Atlanta 0 - Miami 1
Tropical Park Stadium, Miami
Sunday, September 21, 2008, 6:00pm EST
Miami:(Sean Fraser 53')
David Hayes solid in defense this year
A few of the hard core Silverbacks fans gathered at Varner's Tavern to watch our final game of the season together. Unfortunately, there would be no consolation win to the season as Ansu Toure's Miami FC clipped the Atlanta Silverbacks 1-0 at Miami's Tropical Park Stadium.
Both Atlanta and Miami were eliminated from post season play before this game began. Playing for pride was the only incentive to this match and both sides did try to win the game. The game had a scrappy quality about it as both teams tried to get something out of the match, but there was a real lack of composure on both sides as both utilized the long ball and cross field passing to try to carve something out of the match. Catching each other on the break seemed to be the over riding strategy of this match.
The first real chance of the game came a quarter of the game in when Martyn Lancaster took a cross in from David Hayes and headed a powerful shot that Miami FC keeper Sam Reynolds could only parry away. Both teams continued to fire away against each other, but no way through could be found to goal.
The only goal of the match came to Miami from a mistake in the Atlanta defense. A cross in from former Atlanta player Ansu Toure was miss cleared by David Hayes as he kicked it beyond the reach of Felipe Quintero in goal who was beaten to it by Alex Afonso who powered a shot that came of the crossbar right into the path of Miami forward Sean Fraser who hit it home for the breakthrough and only goal of the match.
Just a few minutes later, Martyn Lancaster nearly leveled the game with a double header with the first coming off the underside of the crossbar rebounded back to him where he headed the ball toward goal again but straight to Reynolds in the Miami goal. Later in the match, Atlanta forward Duke Hashimoto put in a powerful header on goal from a cross from Chris Mahaffey only for the shot to fall comfortably for Reynolds in the Miami goal. Despite desperate attempts for a consolation goal from Atlanta, no further scoring would come and the game finished to Miami 1-0.
The season ends on a sour note with another loss and no win in our last 11 games. The last win came against Vancouver 3-2 at Silverback Park on August 5th. Injuries, fixture congestion, and losing key players all played a part in the demise of the season. Go to the Westside 109 Forum for more discussion on this season and the season to come.