It's not a must-win game, but it's pretty close as AC St. Louis faces Tampa Bay at 5 p.m. in a game where a loss would make reaching the playoffs not impossible, but very improbable. (As always, the game will be streamed on www.ac-stlouis.com)
AC St. Louis is in 11th place in Division 2, six points out of the final playoff spot. A win over Tampa, one of the three teams AC needs to pass in the standings, would put them three points out of the playoffs. A loss would drop them eight points out of the playoffs as Tampa would climb over Minnesota and into eighth. With six games to play, including three against league powers Austin and Rochester, maing up eight points would be very hard.
Coach Dale Schilly said a loss would make the playoffs a "tall order," but that his team won't really focus on the playoffs until they get a win and three points. The team has played ties in three of its past four games, which has stalled its playoff chase.
"For us, we're only dealing with getting three points against Tampa and how can we play against Tampa. The playoffs are something that are second in our mind now. The quality of our soccer is very important in order for us to get results, so we've spent a lot of time in the past two or three weeks in making sure we're taking care of all parts of the game and we're seeing it in training. The guys are playing much, much better, but does that translate into goals?
"That's the question. But you play Portland, Vancouver and Puerto Rico, all good games where we've performed well and it's a matter of do we match up physically with those teams to score goals. We've been good. Now, can we score?"
AC St. Louis lost to Tampa Bay 3-0 at home in May under coach Claude Anelka in one of the team's low spots. The one-sidedness of that defeat also means that unless AC can beat Tampa by three or more goals, Tampa would have the tiebreaker edge.
"Tampa's going to be good," Schilly said. "They've good players, they'll be fairly direct. They just picked up (Maykel) Galindo, who's an MLS guy, a Cuban international. They're going to be very difficult to play against. It's a matter of how are we? Can we make that pass to get a chance to finish?"
Schilly said 16-year-old Luis Gil would likely get more playing time today. Gil has seen only limited time -- he would have played 20 minutes against Puerto Rico had the game not been called early because of lightning -- but is up to speed now. He could play 45 minutes.
The challenge for Schilly and his team has been to find someone to pair up top with Mike Ambersley. Though Ambersley is a quality goalscorer, the team has just one goal in its past three games.
"A big part of it is," Schilly said, "do we have the right partner for Ambersley up front because the guys we're having to play against are bigger, stronger, faster than Mike and it's hard for him. And at the other end, who's the ideal partner for Zach (Bauer) in the center of the back? How are we going to stop them from scoring?"
The problem is that the ideal partner for Ambersley, someone bigger who balls could be played to and who would force opposing defenses to concentrate on, may not be on the roster. Much of the time, Ambersley has to go it alone up top.
"We may not have the answers. I don't know if we have the answers," Schilly said. "When he gets his chances, those are the moments where the guys have played the right ball at the right time and Mike's made the right run. Against good teams, it takes a lot of work for us to create chances when it looks like it comes easier for other teams. Mike can get his chances becuase he works so hard but everything else has to fall into place. The right run, the right pass, the right timing, the right weight on the pass.
"If he has a partner, now he becomes more dangerous, a guy who can pick and choose his moments."
