If the Miami FC expected a stroll in the park against the Jacksonville Armada U-23 side on Saturday, they were sorely mistaken. Aaron Pitchkolan’s men were ready to frustrate Miami at every turn. Despite getting off their early signature early lead, Paul Dalgish’s Orange and Blue found themselves in a contested first half of football. The Armada deployed similar tactics to Naples, however, could they close?
The NPSL Game Of The Week has come to town and it’s spotlights are shining down on The Miami FC. In this Saturday’s regular season finale there is a lot on the line for the Orange and Blue. While they control their own destiny with regards to hosting six of the seven playoff matches, it’s the final one they need a little help with. Before we focus on the pipeline, we need to focus on the now and this Jacksonville Armada U-23 squad.
The stars of Latin America shined down on Boca Raton in the late afternoon as Mexican side Pachuca took on Colombian giants America De Cali. Both teams displayed dominant spells of possession throughout the match. In a friendly that showcased many of the youth from both clubs, neither could find a goal.
Edinson Cavani is one of my favorite players. In the modern game reliable goalscoring centre forwards are hard to find, especially at the top level. It’s a simple joy for a football fan to watch a player who just loves to score goals. And score good goals too. We’ve all had that player we wanted to emulate when we were a kid. For me it was the great Mark Hughes. For Cavani himself it was the phenom Gabriel Batistuta. Could kids in the 305 begin idolizing the Uruguayan marksman? It all stems from this, A follow on twitter.
In a name-perfect matchup Wednesday night, Florida Soccer Soldiers will host Coldstream Guards FC, a team made up of soldiers from the British Army’s Coldstream Guards.
“Our last few tours have consisted in and around Europe with our last one being to Cyprus last year,” a representative of the team said through Instagram earlier this week. “We thought, why not the states and we just couldn’t say no to Miami.”
The match comes just two days after Coldstream Guards FC faced Red Force FC at Tropical Park. Red Force won that match, 4-2.
The Soccer Soldiers match will kick off at 8:30 p.m. kickoff at Amelia Earhart Park in Hialeah.
Despite not being awarded matches in the International Champions Cup or the Gold Cup this summer, South Florida is still proving to be a destination of choice for the world’s biggest clubs. Barcelona and Napoli have just come to an agreement to play a friendly at Hard Rock Stadium. Just up the road in Boca Raton, the most expansive series of matches will be contested between Latin American heavyweights in Copa Gigantes. Nacional (Uruguay), Peñarol (Uruguay), Millonarios FC (Colombia), América de Cali (Colombia), Pachuca (Mexico) and DIM (Colombia) are all showcasing at Florida Atlantic University.
It was a slow buildup but a euphoric ending for the Miami FC on Saturday night at Barry University. While the worry set in early for the Miami faithful, Naples could not contain the attack for long. For Naples, a result of any type could have earned the west coast club a playoff match at home. It was a couple of familiar faces whose performance would decide the contest in this top of the table fixture.
News broke over the weekend that Inter Miami will soon announce the signing of their first player, Julián Carranza of Argentine club Banfield.
The outlet TyC Sports was first to report that the 19-year-old will be heading to Miami following a $6 million deal with Banfield for the striker. Carranza will remain with the club for a couple of months before Miami’s inaugural season kicks off in March 2020.
According to @TyCSports, Inter Miami have agreed a $6M deal with Banfield for striker Julián Carranza (with a 10% sell-on clause). The 19-year-old will remain with El Taladro until the end of the year pic.twitter.com/WSrZXIqCen
— Peter Coates (@golazoargentino) June 21, 2019
The young forward was formed in Banfield’s academy and rose up into the senior team, scoring 5 goals in 14 appearances during his 2017/18 debut season, as well as making three appearances in that season’s Copa Libertadores campaign. Carranza is an exciting prospect with reports of having been scouted by Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, and Manchester United, per Argentine radio outlet Radio Continental.
When Carranza finally makes his way here, he’ll likely come with some tips for life in South Florida from his former team captain, ex Miami FC striker Dario Cvitanich. “Super Dario” Cvitanich was FC’s first-ever goalscorer and returned to Banfield, his youth club, in January 2017.
His return coincided with Carranza’s rise into the senior team, where he played deputy to Cvitanich before taking over duties following Cvitanich’s departure to Racing Club earlier this year.
Soccer is perhaps the only sport where a title fight gets a rematch so quickly. Anthony Joshua would probably offer a king’s ransom to get the opportunity that Naples United have been afforded by the NPSL scheduling matrix. As you may recall, Naples got the early lead against the Miami FC last weekend. However, Miguel Gonzalez would have much to say before the match was over. Can Miami avoid disaster in a rematch?
The UPSL Florida Conference South Division quarterfinal kicks off at Tropical Park Stadium in Miami-Dade, as Red Force FC host Palm Beach Spartans FC. You can watch our live coverage on MyCujoo here!