NELASA 2009 Season around the corner.

By Carlos Amado
20 de Abril, 2009

NELASA 09

The 2009 NELASA season is set to kick off on Saturday April 25th with key matches undoubtedly being Saturday’s clashes between last year’s top 4 teams in the capital city of Boston. Clube Tabanka who finished 3rd will host the defending champions Fidjos Terra, while 4th place finishers Strela Negra will host runners up Emigrantes Das Ilhas. Also in Boston Curral Grande tipped to be one of the surprise teams this year will host Spiga Midju. In Brockton the city of Champions two of last year’s surprise teams Mindelo and Sporting of RI will be eager to show that that their success last year was no fluke, while Café Di Fogo will battle it out with Juventude. The only game being played in Pawtucket RI this opening week will be between Dinamo Da Brava and Tarrafal. Boston FC was schedule to host Alianca CV, but the game will be played at a later date due to Alianca CV dislocation to Cabo Verde to participate in a tournament in Sao Felipe, Fogo.

This season promises to be exciting and extremely competitive. In addition to the league trimming down to 14 teams thus increasing the pool of quality players available, some of the top players in the league opted to display their talents elsewhere which will surely add to the excitement.

Much like last year, the format for the upcoming season will consist of two groups of 7 teams, with the top 4 teams from their respective groups advancing to the playoffs. There is a big difference in this year’s format though. In addition to teams playing every team in their respective groups home and away, they will also face every team in the opposite group once in the regular season. Unlike last season, the top 4 teams from last season were seeded numbers 1 and 2 in their respective groups which obviously created a good balance between the two groups generated.

Group A consists of the following Teams: Alianca CV., Café Di Fogo, Clube Tabanka, Curral Grande, Fidjos Terra, Juventude and Spiga Midju.

Group B consists of the following teams: Boston FC, Dinamo Da Brava, Emigrantes, Mindelo, Sporting RI, Strela Negra and Tarrafal FC.

This year looks set to see the best NELASA season yet, with tremendous young talent combined with some fine experienced players we should expect a fun and entertaining season. With Nelasa teams winning the Mass State Cup in consecutive years, as well as representing the state of Massachusetts in the U.S Open Cup and the U.S Amateur Cup, NELASA is on the rise and quickly becoming the best amateur soccer league in New England.