La saison de la A-League est commencé.

[François]

Hier soir devant 843 spectateurs (!), les Mariners de Virginia Beach ont vaincu à la maison les Riverhawks de Cincinnati 3-2. Les Mariners nouveau look n'ont pas réussi à attirer plus de 1000 personnes à leur premier match de la saison. Ils ont ajouté de nouveaux joueurs de qualité mais les gens n'ont pas répondu...


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Mariners beat clock to open their season with a victory
By TRIS WYKES, The Virginian-Pilot
© April 19, 2003

VIRGINIA BEACH — On the verge of a collapse all too familiar to their long-suffering fans, the Virginia Beach Mariners instead rallied Friday for a 3-2 defeat of the Cincinnati Riverhawks in the A-League’s season opener.
A Sportsplex crowd announced at 843 saw the new-look Mariners surge to a 2-0 halftime lead before Cincinnati pulled even on goals in the 80th and 87th minutes.

However, two minutes of injury time were added by referee Mike Stutt, and Virginia Beach struck for the victory with fewer than 10 seconds of that span remaining.

“That’s too close for comfort, and we’ve got to get better,” said Mariners coach Shawn McDonald, whose 2002 squad suffered through a 6-19-3 season. “It’s nice to pull one out like that, but we could have put them away a lot earlier.”

Virginia Beach finally buried the Riverhawks when midfielder Roland Aguilera’s free kick was redirected in on the run by striker Dante Washington.
“Pato,” as Aguilera is known, bent his low offering around a wall of Cincinnati defenders on the left side of the box and dropped it inside the 6-yard line. Moving from the right and toward the left post, Washington made contact with the feed before goalkeeper Eric Pattison could react.

“A beautifully struck ball, the kind that as a striker you look for,” said Washington a former teammate of Aguilera’s with the Columbus Crew of MLS. “When he puts them where he put it, it makes my job a lot easier.”

McDonald’s job shouldn’t be nearly as tough this season with the influx of talent brought in by owner Mike Field. The Washington-area car dealer and First Colonial High graduate mostly stood pat after rescuing the failing franchise last June, but his 2003 roster appears much improved.

The 5-foot-8, 160-pound Aguilera, with his nonstop hustle and impressive field vision, stood out the most Friday with a goal and two assists. But Washington was also impressive, along with midfielder Jakob Fenger and central defender Steve Danbusky. And Washington thinks the club will improve game by game.

“Once we all get our match fitness and get sharp, you’ll see a better product than what you saw tonight,” he said.

Washington opened the scoring when he headed in an Aguilera free kick on the run in the 24th minute. And Aguilera made it 2-0 a minute later when he pounded a loose ball into an empty net after Washington and Pattison collided on an outer corner of the Cincinnati box.

It appeared the rout was on against a Riverhawks club that finished 8-20 last season. But Virginia Beach became lackadaisical after the intermission.

“We might have thought we had the game won, but there was still a whole half to play,” Washington said. “We didn’t come out in the second half and put our stamp on the game like we did in the first half, and it cost us.

“You have to take games from this and learn from it and apply it to the rest of the season. Hopefully, we won’t have to keep pulling out goals in injury time.’’

Notes: Mariners forward Roy Lassiter, the MLS career scoring leader, was mostly ineffectual in 59 minutes. McDonald said the 34-year-old is suffering from a leg injury. ... Mariners forward Gary Brooks did not dress, serving the last game of a league suspension remaining from last season. ... The Mariners’ starting lineup: goalkeeper Matt Nelson, left back Russell Hutchinson, center backs Danbusky and Richard Mahoney, right back Jacobi Goodfellow, left outside midfielder Hamisi Amani-Dove, center midfielders Daniel Alvarez and Aguilera, right outside midfielder Fenger, and forwards Lassiter and Washington. ... Field used a portable microphone to make a pregame speech to the crowd from the sidelines. He thanked the club’s volunteer workers before introducing the players and coaches individually. ... The Mariners debuted new uniforms combining navy jerseys with white trim and white shorts with navy trim. ... Kevin Knott, a defender and third-year pro who started nearly all Mariners games last season, entered in the 66th minute. ... Singer Dean Fields, a Richmond native, performed the national anthem and played guitar and sang on the Sportsplex concourse at halftime and after the game.

Reach Tris Wykes at 446-2367 or at twykes@pilotonline.com

[Daniel]

Ouille! Pour une équipe qui peut p-e faire du dommage dans l'Est, c'est pas fort...

[Bxl Boy]

C'est eux qui ont ce si beau stade ?
Quel gâchis de le laisser vide...
Enfin, si comme celui de Toronto il est à 50 km de toute zone habitée...

[BoB]

J'pense qu'on aura droit à Montréal à une moyenne d'assistance plus élevée que la moyenne cette année encore!!!

S'ils ont une bonne saison, je prédis une ou deux salle comble!!