Mark Schulte and Sallieu Bundu celebrate earlier this season in a game against the Minnesota Thunder (Photo by Rich Bostwick)
We’re coming to the sad realization that the RailHawks’ regular season is drawing to a close. It’s been a real treat to see such a quality team this year. In reflecting on the season in advance of tonight’s regular season finale against the Montreal Impact, we find ourselves thinking about the issue of year-end league honors.
Team honors, selected by the players, will be announced prior to the playoff game Sept. 27—and you can vote, too, for “fan favorite.”
We’re thinking about the league: The USL will recognize a first and second team all-USL-1 lineup, and there should be citations for best goalkeeper, best defender, and most valuable player. A recent speculative press release from the league office, after reviewing the top performers from other squads, acknowledged the difficulty of recognizing the RailHawks, who are unique in their dependence on a revolving lineup of 20+ quality players, rather than four or five aces.
To take the most obvious example: The league leaders in goals scored (Johnny Menyongar of Rochester, Mandjou Keita of Portland, Charles Gbeke of Vancouver) all have 11 goals. The RailHawks’ leading goal scorers, however, have only six (Gregory Richardson and Sallieu Bundu), yet collectively the team is the second in the league in scoring goals, with 41.
However, if one looks at goals-per-game, one RailHawk in particular becomes one of the league’s best scorers. Richardson’s six goals have come in 11 games, a rate that would put him in first place in the league if it were sustained over the season. (Then there’s Joseph Kabwe and his five goals and four assists in 15 games and 806 minutes; production that’s good enough to place him in the the league’s top 20 in points.)
Richardson is probably the RailHawks’ best candidate among the scorers, with Bundu also a strong second-team possibility, but we’d like to make a case for Daniel Paladini for post-season honors. Continue reading »
Edwin Miranda leaves the field under the glare of the Cary law. photo by David Fellerath
WAKEMED SOCCER PARK/ CARY—The 1,597 fans who showed up on the relatively mild evening saw an extraordinary sight: a soccer game with the preposterous score of 9-0.
That’s right. 9-0. The RailHawks’ match against playoff contender Miami FC Blues wasn’t a baseball game, but a soccer game.
But the lopsided result has us reaching for non-soccer comparisons: Perhaps the time the Chicago Bears won the NFL Championship (in pre-Super Bowl days) with a 73-0 win. Or perhaps if one were to go fishing and have fish hit your lure on every single cast.
But if we stick to soccer analogies, the RailHawks’ absolute dominance was reminiscent of some of Barcelona’s games last season, particularly the first half of their return leg against Real Madrid last May. Like Barça, so dominant were the RailHawks that the goal seemed to be a magnetic field for the ball, and on a couple of occasions the RailHawks nearly walked the ball into the back of the net.
Joseph Kabwe led all scorers (there’s a basketball construction) with three goals, while Sallieu Bundu chipped in a late brace. Also scoring: Daniel Paladini, John Cunliffe, Andriy Budnyy and Gregory Richardson. Continue reading »
RailHawks keeper Eric Reed surely didn’t intend for his endorsement of rock-solid—and taciturn—defender Jeremy Tolleson in team blogger Tim Candon’s profile, posted today, to sound backhanded:
“He’s so dependable,” said goalkeeper Eric Reed, who played with Tolleson last year in Cleveland, too. “A lot of teams, because he’s not a physical presence back there like [Mark] Schulte or Brad [Rusin], you don’t think a lot of him. Teams will put forwards directly on him, and Jeremy will handle them no problem. You can count on him 99.999 percent of the time. Very rarely will he ever do something that will hurt you.”
Obviously, if defenders were perfect, they wouldn’t concede any goals. In fact, the RailHawks have given up 13, the second-fewest in the USL-1. For his part, Tolleson has been an unsung hero, fortuitously stepping in after missing the first few weeks of the season due to injury. He made his season debut in the same game that saw the towering Jack Stewart go down with a broken fibula. Tolleson, who played with coach Martin Rennie in Cleveland the last two seasons and with the PDL Cascade Surge before that, was expected to see time at left back, but the Stewart injury moved him to the middle. Candon’s appreciation is here.
Elsewhere in RailHawksiana today, the N&O’s Rachel Ullrich has a nice piece about the RailHawks’ foreign players that performs the useful service of nailing down which players are officially foreign, under USL rules, and which are not. (In the latter category: Sallieu Bundu, Andriy Budnyy, Gavin Glinton, Caleb Patterson-Sewell.) This story, by the way, ran above the fold on the front sports page. Kudos to the N&O for giving Ullrich space this summer. She’ll be missed when her internship ends.
The RailHawks are back in third place after victories by the Charleston Battery and the Portland Timbers. They have three games in hand on Charleston and one on Portland. They travel to Vancouver for a game against the Whitecaps Saturday, Aug. 15, at 10 p.m. EDT. Watch it on USLLive.com.
Some personnel news out of Cary this morning, courtesy of RailHawks journalist Tim Candon:
Striker Andriy Budnyy and goalkeeper Caleb Patterson have been sent to Wilmington for an overnight loan. The USL-2 Hammerheads are trying to protect their spot in first place from the visiting Richmond Kickers. The Hammerheads, who performed heroically in June and early July, making it to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup after beating the RailHawks in the second round, are now groaning with injuries. Budnyy and Patterson will help plug gaps left by an ankle injury to striker Jamie Watson and a possibly season-ending hernia surgery for goalkeeper Daryl Sattler (who, fans may remember, knocked aside penalty shots by Daniel Paladini and Mark Schulte in that June 16 thriller).
One likely result of the loan is that Eric Reed will start in goal this Friday against Charleston instead of Patterson, whose turn it would be otherwise.
Another thought: The Richmond Kickers may have a little ringer up their sleeves, too. Former UNC and MLS star Chris Carrieri appeared for the Kickers against the RailHawks on June 2. He told me then that he’s playing for Richmond on a part-time basis, against their North Carolina opponents. (He lives in Holly Springs.) Perhaps Carrieri, Patterson and Budnyy can all ride down to Wilmington together.
Greg Shields, the veteran Scottish defender, is safely in Cary and training with the team. He arrived Saturday and caught the end of the Tecos match. Somewhat disconcertingly, he said his family was surprised by the ruckus created by the Tecos supporters: “We were sitting by the opposing fans. For the kids, it was a wee bit daunting for them, banging the seats all the time. It was a bit different from what we’re used to.”
Candon also reports that Devon McKenney’s just about fully rehabilitated from a hamstring injury suffered a month ago.
RailHawks goalkeeper Eric Reed shares a little love with Latino fans after the Tecos match. (photo by David Fellerath)
Ever since Saturday’s night’s friendly versus Estudiantes Tecos of the Mexican state of Jalisco, a 2-1 victory for the RailHawks, I’ve been thinking about how much I enjoyed watching the game with approximately 5,000 Latinos.
Simply put, there’s a different energy in the park. It’s so obvious as to be scarcely worth stating, but when fans are constantly chanting, cheering and jeering, you realize that the other half of the equation of a quality soccer match has been provided. It was a little humbling to see how nuts the Latino fans went for players that even conscientious American soccer fans have never heard of: for one, the veteran striker Bruno Marioni, who delivered a couple of gorgeous balls; and for another, a 37-year-old, Maradoña-sized attacker named Rodrigo Ruiz. His nickname is “El Pony,” which I know because the fans were chanting his name throughout the game until he finally entered in the 54th minute.
At one point, a surely intoxicated fan wandered out onto the pitch, standing inside the penalty box with the Tecos keeper Israel Villasénor. The referee whistled the ball dead and Cary’s finest hustled out to the field to arrest him. Here’s some fan-shot video of the incident:
Matt Watson (left) and Daniel Paladini, during practice Monday. John Gilkerson is in the background. (Photo by D.L. Anderson)
WAKEMED SOCCER PARK/ CARY—I woke this morning and discovered, like so many journalists, that my job is endangered. Another form of news media threatens my livelihood with its speed, resources and superior delivery of product.
The interloper is called a daily newspaper.
I refer to the News & Observer, which finally noticed the professional soccer team in its midst and gave last night’s U.S. Open Cup opener the front of the sports section, above-the-fold. (What? No hockey? No NASCAR? No Kobe-Dwight Howard stories off the wire? No high school soccer?)
But there it is. Accompanying Rachel Ullrich’s report on the RailHawks’ 2-1 victory over the Richmond Kickers is a Robert Willett photo, front and center, of the evening’s most heart-stopping split second, when RailHawks goalkeeper Eric Reed just barely turned aside Gerson Dos Santos’ curling free kick from 25 yards out, in the game’s second minute.
Seriously, it’s great to see Martin Rennie’s fine team attract more attention. In addition to the N&O, you can read an account by Triangle Offense’s hockey diva Kate Shefte, who is moonlighting as a summer intern with the Cary News. The RailHawks’ Tim Candon’s account is here.
Aside from the enjoyment of watching the RailHawks play aggressive, disciplined football successfully—with stormy clouds overhead getting stormier throughout the game—I also enjoyed watching Chris Carrieri come out of “retirement” last night, playing striker, wing, whatever for the Kickers. Continue reading »
The center-left party: In what looks to be a popular pair, Gardner comes down the flank as Bundu awaits. (photo courtesy of RailHawks)
WAKEMED SOCCER PARK/ CARY—If the March 14 victory over the “major league” New England Revolution was an occasion for a little well-deserved breast-beating, the loss to the definitely major league CD Olimpia was the occasion for—well, first, a dry towel.
A downpour worthy of a Sri Lankan monsoon at times threatened to obscure the action, and the slippery field was more or less responsible for defensive miscues that led to goals for each team. The 1:1 deadlock was broken in the 63rd minute when Jaime Rosales rocketed a very major league free kick that went over and around the RailHawks wall and skidded off the left post into the goal. A minute later, Coach Martin Rennie waved in five fresh players and the game took on a more scrimmage-like rhythm.
After the game, Rennie was beaming—and not just because he was finally dry. Continue reading »
In another addition to a burgeoning midfield, the RailHawks added Daniel Paladini, veteran of the MLS side Chivas USA. Paladini, 24 years old, appeared in eight games for Chivas last year, starting five and scoring one goal (that’s only four fewer than teammate Sacha Kljestan!). (h/t to Jarrett for the first video link)
Paladini has spent his entire career in California, from his hometown of Northridge to his alma mater Cal State-Northridge to his drafting by the Los Angeles Galaxy to his most recent stint with Chivas.
It’s the second signing, however, that catches us by surprise: a high-profile keeper, and one who—like recently signed defender Mark Schulte—has a history with Martin Rennie. Continue reading »
Big Honking Image on "Ward leads Hurricanes to fourth in a row against Blackhawks, 4-2": I've noticed a recurring theme with this blog are the _giant_ images in the posts. The image in this post is 1646x1225 but it is forced into a box that is 498x371.
This is bad for four reasons:
1) On slower connections, they take a while to download.
2) It is big waste of server bandwidth, which costs
Ben Wilson on "After a tough 25 minutes, N.C. State goes cold in loss to UNC": LOL, like UNC is ANY different than NC State or any other school for that matter when they are losing at home. Do I have to remind you that NC State fans VASTLY outnumbered UNC fans at Kenan 2 years ago in the 42-10 blowout?
Get off your high horse and REALIZE that UNC is NO
