The oldest competition in US Soccer is returning to Maine and the opponent of the Hearts of Pine have been announced. US Soccer recently announced that Hearts will be playing Cambridge-based amateur side CD Faialense. This is the first time US Open has returned to Maine since 2016 when a match was held at Deering High School by then USL2 side Portland Phoenix. The match is to be held on Thursday, March 20th at 6:30 PM at Lewiston High School. Tickets from the club are still available as of this publication.
Team History:
Historians of US Soccer know that the 1970’s was something of a second golden age for the sport. The first national professional league, the NASL, had come into fruition, Pele had come out of retirement to join the New York Cosmos, and in Cambridge, MA a group of immigrants from the tiny island of Faial in the Azores founded a community institution. Trophies, adorning tables and shelf space in a small social space on Cambridge Street stand testament to 53 years of amateur soccer north of the Charles River. According to an excellent piece by US Soccer, Clube Desportivo Faialense has seen something of a resurgence in the last few years which has included winning the Bay State Soccer League two years in a row with a record of 12-3-2 this past season. The club also sailed through the Open Cup qualifiers, usually winning with comfortable margins. This, however, will be their first time in the Open Cup, which for amateur teams is something of the ‘promised land.’ Speaking to US Soccer, club officials stated they hope that through this competition the club will be one step closer to finding a permanent playing ground, something the team has lacked since the 1970’s.
Key Players:
CD Faialense, like most amateur sides, has a diverse roster. According to US Soccer, all members of the first team played NCAA Division 1 soccer during college. Former Harvard, URI, UNH, and UMass Lowell players standout among a core of old guard players from Merrimack College. Leading the team is player-coach Paul Correia, a nephew of the founder of CD Faialense, who has built up a squad worthy of the Open Cup over the past few years. Among his starting XI will be fellow Merrimack College alum Lucas Rezende who finished the 2019 MC season with 9 clean sheets and helped his program transition from D3 to D1 soccer. Other recent college players are Damien Attidore, a midfielder, who also serves as a coach at Lincoln-Sudbury HS in Massachusetts and played with UMass Lowell mainly as a substitute player. Nonetheless he got 2 goals and 1 assist in their 2021 season. Among the score leaders to keep an eye out for are M/F Max Krause, a German, who played for Holy Cross scoring 15 goals and 22 assists in the Patriot League and was at one point nationally ranked (NCAA) in assists. Perhaps the most experienced player on the roster is 22-year-old Italian Alessandro Arlotti. In his youth, Arlotti played with AS Monaco’s academy and represented his homeland in the U17 World Cup and U17 European Championship. During his college career at Harvard, Arlotti scored 20 goals, and 20 assists across 3 seasons of play. Both Krause and Arlotti, were among those able to score during the Cambridge club’s qualifying rounds, helping significantly to drive them into this competition.
What to Expect from Matchday
Like many amateur teams, full roster details are not publicly available, let alone recent playing statistics. Looking briefly at these 4 players, its clear that Faialense have built a squad to make it to this competition. Both Krause and Arlotti could be dangerous if allowed to roam freely especially if someone feeds them balls from the wings or from the back of the field. That said, the Hearts do benefit from having a fairly seasoned defensive line with professional experience, something that Faialense does not have. All that said, however, a lot about Faialense’s roster remains unknown and only match day will tell how they square up versus our players.
Similarly, the tactical shape of Faialense is not well known although some information can be gleaned from the recording of their last qualifying match (CD Faialense are in White). It appears that their standard system is to run something like a 4-4-2 or at times a 3-5-2. In that game, the Massachusetts club made a good show of moving the ball up the wings. In the lead up to 2 of the 3 goals, Faialense moved the ball out long to the wings before crossing the ball late to an awaiting striker in the box. For the third goal, Faialense poached a ball from a defender and made a deep run where the keeper was unable to stop the ball. On the defense, one or both full back would come down the wing to strengthen the back line. This freed up the CDs to block while a midfielder to attempt to regain possession. It should be noted, however, that Faialense did an admirable job regaining possession in the midfield and kept their opponent (CNY New York) from making drives into their defensive end.
Final Thoughts:
This game is significant for two reasons. First, from a fan and club perspective this is the culmination of 6 years of hard work and dedication to bring professional soccer to Maine. For the first time in history a professional soccer team will host an Open Cup match in the state. For fans who have been watching this project from the beginning it will be an emotional kick-off. Furthermore, it’s the beginning of something truly special. This is the first team since the 1940's that an independent team represents our city and state without the backing of a division 1 sports team. Its hard to predict the future but it will no doubt be a source of pride for many to say they saw this first match and while Lewiston will not be our permanent home, it is fitting that a city with such a rich soccer history will see this game take place.
From a sporting perspective, this will be the first great test for Bobby Murphy’s team. We have seen glimmers of what’s possible with convincing victories over Bermuda and Hartford Athletic and a notable draw versus Rhode Island. That said, however, those were not competitive matches. Hartford, for example, largely played an academy roster while in all 3 matches the Hearts were testing out trialists who may not matriculate to our final roster. Thus, this match will be the first scientific measurement, if you will, of how the Hearts of Pine size up competitively. Pre-season predictions for the team have largely relegated the Hearts to being a dark horse. One recent statistical analysis by John Morrissey of USL Tactics predicted the club would finished 13 out of 14 clubs. That said, a further dive into his analysis shows our box-and-whisker point spread being the second largest of any team making overall prediction difficult. Winning at Lewiston will be the first step to challenging that dark horse narrative. For now, the Hearts need to make sure they don’t treat this as another pre-season friendly and get into that competitive mindset. If we go into this match as a professional team, theirs no doubt we can get the result we all want.
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