USL League One expansion side, FC Naples, are eight games into their debut season and have not lost a game; this has them sitting atop the league table with 14 points from 6 games and they are set to host USL Championship side, Tampa Bay Rowdies, in Round Three of the US Open Cup - a game that FC Naples have a very good chance at winning.

Tampa Bay are 3rd-bottom in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference, a whole league above where FC Naples ply their trade, and The Rowdies have just 1 win from 5 games so far. Those sole 3 points came over in-state rival Miami FC, who were historically bad last year (and not a lot has changed it seems). To make matters worse for the team from Tampa, they have relieved their Head Coach of his duties just days before this matchup and appointed a caretaker coach for now.

All of that is to say, maybe Wednesday’s game at the Paradise Sports Complex isn’t as much a matchup of David vs Goliath and more of Roadrunner vs Wile E Coyote. An opportunity for FC Naples to continue their unbeaten run in all competitions too; they entered the US Open Cup in the First Round proper when they travelled to amateur side, Sarasota Paradise, and won 2-1 behind goals from Karsen Henderlong and Kevin O’Connor. Then, in Round Two, Naples hosted Little Rock Rangers and won 3-0 with contributions from Jayden Onen, Brecc Evans, and Andrés Ferrín.

This FC Naples side is actually cooking with fire. In all competitions, so far, Andrés Ferrín has 3 goals, Brecc Evans has 2, and Jake Dengler, Kevin O’Connor, and Jayden Onen each have 1; however, it’s been league newcomer, Karsen Henderlong who has turned more than a few heads - he has scored six times from 10 shots. This is his best work since he attended Xavier in 2019-21 where he made 45 appearances and netted 22 goals. Henderlong moved onto Indiana Hoosiers, where he made 46 more NCAA appearances and scored 10 goals - he was signed by Indy Eleven last season, made five appearances and failed to score. However, Head Coach and Sporting Director Matt Poland saw a rare gem in there and has him gleaming in League One.

Photos: Courtesy FC Naples Facebook Page

Recently, we interviewed CEO and Co-Founder of FC Naples, Roberto Moreno LISTEN HERE and while he was an incredibly gracious man, chatting on the phone while driving along the highway in Southwestern Florida, either on his way too or from his son’s birthday (I can’t recall which), he was reluctant to speak about the people behind the scenes too much. Instead, he lauded the community of Naples then gushed about Matt “Gaffa” Poland.

13 years ago, Poland made Marco Island, just south of Naples along Highway 41, his homebase while he travelled and coached from Sporting Kristina in Finland to Chicago House, where he served first as Assistant Manager, then as Technical Director, and finally as Manager of the club. All the while stopping back in Naples in-between to coach local amateur side Naples United and spend time developing youth players in the community.

When it came time to make their initial hire for FC Naples, it was a no-brainer for Roberto Moreno and company, to bring Matt Poland into the fold and make him a part of the family. With his affable character, industry connections, and great understanding of, not only the sport in general, but of how the business of soccer is done in the United States, Poland has done a knock-down, drag-out job of recruiting talent to FC Naples’ inaugural squad.

The aforementioned diamond-in-the-rough, Karsen Henderlong, but also Michael Glasser, who spent two seasons at Monterey Bay FC; Jake Dengler, who has played for some well-known lower league sides like FC Christos, Loudoun United, MD Bobcats and most recently, Tormenta FC; Chris Heckenburg, who also spend time at Tormenta FC as well as at CV Fuego; Brecc Evans, from North Texas SC, NoCo Hailstorm, and Memphis 901FC; Ian Cerro who played for Poland at Chicago House, then at Chattanooga FC and RGV Toros; Jayden Onen - who came through Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Reading, Brentford, Sheff Wed, Forward Madison, and Lexington SC; and notably, Lalo Delgado, who has been stellar for FC Naples so far, with 5 clean sheets in all competitions and has a fantastic résumé of his own, having spent time at USL League Two winners, Ventura County Fusion, Las Vegas Lights in the Championship, and inaugural Jagermeister Cup winners, Northern Colorado Hailstorm.

It’s an impressive list of players that Matt Poland and his technical staff have been able to recruit to Naples - the weather and community don’t hurt either. As CEO Roberto Moreno tells us, the community is incredibly welcoming and totally onboard. Poland loves to line up in a 4-1-4-1 or alternately a 4-2-3-1 if he feels the backline needs a little extra cover, but mostly it looks like they’re set up to press fairly high and counter when they turn the ball over. Naples have only dominated possession a couple of games and those were against arguably pretty poor competition.

For the most part, they look to nick the ball and score on the break. Naples are really helped out in these efforts by a solid, experienced defense who have only allowed 3 goals in over 720 minutes of play. But it also helps with Karsen Henderlong is everywhere you need him to be with Onen and the young Colombian, Ferrín, always willing to break alongside and feed him the ball. FC Naples will look dangerous against Tampa Bay Rowdies, and even if they don’t come out on top in this US Open Cup game, they will continue to shine on the Paradise Coast throughout the year and be a threat deep into the USL League One playoffs.

- by Josh Duder