Gregory Richardson made his RailHawks debut against the Whitecaps in July, scoring a goal that was later ruled to be an own goal. (photo by Rich Bostwick)
It’s Thursday, Sept. 24, and the RailHawks playoff run begins tonight in Vancouver. Tune in at 10:30 p.m. to www.usllive.com for the Webcast, and/or follow the tweets from the RailHawks’ Tim Candon @RailHawksFC. I published a short print preview in the Indythis week (with a great picture of Gregory Richardson during his dominating first-half performance against Puerto Rico).
We also heard coach Martin Rennie on 850 the Buzz yesterday. While it was great to hear the RailHawks featured on a local AM sports chat show, the quality of the interview was a little discouraging.
The host, David Glenn, averred that he’d been attending games and even mentioned that he himself is a coach of his kid’s U-7 team. Unfortunately, he didn’t ask Rennie a single tactical question, nor were any RailHawks players’ names mentioned in the interview.
There was, however, a question about how Rennie’s American wife, Amy, liked living in Scotland, but no question about the experience and quality Scottish Premier League veteran Greg Shields has brought to the back line. (Shields, by the way, was named to the 24th and final USL-1 team of the week and, remarkably, he’s the 18th RailHawk so honored this season.)
After a discussion of soccer’s potential for growth in America and an amusing recounting of Rennie’s encounter with a water bottle in Montreal, Glenn inquired about the family friendliness of WakeMed Soccer Park. Rennie dutifully enumerated all of the children’s activities available, along with the half-time shows and the promotional games. It was as if he was being asked to justify a night out to something intrinsically uninteresting—a soccer game.
Questions about Matthew Delicâte’s subbing (or Matthew Watson’s broken leg)? Nope. Questions about Rennie’s strategy in a two-leg playoff? Nope. Questions about matching up with Vancouver’s Charles Gbeke and Marlon James? Nope. Questions about the difficulty the RailHawks have in scoring on the road (more on that below)? Nada.
The whole interview was quite pleasant, and Glenn was genuinely enthusiastic and not condescending. I’m sure the RailHawks are happy to have the radio exposure, but we await more mature, sophisticated soccer coverage from the area’s broadcast sports media. Rennie himself said on the program that increased media interest is key to soccer’s growth in America–and he told the Indy’s Chris Gaffney as much back in March: “To tell the truth, I hope that the press becomes critical here, because that means they’re interested.”
In our continuing effort to, ahem, do just that, we recently took a closer look at the RailHawks’ road record against the six other teams in the playoffs. Although the RailHawks’ overall road record is a strong 5-5-5, for 20 points in 15 games, the team has had more difficulty against the playoff teams. This is to be expected, of course, but we thought we’d look at the numbers. Continue reading »
The Carolina RailHawks defense hasn’t conceded a goal in 400 minutes, the third time this year they’ve gone for more than 300 minutes of keeping the linen clean. Although the men in the back seem to be the big part of the difference in the team’s victories over Rochester and Cleveland, only one defender, goalkeeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell, takes a spot on the team of the week. Patterson-Sewell shut out the Rochester Raging Rhinos, and his selection is the first time in more than a year that a RailHawks goalkeeper has made the squad.
Kupono Low gets on for his 90th-minute winner in Rochester, while Gregory Richardson, who scored once against Cleveland and played a major role in a second strike, was named for a third straight week.
You can see Low’s goal and subsequent shirt-waving here.
Richardson’s goal is included in this highlight reel from the Cleveland game.
It’s Tuesday, and again the white-hot Carolina RailHawks are a little underrepresented on the USL-1 team of the week. This afternoon, word came from league HQ that Joseph Kabwe, who’s seen a resurgence of form after being largely absent from the lineup, would be so honored. The citation is chiefly for his goal against Austin Saturday, but it’s also perhaps a bit of a makeup for leaving him off last week’s team after his two assists in the 4-0 rout of Miami. Announcement here.
Not the weekly honors matter all that much, of course. The team would surely much rather have that Wilmington game back, for the RailHawks in their present form would be making a good show of it in the U.S. Open Cup. Including two friendlies, the RailHawks have won seven of their last eight games (five out of six without the exhibitions), and they’ve played those eight with an aggregate score of 18-4.
Today, the RailHawks released this highlight reel from Saturday’s 3-0 romp over Austin, from the USLLive.com feed. You’ll see (and Kabwe surely doesn’t need to be reminded) that the Zimbabwean midfielder shoulda-coulda had a hat trick, going 1 for 3 on lay-offs from Gregory Richardson.
Wednesday night, the RailHawks visit the Rochester Raging Rhinos at Marina Auto Stadium. The Rhinos have been nipping at the heels of the league’s top four all season and this game will be no picnic. (Well, that’s what I said in advance of the Miami game.) The RailHawks will have midfield mainstays Amir Lowery and Daniel Paladini available again, after the duo served suspensions during the Austin game. Kickoff is 7 p.m. and you can watch on USLLive.com.
We’ve been away from the first-place RailHawks for a bit (and away from the Triangle, actually). To put a finer point on it, we’ve been in New York, we’ve been in Brazil, we’ve been distracted by things like European Champions League football (Messi! Eto’o! Xavi! Iniesta! Puyol!).
But we’re catching up in advance of Friday night’s nationally televised engagement with the Cleveland City Stars at WakeMed Soccer Park. First, we learn, courtesy of Tim Candon, the RailHawks’ official blogger, that their opponent in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup will be the USL-2 Richmond Kickers on Tuesday, June 9, at home. The ’Hawks, it should be noted, lost a preseason friendly to the Kickers in Richmond. If they survive the Kickers, then the Round 2 opponent will be one of two other North Carolina sides: the Wilmington Hammerheads or the Charlotte Eagles, both of the USL-2. That game would be on June 16.
Also, word arrived yesterday afternoon that three RailHawks made the USL-1 team of the week: Andriy Budnyy, the Ukrainian striker who is finding more minutes on the pitch after an under-the-radar preseason; Daniel Paladini, who is emerging as a crucial midfield linchpin; and the redoubtable, versatile three-year club veteran Kupono Low, playing well whether he’s needed at left back or holding midfielder. Budnyy scored the opening goal in the team’s 3-0 blanking of Cleveland last week, while Paladini has two assists in that game and scored the sole goal on a PK in Sunday’s 1-0 victory over the Austin Aztex. Low, for his part, is a big reason why the RailHawks haven’t conceded a goal in three outings.
We’ll have more on the RailHawks tomorrow, but for the moment we’re looking for another replay of Barsa-ManUtd…
Greg Nccu Student on "Miller leads NCCU to 11th victory": There are a lot of Rumors on Campus about Joanna Miller leaving NCCU next year. Please Coach Robinson, We need to keep this player from gong to another College.
Mike Potter on "Women’s roundup: NCCU wins on Senior Night, Tar Heels fall": She's certainly a solid talent and has a chance to be among the top few players in the history of the program. Next season's team will be even more talented. I'm thinking her scoring might be down a bit, but I'll be surprised if they don't approach 20 wins.
