FA Euro Heads South to Battle Ocean City

The PDL first team (2-8-0) heads down south on the Garden State Parkway to face the Ocean City Nor'Easters (6-4-0) for the second and final time tomorrow night from Carey Stadium at 8:00pm.

Following a 7-0 defeat to the New York Red Bulls U23 squad on Monday, head coach Joe Balsamo needed to make a change and get some fresh blood in the locker room. Fresh blood comes with his own as well. Jimmy Barrios, Vincent Balsamo, and Sory Konate have been recalled for the remainder of the season.

The seven goals that were allowed came on the heels of Brian Saramago, who scored twice in the contest. The first goal was off of a penalty shot just three minutes into the game. FA Euro was outshot 17-5 in a full 90 minutes of play. The end of the game featured all of the backups, including Gianfranco Barone, who saw 8’ minutes of playing time.

The 2000 youth team, who are coming off their championship season vs. Metropolitan Oval in the "Battle of N.Y.”, are ready to relinquish a few of their players to the next level. Sory Konate spoke to I-95 Sports Network for his first interview. “Yeah it was a great season for me and the team. There was a lot positive and negatives but we worked together as a team to finally get what we needed.”

The previous Ocean City Nor’Easters contests dating back to 2015 have been one goal contests. The most recent one coming on Mothers Day weekend, also the home opener, that included a goal from Deri Corfe. The game included an own goal from defender Alejandro Del Cura, who was also issued a red card in the 47’ minute. The team looks to rebound in the nail biting loss.

Injury Updates include Alexis Santa, who is out with an illness. Defender Sunatillo Khusanov will be in the lineup with the lower-body injury that he sustained two games ago vs. Evergreen. Khusanov was taken out of that contest as a precaution. Check Karembega and Matt Dabrowski who are taking care of personal matters this weekend. They are day-to-day heading into next weekends game against Lehigh Valley.

Fans interested in tomorrow’s contest can keep up with our Twitter page by following @fa_euro for continuous updates from New Jersey.