The Austin Aztex have ruled eight players out for Saturday’s clash in Puerto Rico, as they try to keep their hold on first place. Meanwhile, they’ve set the date for the first playoff game in team history: Sat., Oct. 9, 7:30pm. Tickets are on sale here.
You can also watch the Puerto Rico game at that site, Sat., Sept. 11, 7pm.
Ruled out for the weekend match are top goal scorer Eddie Johnson (yellow card accumulation), midfielders Lawrence Olum (groin), Joey Worthen (hamstring), Stephan Campbell (groin), and defenders Jay Needham (hamstring) and Sam Brill (muscle strain). Also unable to make the trip are newcomer Tsuyoshi Yoshitake and midfield workhorse Yordany Alvarez.
It’s a testament to the Aztex organization that with so much talent out of action, there’s still a pretty strong and cohesive squad left ready to play.
By my reckoning, the lineup for Puerto Rico should look something like this (or substitute midfielder Tyler Hemming for one of the forwards):
STARTERS
GK Miguel Gallardo
D Kieron Bernard
D Yohance Marshall
D Leonard Griffin
D Kevin Sakuda
M Lance Watson
M Michael Callahan
M Sullivan Silva
F Jamie Watson
F Maxwell Griffin
F Randi Patterson
BENCH
GK Sean Kelley
D Mechack Jerome
D Wes Allen
F Kendell McFayden
M Ian Fuller
M Tyler Hemming
M Ronald Caicedo
NOT AVAILABLE
D Jay Needham
D Sam Brill
M Lawrence Olum
M Joey Worthen
M Stephan Campbell
M Tsuyoshi Yoshitake
M Yordany Alvarez
F Eddie Johnson
Next up: Thu., Sept. 16, 6:30pm in Tampa Bay and Sat., Sept. 18, 7pm in St. Louis. The regular-season home finale is Sat., Sept. 25, 7:30pm vs. St. Louis at House Park.
This article appears in September 10 • 2010.