As the lads came back on in the second half, they tried to pick up where they left off.  In the 59’, Jamie Watson had a great opportunity in front of an open goal for a score, but put it high over the bar.  Moments later the linesman raised his flag to indicate that Watson was offsides.  In the 68’ Aztex wonder striker scored his goal for the match when he was able to get one past the defense to put the Aztex up 2-0.  As we watched the Aztex continue in the half, I thought Eddie Johnson looked very tired.  His motions seemed to slow, and there were a couple of times when his “engine” seemed to be running on empty.  In the 76’, Gaffer Adrian Heath made his first sub of the night putting Sullivan Silva on for Jamie Watson.  As we went into the final 10’ of regulation time, I began to worry that the Aztex were playing like they were the ones down to 10 men, not AC St. Louis.  Fortunately, the Aztex were able to hold on and maintain the 2-0 victory.

The boys were helped even more in the USL standings as Rochester, second place behind the Aztex in the USL Conference by 5 points prior to the match, lost to the Carolina Railhawks in Rochester 1-0.

So the Aztex go into a rare situation…14 days before their next match!  In talking with Adrian Heath, the players will get about 6 days off before they have to report to practice on Sunday night (July 25^th).  This is a great opportunity for the boys to get some rest from a long June and July, before they face Miami FC on Saturday, July 31^st at House Park (KO @ 7:30 p.m.).

You can also check out other match reports, including some video from News 8 Austin.

	Austin Aztex			AC St. Louis
	News 8 Austin Victor Diaz Report on Match			AC St. Louis Fanatic
	Austin American-Statesman
	Aztexan