The Atlanta Silverbacks beat the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers 2-1 on Wednesday, August 5th at Silverbacks Park in Atlanta. Pedro Mendes continued his hot streak scoring both of the Silverbacks goals. Walter Ramirez scored the lone Striker goal from what seemed an impossible angle.
Quick passes in the 41st minute from Kosuke Kimura to Jaime Chavez to Pedro Mendes resulted in the Silverbacks first goal. This is a perfect example of the kind of ball movement and finishing that wasn’t in evidence during a Spring Season that saw the Silverbacks struggle to score and end up at the bottom of the table. Walter Ramirez scored from the backline almost immediately after halftime to level the score, but Pedro Mendes shot to the far post in the 66th minute found the back of the net. The match would end with that scoreline.
The match ended with only eight Strikers on the field. Stefano Pinho was given a straight red in the 84th minute for a tackle on Josh Hughes. Straight red cards would also be issued in Stoppage Time to Karsten Smith and James Marcelin. It will be interesting to see how the club handles upcoming matches with so many players ineligible.
The match can be viewed on ESPN3 at 7:30.
