[photo by Jarrett Campbell]

• by Kevin Curtis, writing from South Beach, FL

They may have the worst team name in the world, but the Carolina Railhawks sit at the top of the NASL table 9 games into the season with a record of 7-1-1. The RailHawks lead the NASL with 20 goals for, 2nd place has 12. Also tied for league lead with only 8 goals against. They are the best all around team, very unselfish. I witnessed this first hand when they played the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers, handing them a 4-2 loss. The Railhawks seemed to be playing at a whole different level, they look like a MLS team playing NASL teams, men amongst boys.

Forward Etienne Barbara is the man leading the way for Carolina. Barbara was riding an eight game goal scoring streak into this weekends game with the Atlanta Silverbacks. His streak ended this weekend, but he leads the NASL with 11 goals.

“The biggest thing is he’s scoring goals,” Railhawks coach Martin Rennie said. “The second biggest thing is he’s working for the team. That’s different from how he was last season. He’s really working for the team and setting an example. And that means the whole team has to work. If the guy who’s scoring goals is working, that means everybody else follows. And I’m really pleased about that.”

So far the Carolina Railhawks are the real deal, as these highlights from their 3-0 victory over the Puerto Rico Islanders two weeks ago shows.

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