When the Baltimore Blast opens the regular season Saturday night in Detroit, the target on the players? backs will never be brighter. Having won three of the last four Major Indoor Soccer League titles, the Blast enter the season as the hunted ? and they know it.
“The guys know that wehave a target on our back,” forward Guiliano Celenza said. “Everyone is going to be gunning for us. Every game, we have to come out hard. Every night, we have to come out and play.”
The team on the carpet this year will be very similar to the one that took the championship crown last April in St. Louis. There are, however, a few exceptions.
Adauto Neto, the MISL MVP from last season, will likely be out until January after surgery to fix a cracked bone in his lower leg. He?ll be replaced by Baltimore fan-favorite Denison Cabral, who is returning from what amounts to two lost seasons due to injury.
“People ask us what new players we brought on, and well, Denison?s one of them,” Blast president and general manager Kevin Healey said. “We didn?t have him last year. We?re excited to have him coming back.”
Cabral will rejoin an offense that includes the likes of Celenza, midfielder Carlos Garcia and veteran forward Lee Tschantret.
The team will open Saturday without forward Machel Millwood, who is recovering from a minor knee injury.
But the offense doesn?t seem to be a concern. In fact, most of the Blast is concerned about team defense.
“If you have one guy on the floor not playing good defense, then the other team has already broken you,” said first-year coach Danny Kelly, who was a Blast defender for eight seasons. “In this league, good teams and good players are going to punish you for that.”
Kelly?s biggest concern is how the team responds in the opener. Chemistry wouldn?t seem to be a concern after watching the loose group practice, but putting it all together on the field is key, considering the level at which the Blast must play to defend their title.
“If you?re playing the defending champions, you know you have to come in and do something special,” Kelly said. “Every team has something to prove to us and to themselves that [they] can play with [us]. It?s our job to put the thought in their head that it?s not the case.”
The Blast will play their home opener at First Mariner Arena against the Chicago Storm on Nov. 11 at 7:35 p.m.
Baltimore Blast at Detroit Ignition
» When: Saturday, 7:35 p.m.
» Where: CompuServe Sports Arena, Plymouth Township, Michigan
