Both Magic City Clubs Win; United By Four, FC By Ten

It was a good night of soccer for the Magic City faithful. With two matches taking place consecutively, or so we thought, South Florida was treated to 180 minutes of dominating action. In Lauderhill, Miami FC had to wait approximately three hours to kickoff their match against the new look Storm FC. Our contingent was at the match, where the weather delay persisted due to lightning strikes in the area, despite a drop of water never falling from the sky. Scheduled for a 5:30 kickoff, Miami United’s contest against the Jacksonville Armada began prior to kickoff at Central Broward Stadium.

United Sink The Armada

In North Miami, the Armada’s U-23 side never stood a chance. In the 12th minute, full back Max Schenfeld, opened his 2019 United account by giving the pink and black and early lead. The Armada’s U-23 would show their inexperience throughout the first half as wave after wave of United attack came in from constant possession. Fifteen minutes later, John Montano would blast another past the Armada keeper doubling the lead into half-time.

After half-time, the woes would continue for the young Armada side. United would dominate possession early on during the second half and collect their third goal in a nifty connection between Schenfeld and striker Bryan Perea. Reminiscent to an amazing goal from Tomas Granitto in the first match that doomed United, Matheus Gotler got in on the Olimpico action. Gotler’s corner kick in the 61′ found top bins along the back post and allowed United to cruise to a 4-0 victory.

Miami FC Expel The Storm After Weather Delay

After the match in Lauderhill finally got underway around 8PM local time, it was all Miami FC. Storm FC had stated prior to kickoff that more than half of their roster was not cleared for the match by NPSL registration. Unfortunately for Storm, it showed. The bloodbath started in the fifth minute as Neeskens played a long ball over the top to Miguel Gonzalez. The attempt should have been by the Storm FC keeper, however, an awkward bounce had his clearance attempt slide under his foot and allowed Gonzalez to tap it in to an empty net for the first of the night.

Approximately twenty minutes later, Ariel Gonzalez would find himself with the ball of his feet around the penalty area. As he worked his way closer to the six yard box, he would be taken down and awarded a penalty by the referee. The former Cuban international would beat the Storm FC keeper and open his 2019 account in his first match of the season. Gonzalez would triple Miami’s league with a goal in the thirtieth minute and it would all go downhill for Storm from there.

In the 34′, Brenton Griffiths would be given a gift as a Harrison Heath’s corner would land at his feet. His effort seemed to be mishit, yet, had enough pace to beat the keeper low and to the near post. With a four goal cushion and a US Open Cup match on the horizon, Paul Dalglish made give changes at the half allowing all the goal scorers, Granitto, Rozeboom and Mares to come off the pitch.

The one sided match would continue as Dario Suarez would find his second goal of the season as Brian James played an excellent throughball right down the heart of the penalty area. In the 76th minute, moments after Mohamed Thiaw clanked a penalty effort off the post, Thiaw would get his foot on the end of a Marco Franco cross giving Miami six on the night and opening his account.

In Miami FC’s very next counter attack, Lloyd Sam would open his account on a low driven blast leaving the Storm keeper watching the ball into the back of the net. John Neeskens would enter the goal scoring party in the 79th minute with a blast into the roof of the goal from a tight angle. Thiaw would get a second in the 82nd minute as would Dario Suarez in the final seconds of the match. Tally them up, and you get a 10-0 victory for the Miami FC.

Miami FC’s schedule is rather clogged at the moment with the US Open Cup fixture against the Florida Soccer Soldiers. United returns to the pitch on Saturday looking to go on a three game winning streak. Tickets for both fixtures can be found by clicking on the respective links below.

Click Here For Tickets to Miami FC’s Open Cup Match

Click Here For Tickets to Miami United’s Next Home Match