Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Inauspicious start for AC St. Louis

(socceramerica.com 4-10-10)

AC St. Louis' debut got off to an inauspicious start when it couldn't produce a picture ID for Manu Kante and it played the first 31 minutes of its game at Carolina with 10 men until Kante returned from the team hotel with it. By that time, the RailHawks led on a pair of goals by Maltese striker Etienne Barbara and held on for the 2-0 win.

“He can offer us a lot because he’s a threat with his pace but also he’s so strong that he can hold the ball up,” Carolina coach Martin Rennie said of Barbara. “And as you could see tonight, he can finish. He only had two chances, and he took them. So that was good.”

The surprise of the weekend was Austin's 2-0 win over 2009 USL-1 champion Montreal on goals by Lawrence Olum and Jamie Watson.

Former MLS star Christian Gomez played for FC Miami in its 1-1 tie with Rochester, but the other notable signing from MLS, Steve Ralston, did not play for AC St. Louis.

Attendance was poor on the opening weekend of the new D-2 Pro League. The four games averaged 2,700 a game.

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