RailHawks to continue feasting at the bottom of the table?
Daniel Paladini (left) against the Cleveland City Stars on May 22 (photo courtesy of the Carolina RailHawks)
After two frustrating seasons, fans in WakeMed Soccer Park tonight will be excused for some hard-earned self-congratulation—and considering the woefulness of the opponent, the Cleveland City Stars, who are in 10th place with only two goals scored versus 12 allowed, they should expect to see three more points added to the Carolina RailHawks’ points column.
The RailHawks have gotten off to an extraordinary start. They’re in first place in the USL-1, three points clear of the Charleston Battery (although the Battery have a game in hand). The RailHawks’ in-house blogger Tim Candon put this season’s performance in perspective in his notes in advance of tonight’s fixture against Cleveland:
In the team’s first two seasons, it did not record its 19th point until the 15th game of the season. In 2007, the RailHawks didn’t win their sixth game until their 23rd match of the season. In 2008, they didn’t win their sixth game until their 24th match of the season. They’ve accomplished both feats this year in nine games.
Before this season, the RailHawks had never won three matches in a row. This year, they’ve done it twice. The latest three-match win streak occurred on the road, the longest such success away from WakeMed Soccer Park the team’s ever enjoyed.
In amassing a record of six wins, two losses and a draw, the RailHawks are also the league leaders in goals scored, with 11. What’s especially impressive is the fact that no player has more than two goals—nine players have scored those 11 goals. On the other end of the field, only five goals have been conceded and six of the nine games have been clean sheets.
The last three games—all on the road—have been especially impressive: The team has scored six goals and given up none. Looking over the match sheets since the RailHawks last lost on May 9, there are several developments that seem to be key to the steady humming of the RailHawks machine.
- One is that Sallieu Bundu, who seemed to be the No. 1 striker all through the preseason and through the first, relatively unprolific weeks of the season, has dropped from view in favor of Andriy Budnyy and Gavin Glinton.
- John Cunliffe is seeing more minutes on the left wing, sharing the position with Josh Gardner, who got the most minutes there in the season’s early stages.
Of perhaps greater note, however, is the emergence of two other players:
- Jeremy Tolleson seems to be fully recovered from the injury that hobbled him earlier in the season and now the blond defender—one of several old hands with first-year coach Martin Rennie—has assumed a regular role in the back four. After Jack Stewart broke his fibula against Miami, Tolleson, normally a left back, moved to center with captain Mark Schulte.
- Daniel Paladini has emerged as the crucial midfield playmaker. He only appeared as a second-half sub in the loss to the Battery three weeks ago, but has been a starter in the three games since, scoring once and delivering three assists.
The success of the team thus far has been a real cause of good cheer, but there’s an important caveat, too. The RailHawks are piling up their points at the expense of the league’s weakest teams. Five victories have come against teams in the league’s bottom five. The other four games have been against the league’s Nos. 2, 3 and 4 teams. In those four games, the RailHawks have won once, drawn once and lost twice, for a total of four points.
Furthermore, the RailHawks have yet to play against three formidable sides: the Vancouver Whitecaps, the Montreal Impact and the Puerto Rico Islanders. These three teams are currently mired in the middle of the table, but there’s no reason to suppose that these clubs, who are respectively the defending USL-1 Cup champs, a CONCACAF quarterfinalist and a CONCACAF semifinalist, will be anything but tough competition. (Montreal is already showing signs of life after sacking the lamentable coach John Limniatis*, tearing the Austin Aztex limb-to-limb 4-0.)
Tonight should see another RailHawks victory—Cleveland will be lucky to score, but don’t count on it. And a Cleveland victory seems unlikely. Stranger things have happened, though.
Ticket sales for the 8 p.m. game seem to be brisk, but the weather forecast is looking iffy. For those who can’t get to Cary, the game will be on the telly in better pubs and dens, on Fox Soccer Channel. We’ll be at the ball park, hope to see you there.
* True story about Limniatis: In a game last season at WakeMed Soccer Park, his behavior was so obnoxious that a couple of Cary soccer moms began to heckle him. Limniatis looked up at them and started jawing back, while the game was in progress.
9 Comments
I guess you could argue the reason that some of those teams are at the bottom of the table is because they have been beaten several times by the RailHawks. Kind of a chicken-egg discussion.
I think credit needs to go to the front office staff for the masterful scheduling. They managed to front-end load the season with games that looked like they would be winnable based on new teams coming into the league and traditionally weaker opponents. Stacking those teams up front will of course make the second half of the season, but they gave the Rennie and his new squad time to find their feet, get some favorable results, and put a bunch of points in the bank before the tougher part of the season comes along.
— Jarrett C 29 May 2009
Yes, it occurred to me that those lower-tier teams are there because they’re not getting points against the RailHawks. But then there’s the fact that the ‘Hawks have only taken four points in four games against the league’s No. 2, 3 and 4 teams. I don’t think any conclusion can necessarily be drawn from all of this: That’s why we play the games.
I had no idea that the team management had so much direct input into the scheduling. Somehow I imagined that the league would take every team’s particular variables and needs, and plug them into specialized computer software to derive the schedule.
— David Fellerath, Culture Editor 29 May 2009
I agree with Jarrett that it’s important the team banks a bunch of points on the front end. We’re about to hit a busy part of the season. With a win over Richmond in the USOC first round (not a given by any means) on June 9, that would give the RailHawks four games in eight days. They also play Portland in Cary on June 11, then they go to Minnesota on June 14, then they would play the second round of the Open Cup on June 16, either in Cary, Wilmington or Charlotte.
Even though everything is new and Martin and his charges have rewritten the club record books in less than 10 games, remember our track record in July (1-8-6 overall, 0-7-6 in USL-1). And July is going to be tough this year (at Charleston, vs Vancouver, at Charleston, Miami). There’s also the June 27 home match with Puerto Rico, plus a potential USOC match with an MLS club on June 30. Beat MLS, and that opens up the chance for one or even two more USOC games in July.
I’m not so much concerned with the season-ending Montreal-Puerto Rico gauntlet (the RailHawks play them five times in three weeks, with two at Montreal and one in Puerto Rico). Puerto Rico seems be slowed by having played almost nonstop for the last 15 months, and Colin Clark was recently chastised by management. Montreal seems to be a mess, too. Put no stock in that 4-0 drubbing they put on Austin. Austin was without 5 starters and had to call-up members of the PDL team to make the trip.
To me, it looks like Vancouver, Charleston and Rochester are the teams to beat, maybe Portland, too. Rochester going 4-3-1 on the road is quite impressive, and they got shafted out of a point in Portland thanks to a fishy late penalty. Charleston’s 4-0-4 and conceded only two goals so far.
We’ve seen the depth this team has already, but it’s really going to be put to the test in the next 6-8 weeks.
— Tim Candon 29 May 2009
Thanks Tim, for the thoughts.
A couple of things: Colin Clarke was chastised by the Puerto Rico management? Google’s not helping me here–can you elaborate?
I didn’t realize Austin was playing without five starters when they lost before 11,000 people in Montreal. However, I have to wonder if the RailHawks would be similarly incapacitated without five starters. (For one thing, it’s to Rennie’s credit that the team seems to have about 20 “starters.”)
Your note mentions that Round 2 of the USOC could be in Wilmington or Charlotte. How will that be determined? The RailHawks’ Web site says Round 2 will be in Cary.
Finally, I looked at last year’s final standings and saw that Minnesota grabbed the seventh and final playoff spot with 39 points. With the RailHawks’ early hoarding of points, they need to average one point per game the rest of the way to be on the playoff bubble. If they make 1.75 points the rest of the way, they’ll roughly match Puerto Rico’s league-leading 54 points. So, you and Jarrett have a point about the front-loading.
See y’all tonight.
— David Fellerath, Culture Editor 29 May 2009
David, here’s a link re: Puerto Rico (http://pasionnaranja.com/2009/05/21/slowly-but-surely-more-news-about-clarke-and-the-cfu-game/#more-1164), and there’s a couple links from there you can have a look at.
As for the Open Cup Round 2, I don’t know that Rd. 2 sites have been determined yet. I don’t know how the whole bid process works, but I’m pretty sure that we put in to host Rds. 1 and 2. I think it’s safe to assume that if the RailHawks win, the match will be in Cary, but I don’t know with 100 percent certainty. We do know their round 2 opponent will be Charlotte or Wilmington (assuming of course they beat Richmond).
Your point about how the RailHawks would be without 5 starters is spot on. Because EVERYONE has played, we don’t have a starting XI. Last week, they were down three “starters” (Stewart, Plotkin, Glinton) and you probably didn’t notice. I don’t know that we’ll see the same XI start consecutive matches all year, or even the same 10 field players since Martin is alternating his goalkeepers.
As Martin said earlier this week when I said to him we’ve had 9 different guys make a team of the week: “It highlights the fact that it’s a team effort for us … Those things are good because it shows everybody’s contributing and is involved. That helps to build harmony, but it also shows you that if one guy’s missing, then the team doesn’t fall apart.”
— Tim Candon 29 May 2009
To add to David’s comment about 20 starters, I believe this is the very reason that the Railhawks will not have the dismal July that they have had in the past two years. In his infinite wisdom, Coach Scottie S. played the same core players in nearly every game unless forced by card accumulation, injury, or suspension to change. I further believe that this is why McClellan was such crap at times last season. He only got one game off in all competitions (the exhibition against Monterrey) and looked lethargic and distracted at times. Another issue could have been lack of motivation. If players are not competing for jobs, they can sometimes become complacent. With the possible exceptions of Mark Schulte or Johnny Gilkerson, is there any player on the current squad who has his spot set in stone? I’ll say it now and you can quote me, “The Railhawks will win at least one game in July in USL play and will accumulate at least 5 points.”
— Rob 29 May 2009
Championship teams beat the teams they’re supposed to beat.
Take Manchester United this year for example - they were 3-4-3 against the five teams under them in the table but they were 9-1-0 against the bottom five teams.
It’s all about taking the maximum points from teams that are clearly beneath you and doing just enough against the great teams.
You have to credit the RailHawks for just not losing to these teams but taking all three points, and in our season so far, doing a lot of it on the road.
— Adam 30 May 2009
Very interesting point, Adam!
I took the liberty of doing a similar study of Barcelona. They were 7-2-1 against the bottom five (with the most recent loss occurring with the league title already clinched, and the B team on the field in advance of the Champions League final).
In contrast to Manchester United, however, Barcelona was even better against the five teams just below them: 7-1-2.
I think, however, that this says more about the difference between the English Premier League, which is really four giants against 16 pretenders, versus a more balanced La Liga.
Your point is very well taken: I spent this season rooting for Aston Villa, and I realized their Champions League dreams were dashed when they blew a 2-0 lead to Stoke City and settled for a draw.
— David Fellerath, Culture Editor 30 May 2009
[...] first division. But the real slog is coming: Along with tougher league competition (see discussion here and here), the RailHawks begin U.S. Open Cup play June 9, against the Richmond Kickers of the [...]
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