Previewing the 2012 NASL Season

By Hunter Pages at February 17, 2012 | 11:23 am | Print

With the NASL set to kick-off its second season, we look at the teams competing in the 2012 season and what to look for leading up to and during the season.

Minnesota Stars FC

The team that secured the last playoff spot on the last day of the season ended up winning the 2011 NASL Championship in fantastic fashion. However, while the Stars will be looking to retain their title, it will be a tough season for the team if they don’t have any significant additions to their roster from last season. It’s not that Minnesota wasn’t a good team last year, in fact they could beat any team in the NASL when it’s their day. But, looking at last season, it wasn’t their day on ten occasions last season and that needs to improve this season if they want to avoid the last day drama of 2011 and prove that last season’s championship was not a fluke.

Carolina RailHawks

The RailHawks were the NASL Regular Season Champions in 2011 and will look to make a serious run for the playoff championship to compliment the teams that the organization has been fielding the past couple of years. The major thing to look for with the RailHawks this season is how the new head coach, Colin Clarke, has the team playing and what players he will bring in. The RailHawks benefited greatly from the tandem of Etienne Barbara and Pablo Campos up top, which combined for 32 goals in 2011. With both Barbara and Campos gone it will be interesting to see who will be up top come April and if they can finish as effectively as the Barbara-Campos duo. If the hiring of Colin Clarke doesn’t already say it, the RailHawks organization expects to be battling for a title come October and it would be considered a disappointment if the team is not at least in the semi-finals.

Puerto Rico Islanders

One of the top teams in the second division for the past few years and it’s hard to see the team letting up this season, even with the departure of Colin Clarke, who had been the man in charge since 2007. The Islanders replaced Clarke by promoting assistant Adrian Whitbread to the vacated position. If the team plays like they have been known to do the past few seasons, you can expect to see the Islanders battling for the regular season title as well as the playoff championship in 2012. That being said, the Islanders are the team most affected by International call-ups and conference tournaments if the team can stay healthy and the roster is deep enough this team can almost certainly be expected to be one of the top teams in the NASL for 2012.

Tampa Bay Rowdies

The Rowdies are back! After playing under the name FC Tampa Bay for the past two seasons the ownership brought back the old NASL team brand. The Rowdies are going to be a team to watch out for during 2012. The team has retained some of their key players from last season including NASL 4^th place goal scorer, Mike Ambersly, as well as adding veterans such as former Bristol City Captain, Stuart Campbell. Even though in 2011 they were not fighting for the regular season title, the team was steady and consistent, especially at home. In fact, the Rowdies only home defeats in 2011 regular season came from table leaders, Carolina RailHawks and Puerto Rico Islanders. If the Rowdies can pull out more favorable results on the road, don’t be surprised if you see this team possibly fighting for the first or second spot in the league this season.

Fort Lauderdale Strikers

The results for the Strikers in 2011 were dominated by draws. The Fort Lauderdale team led the league with eleven matches ending in shared points. Even with all the level scores the strikers managed to make it into the playoffs and reach the Final before falling to Minnesota in the two leg series. The Strikers in 2011 were a mid table team that was able to beat every team at least once with the exception of Tampa Bay. However, much like the Rowdies, the Strikers have brought back a strong group of their 2011 team including NASL Best XI defenders Toni Stahl and Lance Laing and also the NASL’s 5^th place goal scorer Brian Shriver. In 2012 look to see if the Strikers can turn some of those draws into wins and if they do… well… has anyone given thought to the two Florida teams being two of the teams to watch out for? If Fort Lauderdale can get their offense firing like they did in the playoffs then they’ll be extremely dangerous moving forward.

FC Edmonton

Edmonton was somewhat of a surprise team last season,, when early in the season they found themselves in second place behind Carolina. Then they slowly began to drop but still managed to secure a playoff spot in their inaugural season. Not bad for the first time out. Moving into the 2012 season, Edmonton has dropped 12 players from the 2011 team and has only officially signed one new player, Montreal Impact defender, Kevin Hatchi. Edmonton did have their eye on Yashir Pinto, a Chilean U-20 international, but after a preliminary fitness exam he returned to Chile for further examination. FC Edmonton still has time to add more players to the roster before the league kick-off in April and will almost certainly do just that if they want to improve on what they accomplished last season. During 2012 Edmonton will have to get better results on the road, as that was their undoing in 2011 when they dropped from second place. Keep an eye on Edmonton leading up to the season as they’ll be adding players and look to see Edmonton can get points on the road this season. If they can’t, then it is a great possibility that Edmonton could miss out on the playoffs in what is shaping up to be a more tightly contested NASL.

Atlanta Silverbacks

How rough would it be to lose 20 games out of 28 and be one of two teams not to make the playoffs? That’s what happened to the Silverbacks in their inaugural season with the NASL. Despite the poor results throughout the season the club retained ten of their players from 2011 and the mentality among the returning players is quite simply, improvement. The Silverbacks have improved their roster by bringing in the Chilean striker, Reinaldo Navia, who should almost certainly be a threat this season for other teams. The Silverbacks have also brought in Hungarian goalkeeper Daniel Illyes and Brazilian defender, Rilla, to help stop the bleeding of goals that occurred in 2011 (league high, 63). Make no mistake the Silverbacks will cause some talk at times this season. However, it will be interesting to see if they can put it all together during the season so that they can successfully put the embarrassment that was 2011 behind them.

San Antonio Scorpions FC

If you’ve kept in touch with the news around the NASL as of late then you know that the Scorpions organization appears to be dedicated to bringing top quality soccer to the San Antonio area. The signings for the scorpions have done nothing but reinforce that image as the management has signed MLS players such as Kevin Harmse, and Ryan Cochrane. The Scorpions also went out and signed Pablo Campos who, as mentioned earlier, was second in the league in scoring in 2011. And if that wasn’t enough San Antonio also signed Mexican midfielder, Javier Saavedra, who has played nearly 300 games for Tigres UNAL. San Antonio is certainly gaining steam heading into the season with their signings and it would be hard to see this team not doing well in the NASL this season. When one looks at this team you get the feeling that there could be some great offense coming out of San Antonio. Time will tell if they can mimic the success, or even surpass, of the 2011 expansion team FC Edmonton.

Unlike 2011, the NASL is shaping up to be more of a level playing field in 2012. There are still teams that are more favored than others but overall don’t expect to see an eleven point difference between second and third, or a thirty-eight point difference between first and eighth. Instead, expect an exciting season that will have many ups and downs for many teams, and there’s almost no telling who can come out on top come then end of the season.

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