By: Ryan Flynn
Sarasota, FL – Sarasota Paradise lost Saturday night to Miami FC, 5-0, in the team’s final USL Cup game. Despite the loss, they gave a spotlight to several players who hadn’t seen regular playing time yet.
The Paradise had a quick turnaround for this game, having already played a league game against the Greenville Triumph on Wednesday, registering a 0-0 draw in Greenville, SC. With the short rest time, coach Mika Elovaara elected to give starting nods to several players who hadn’t appeared in Paradise colors much this season, saying, “(the) plan was to give minutes and opportunities for guys who haven’t played as much recently.” In total, the team made ten changes to the starting XI from Wednesday’s game.
Brendan Krueger, and Adam Kend were all selected for the starting lineup by Elovaara. Kend, a Boca Ratón native, is a product of the Paradise Academy system and made his first professional start for the team in this match. Brendan Krueger is another Florida native, coming from Clearwater. He was the game’s Player to Watch and registered a 78% pass accuracy with three duels won during the game. Krueger played a full 90 minutes in Saturday night’s game, his first time in his pro career playing a whole game. These milestones from both players highlight one of Paradise’s core values to give young players minutes and aid in developing these players to reach their full potential.
STATS TO KNOW
Sarasota had a 56% challenge success rate versus Miami FC.
Adam Kend had 5 tackles and an 88% challenge success rate.
POSTGAME QUOTES
“You know, it felt good to be back out there and, you know, working. So, yeah, a lot of good takeaways. I felt a lot of guys had a lot of good individual performances.” – Brendan Krueger, Paradise Midfielder.
“Yeah, this was another one where we played a game on Wednesday and the opponent didn’t. So it does present a challenge in preparation. The preparation was, we arrived back home Thursday evening, had our team practice and training on Friday, and then our plan was to give minutes and opportunities for guys who haven’t played as much recently. And we definitely learned more about our team and our roster depth tonight. You know, I’m very pleased with Adam Kend, who’s an academy contract player, and he had his first pro start. I thought Adam, as a young player, first time ever in the starting 11, held up pretty well.” – Mika Elovaara, Head Coach
“Obviously, a large spectrum of emotions right now. Really grateful and happy to have made my first pro start and really grateful to all my teammates, the staff and everyone who trusted me. But the result was definitely not what we were looking for. You know, it was a tough opponent. It wasn’t the best performance we could have done, but we keep working and we’ll be ready next time. And we got two weeks to prepare for our next league match. So we’ll be ready.” – Adam Kend, Defender
UP NEXT
Sarasota Paradise has a long break in their schedule from competitive play over the next three weeks. Up next is Portland Hearts of Pine for back-to-back games in a friendly series with the fellow USL League One team. July 26 will be played in Portland, Maine and then the Paradise are back home on July 29 before returning to league play on Saturday, August 1 with a home match against rival FC Naples.