The Laredo Heat can stop worrying about making the playoffs, as the stars aligned for the club on Sunday when the Austin Aztex lost to the Dallas Fort Worth Tornados and the El Paso Patriots were tripped up by the West Texas Sockers.
With its fifth consecutive playoff birth in the books, Laredo can now turn its attention into locking up a third divisional title when the club closes out the season against the Sockers on Friday.
“We have been in the league five years, and five years we have made the playoffs,” Heat general manager J.J. Vela said. “This is something that we are very proud of as an organization.
“However, this is just the first step for us in the bigger picture this year. We are excited about making the playoffs and the opportunity that brings to give our region of the United States continued soccer notoriety.”
If the Heat (6-1-8, 26 points) wins, the club will have 29 points and clinch the Mid South Division, as no other team can total more than 28 points. Additionally, Laredo owns the tiebreaker against all teams except West Texas, which was the only Mid South team to beat the Heat this season.
Making the three points all the more important is that home field advantage is on the line; the divisional winner gets to host the divisional playoffs the weekend of July 24-26.
“The Mid South Division regular season title is still there for us,” Vela said. “The importance it brings to us is hosting the divisional championship tournament next weekend in Laredo… that would be huge for us, plus it gives us more time to rest.”
With a Laredo victory, the club would welcome the two survivors among the Aztex (7-4-4, 25), Sockers (7-4-3, 24), Patriots (7-6-1, 22) and Rio Grande Bravos (5-4-5, 20).
The second and third seeded teams would face off first, with the winner playing the Heat for the right to move on to the Elite 8 the following weekend.
The two conference winners play in the championship on Saturday, Aug. 8.
If Laredo ties against West Texas, then the door is left wide open for the divisional title. But at 27 points, the Heat could still win the divisional title if things fell its way again.
The club is optimistic that the injured Greg Mulamba and Danny Galvan could be available for the contest. Their services would be welcomed, especially since the club is going to be without Dionisio “Nicho” Infante and Esteban Bayona.
Infnate is suspended due to yellow card accumulation and Bayona received a red card in the last match.
On Monday the Premier Development League mandated that all teams freeze their rosters at 26 players with no more signings allowed.
The Heat got a break with the the number of foreign players they can carry as Juan De Dios Ibarra received his Resident Card on Monday and is now classified as domestic.
That allowed the team to keep Luis Reyes, who was on the bubble due to a high-ankle sprain, on the roster.
One player whose injuries played a part in him not the final cut was Esteban Bayona,w ho despite leading the team in goals was the odd man out because of the over-23 limit.
Bayona had returned from his injury but was less then 100 percent and apparently more injured than suspected.
The postseason roster is made up of Erick Acevedo, Rodrio Avila, Soamy Bautista, Theo Browne, Ryan Cooper, Alejandro De La Fuente, Lucas Dyer, Albert Escovar, Danny Galvan, Eusebio Garcia, Wayo Gonzalez, Alex Hergert, Ibarra, Dionisio Infante, Adam Kelemet, Frank Lara, Juan Lara, Reyes, Josh Maley, Mulamba, Carlos Ordaz, Joel Perez, Raul Quiñones, Alfredo Ramos and Pedro Ramos.
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