Broward Ballas’ Second Half Woes Define First Two Games

The Deerfield Beach club has lost their opening matches to Miami FC’s Academy and Weston FC.

After a shaky preseason, Broward Ballas FC still felt prepared to take on the challenges of UPSL Divsion 1 in the club’s second year of existence. However, the first two results of the season did not turn out the way they hoped, losing to Miami FC and Weston FC with 9 goals scored against.

Before the opening match against Miami’s academy, star player Luca Napoleone had to call out due to sickness, a huge blow to Broward’s attack. Even so, after a back-and-forth first ten minutes, the home side dominated the match with multiple chances led by Lucas Baldini. To end the first half, however, it was Miami FC who would first hit the scoresheet. A quick throw in from the academy side led to the first goal, and a rebound off a shot that hit the post made it 2-0 at the half.

The second half was better not talked about for the club as Miami piled on three more goals. The division favorites left Deerfield Beach with a resounding 5-0 win. Coach Michael Alvarez stated, “In the second half we completely fell out of shape and things started to go downhill. I think the morale went down after dominating a little bit so everybody was upset and then we ended up conceding three goals. A bad loss obviously, which is unfortunate but we gotta push through and try to be better for the season. We started off hot, but we gotta finish the job.”

The club tried to respond positively in their second match away to Weston FC U19 1, a team Broward drew with last season. While a few players were out due to injury, the team was fairly strong especially with Luca Napoleone’s return. And his return immediately paid off: Within the first two minutes of the match, Napoleone had scored Broward’s first goal of the season.

However, Weston FC were able to equalize 10 minutes later from a penalty. That gave the home side some momentum in the attack, but Franco, the Broward GK, made multiple good saves to keep the score at 1-1 going into the half.

Then again, Broward fell asleep in the second half. As their opposition was falling out of shape, Weston dominated the match and got their second goal. A Broward clearance fell to one of their players, whose shot became an accidental pass and went directly to his teammate for a 1 on 1 finish against the goalkeeper. A third goal would be added from a free kick, and then a 4th off a simple tap-in.

After the second loss, Coach Alvarez said, “We need to really focus on how to bounce back from these, do the right thing, and focus on holding our leads and scoring more, really working down the field with possession of the ball. It feels like we’re rushing it for no reason. We have about three weeks off right now until our next game, and we really need to focus on just playing smart, finding the right space, and keeping the ball and scoring goals.”

It’s two tough losses for the club, but with a large gap in their schedule, they have time to address the glaring needs in their play. The loss to Miami is forgivable considering they top the table of Florida South Zone 1 with 15 points from 5 matches, but they may want the Weston game back as they sit 6th with 6 points after 4 games. Broward are 11th in the 12-team division, but have multiple games in hand on many opponents.

The Broward Ballas will next face off away against Aventura FC Bold Nation (2nd in the division) on May 4, and that will be followed by 3 straight home matches from May 11 to May 22.