PREVIEW: Meola Era Kicks Off Saturday Against Philadelphia Union

Armada FC Public Relations | Feb. 5, 2016

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Tony Meola era will kick off in Jacksonville at 6 p.m. on Saturday as the Armada FC take on Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union at Community First Park at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, presented by Community First Credit Union.

It will be a rematch of the Armada’s inaugural 3-1 win over the Union on Feb. 7, 2015, at EverBank Field. Forward Alhassane Keita and former players Fabricio Ortiz and Lucas Trejo scored in a match that was calmly controlled by Jacksonville. Goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo led the effort on the back end with eight saves in 57 minutes of work.

The Armada’s 2015 regular season didn’t quite end up the way it began as the club finished 11^th in the combined North American Soccer League standings despite going 8-4-3 at home last season. Most of Jacksonville’s troubles came away from home, as the team posted a 0-3-12 record on the road and went through multiple long scoreless stretches.

To help change the tide, the Armada hired Meola in late November as the new head coach and technical director, and with him he brought impressive knowledge, experience and strong connections. So far, he has brought on nine new players and reshaped the roster into one that will give the Armada a more balanced look on the pitch.

Philadelphia finished ninth in the MLS Eastern Conference last season, posting a 10-7-17 overall record and missing the playoffs. The Union did, however, finish as runner up in the U.S. Open Cup to fellow MLS club Sporting Kansas City, which drew Philadelphia, 1-1, in regulation and came out on top of penalty kicks, 7-6.

Below is a breakdown of each team and the match.

WHEN & WHERE
Saturday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. ET | Community First Park
Buy Tickets | Weather

THE TEAMS
Jacksonville Armada FC (8W-7D-15L, 31 pts., 11th NASL Combined in 2015)
Philadelphia Union (10W-7D-17L, 37 pts., 9th MLS Eastern Conference in 2015)

SERIES HISTORY
Jacksonville leads, 1-0-0

LAST RESULT
Armada FC 3, Union 1 - 2/7/15 in Jacksonville

CLUB QUICK LINKS
Armada FC: News | Roster | Schedule
Union: News | Roster | Schedule

WATCH
- CW17 – Cole Pepper – PXP, Mauricio Ruiz – Color and Ashlea Bullington – Sideline

LISTEN
- Live on Project 106.9-FM | Mike Pepper – PXP and Bob Veal – Color
- Also streamed live on iHeart app and project1069.iheart.com

READ
- Live Twitter updates on @ArmadaFCgameday – #JAXvPHI
- Live stats on ArmadaFC.com

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Jacksonville: Meola has put together an impressive roster so far, and the standouts among the new editions include defender Bryan Burke, forward Matt Fondy, midfielder Pekka Lagerblom and midfielder Richie Ryan.

Burke and Fondy come to Jacksonville from USL side Louisville City FC, where they both helped lead the club to the league’s Eastern Conference final in 2015. Burke was named USL Defensive Player of the Year, while Fondy, who set a league record with 22 goals, won the USL Golden Boot and was named league MVP and earned All-USL first-team honors.

Lagerblom, who hails from Lahti, Finland, is a former Finnish National Team player and won the 2004 German double (Bundesliga and German cup) with Werder Bremen and gained experience in Germany and in Scandinavia. Ryan, a native of Tipperary, Ireland, spent the past two seasons with NASL side Ottawa Fury FC and helped lead the club to a 2015 runner-up finish in addition to being named to the NASL Best XI.

Philadelphia: The Union also added several new players this season, including former DC United midfielder Christopher Pontius. Pontius spent seven years at DC United and helped lead the club to a 2013 U.S. Open cup win and was named a 2012 MLS All-Star. Philadelphia’s top pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft, Joshua Yaro, was taken second overall and was a first-team NSCAA All-American and Big East Player of the Year in 2015 at Georgetown University.

CLUB CONNECTIONS

Armada FC head coach/technical director Tony Meola and Union sporting director Earnie Stewart were teammates on the U.S. National Team throughout the 1990s and were both on the 1994 and 2002 FIFA World Cup squads ... Meola and Stewart were also USMNT teammates of Union assistant coach Mike Sorber, who played on the 1994 World Cup team ... Armada forward Alex Dixon and Union defender Warren Creavalle were teammates at the Houston Dynamo from 2012-13 ... Creavalle and Armada goalkeeper Sebastian Evers were teammates at the University of Central Florida from 2010-11 ... Union defender Richie Marquez was a teammate of Armada defender Matt Bahner's while on loan at the Harrisburg City Islanders in 2014 ... Union goalkeeper John McCarthy was a teammate of Dixon's at Rochester Rhinos in 2014 ... Union midfielder/forward Walter Restrepo, who played 2015 with the New York Cosmos, was a former teammate of Armada forward Jemal Johnson's at the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in spring 2013 ... Armada assistant coach Jim Rooney was an assistant coach for the Strikers in 2011, Restrepo's first year in Fort Lauderdale.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Armada will return to action next Saturday, Feb. 13 as it hosts international star Kaká and MLS club Orlando City SC. Tickets, starting at $10, can be purchased by calling 1.844.2.ARMADA or visiting armadafc.com.