The Utah Blitzz couldn't help feeling like a third wheel at Friday's Pro Select League media luncheon in Charlotte, site of Saturday's league championship.
The coach of year honor went to Charlotte's Mark Steffens. The MVP went to Charlotte's Jacob Coggins. Several other first-team honors and statistical awards went to Charlotte players as well. In fact, the only notoriety for Utah was Chad Sackett being selected to the first team.
"There was an interesting feeling among the team that Charlotte walked away with virtually every single award," said Utah coach Chris Agnello. "We'll just have to do our talking on the field."
Charlotte and Utah meet today at 5 p.m. (MST) in a game to decide the 2004 PSL national champion. The game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports World. Fans can also receive periodic updates on the Internet at charlotteeagles.com.
The host Eagles should have a distinct advantage. Not only are they playing on their home field, but they won't be nearly as shorthanded as Utah.
Utah's talented midfielder Matt Evans didn't make the trip to Charlotte because of a knee injury, while defender Will Cummins is out thanks to a red-card in the semifinals.
"The team all season has dealt with issues like that," said Agnello. "We get another injury, and the team says 'oh well.' That obviously comes down to the fact we have some very good depth."
Tommy Rutter will start in place of Cummins, and team up with Trevor Persson, Jacobi Goodfellow and Athanasios Koubouras to form the backbone of Utah's strength — defense. In finishing the season with an 11-6-3 record, Utah allowed only seven goals in its last 12 games.
Replacing Evans won't be nearly as easy. Rich Breza will slide back into Matt Evans' defensive midfield role, even though his passing and distribution aren't nearly as effective. Defensively though, Breza is outstanding in that position. Agnello projects that B.J. McNicol, Alejandro Gutierrez and Jorge Estrada will start in the middle with Breza.
Up top, Byron Carmichael and Jason Boyce should get the nod.
Carmichael scored Utah's only goal in a 1-0 victory over heavily favored Pittsburgh in last week's semifinal. Boyce was absent from that game, but the former MLS player is anxious to make a splash in the championship.
Charlotte is a big, physical team that plays a clean brand of hard-nosed soccer.
"They're kind of like a college team," said Agnello. "Obviously they're a strong team to get here."
CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES: Utah elected not to bring in forward Fadi Afash for the championship game. He's been playing with Portland of the A-League for the last month, and Agnello doubted his desire to rejoin Utah even for a championship match. . . . Charlotte won the league's South Division with a 14-14-2 record and beat New Hampshire 1-0 in the semifinals. . . . Utah and Charlotte met in the 2000 national semifinals, with Charlotte prevailing 4-2 en route to the championship. The Eagles jumped to the A-League in 2001 before returning to the PSL this year.
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