Soccer Watch
By Nick Barbaro, Fri., May 31, 2013
Two dramatic substitutions headline Soccer Watch this week:
Seth Casiple made his debut for the Austin Aztex Saturday night as a 57th-minute sub, and, with his first touch of the season, scored the only goal of the game on a free kick as the Aztex beat their perennial rival, the Laredo Heat, 1-0. Casiple is one of the Aztex' late arrivals, just in from UC Berkeley; he may be new to Austin, but after the game he said all the right things: "I was really thankful, and I immediately ran towards Eberly's Army because they were giving me a push the whole time and they really hyped me up."
This Saturday, with the full roster finally in place, the Aztex face a top-of-the-table matchup, hosting first-place Oklahoma City FC to end their five-game homestand. OKC lost to the Aztex 2-1 at home in the season opener, but since then have won three straight and lead the Aztex (3-0) in goal differential. Saturday, June 1, 7:30pm at House Park (15th & Lamar). Pre- and post-game fan gatherings will be at the Tavern (12th & Lamar).
Robbie Rogers became the first openly gay male athlete in a major American team sport*, when he took the field for the L.A. Galaxy Sunday night, coming out of a brief retirement that coincided with his coming out. Hats off for the way they handled it to both Rogers and the Galaxy (who had to give up leading scorer Mike Magee to get the rights to Rogers; in return, they get a winger with international-level talent, and their first big post-Beckham PR coup). And the overwhelmingly positive response – both to Rogers and to the NBA's Jason Collins – has been heartening.
The U.S. Men are playing friendlies against Belgium and Germany this week, in preparation for World Cup qualifiers June 7, 11, and 18.
* Note that there are five separate qualifiers in that statement: women don't count; tennis players don't count; ultimate frisbee players don't count; effete Europeans don't count, and of course, those who suck it up and just lie about themselves like men don't count. Ponder that on your own time.
