Here. We. Go!
I don’t know if they serve Guinness in the beer garden section of The Miami FC matches at Riccardo Silva Stadium, but the team brought plenty of Guinness Records to the game this past Saturday. They set almost every Modern NASL team record this season. Lets go through them:
- 21 – Not just a winning blackjack hand, but also a new record for amount of wins in a season.
- 69 – Insert dirty joke here, or just add to Miami’s already existing record they set last week for most points in a season.
- 61 – Not just the real single season MLB HR record, according to Giancarlo Michael Stanton, but now the new record for most team goals scored in a Modern NASL season.
- 2x the fun – Your hometown heroes became the first team in Modern NASL history to win both the Spring and Fall Season Championships.
If you’ve been following this team the whole season, I mean, what kind of ingrate wouldn’t be, then you know that the Spring Season was wrapped up pretty early due to their dominance week after week. They also had that epic run in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which was cut short after a loss to FC Cincinnati. The Fall Season didn’t get off to a great start though. Miami slipped out of the gates, with two straight losses! That championship hangover grabs you like Pennywise, and must be avoided at all costs. The team fought back from IT getting out of hand, though. They would only lose one more game all season, and tie three others. That was enough to creep back up into the top of the Fall Standings.
As far as the season closer went this past weekend, I can sum up the first half in one sentence: That was a whole lot of nothin’. Miami dominated possession, and neither team had any real chances that made you get up out of your seat. Plus, that rain was no joke!
At the half, @TheMiamiFC & @FCEdmontonNow are #NillNill from #TheRicky. pic.twitter.com/ic9JqAtkuk
— Lemon City Live (@LemonCityLive) October 29, 2017
The second half is where the magic happened. Their performance was “super”, if you will. Poku was, by far, the hero of the day. In the 52nd minute Rennella sends him one of the cleanest threw-balls you’ll ever see, right down the middle of the field, leaving our Superhero with a one-on-one chance against FC Edmonton’s keeper. Poku cut right, and just tapped it in, Chubbs Peterson style. It was a short-lived celebration though, as Miami got caught sleeping, forcing Captain Lahoud to give up a penalty only four minutes later, which also gave FC Edmonton their first-ever goal against Miami. In the 72nd minute, Miami moved the ball up the left flank, to Dylan Mares, who centered it to a running, league leading scorer, Stefan Pinho, who barely nudges the ball back to a wide open Chubbs, I mean Poku, who again, only had to tap it in. At this point, Miami controlled their Fall Season destiny. The score would hold, and Miami would come away as the first team in Modern NASL history to win both Spring and Fall Seasons in the same calendar year.
The endings of both the Spring and Fall Season had a similar feel for @TheMiamiFC. #MarchToNovember pic.twitter.com/op0qB5WyGo
— NASL (@naslofficial) October 30, 2017
Miami would have to wait to find out who their opponent would be in the semi-finals of the playoffs, since other games around the league had not yet finished. At the post-game press conference, Captain Mike Lahoud, said, “I want the Cosmos”, suggesting that to become a champion you have to beat the best teams. The New York Cosmos are without-a-doubt the most storied franchise in the NASL, and they’ve given Miami the most problems this year, so it makes sense that Lahoud would want to earn vindication by beating them. Daniel Vega, on the other hand, doesn’t care who they play next, confident that they can beat anyone on the league. He said, “To be the champion you have to beat whomever comes your way”. When asked who was celebrating the Fall Season Championship the most, Poku said, “After we win the whole championship, we can enjoy, we can celebrate it.”
Champs! Your @TheMiamiFC wins the @naslofficial fall season! The win gives Miami the record for most wins in a combined modern NASL season! pic.twitter.com/TmOUQh9v2B
— Lemon City Live (@LemonCityLive) October 29, 2017
Next up, Miami, having earned home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, including the final, does indeed play the New York Cosmos in the semi’s. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Delta’s face off against North Carolina FC. The winners of both those games will play each other in what some people fear might be the final NASL final, depending on what happens with the U.S. Soccer Federation and their distinction of what division is given to the NASL in the coming months. Stay tuned!
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