3/1 To Win
Sarasota Metropolis is a Premier Minor League Soccer franchise based in Florida that competes in the United Soccer League’s (USL) League Two, the top men’s pro-am league in North America.
It is their inaugural season in the USL League Two, which is four divisions lower than the Major League Soccer (MLS).
They play their home fixtures at the IMG Academy, which has a capacity of 2,000 supporters.
Manager – Massimo Marazzina
Massimo Marazzina was named Sarasota’s Head Coach and Director of Soccer at the start of 2019. It is his first managerial role following a playing career which spanned over 17 years in Italy.
He started his career with Inter Milan in 1993 in a 2-0 defeat against Torino and went on to make three appearances for the club.
He left the club in 1994 and enjoyed a two-year spell at Foggia, who had been in Serie A at the time. A striker by trade, Marazzina scored five goals in 34 appearances before joining Chievo.
He spent eight years with the Italian outfit and enjoyed a prolific spell. He netted 45 goals in 157 appearances between 1996-2004 and earned three caps for his country in 2002, making his international debut in a 1-0 win over USA.
During his time at Chievo, the now 44-year-old spent time on loan at Reggina, Roma, Sampdoria and Modena, before joining Torino permanently in 2004.
He scored 16 goals in one season for them before joining Bologna in Serie B. He helped them to promotion in 2007/08 and in total scored 44 goals in 118 games.
Season So Far
Sarasota currently sit seventh in the Southeast Division of USL League Two. Whilst they sit second-from-bottom with eight points, they are only three points off leaders The Villages who have 11.
It is still early stages of the campaign, with most sides playing six games so far, except Sarasota who have played seven.
They have won two, drawn three and scored 10 goals so far this season.
Sarasota will be Derby County’s first opponents of pre-season as they spend 10 days in the United States.
The game will take place at the IMG Academy on Wednesday 10th July, with the kick-off time to be confirmed.
