WHO:
Charlotte Independence, 3-2-3, 12 points, 12th place USL Eastern Conference
WHAT:
A USL home game for the first time in FOREVER
WHEN:
Wednesday, June 7, 2017, 15:30 sharpish
WHERE:
Louisville Slugger Field, 401 E. Main Street, Louisville, KY 40202
WATCH:
It’s the first home game in like decades so you need to be there at Slugger. School is out. Your meeting on Thursday morning is not important. The judge and your defense lawyer will understand. Get your tickets, wear something purple, and BE. THERE. If you can’t be there because you had a little too much of the Soup of the Day, you can still watch on TV in the dark on WMYO-58, listen to the broadcast on 1080 WKJK, or on the old fashioned YouTubes.
WHO, AGAIN?
Charlotte Wanderers. I mean Independence. Independence from what? A stadium they can call home, that’s what.
CLT, the most unfortunate airport call sign since ILM, has had an up and down season thus far. They started off pretty terrible going 1-2-2 in April including a 4-0 pounding from Rochester. However, they have since reeled off a couple of wins and a draw last week against Tampa that required a very late equalizer from the Rowdies to split the points.
We know most of their more potent threats: the brothers Martinez, Yann Ekra, Jorge Herrera, Randy Moss, David “Not Erik” Estrada. They’re a pretty good attacking team that likes to possess the ball, and they’re fairly efficient in the opponent’s half. Sound familiar? They also like goals, both the scoring (14) and conceding kind (13).
Speaking of goals: Yes, City scored four against a very good defensive team last week. Three of them were preetttttttttyyyyyy lucky. Can that keep up (please)? It’s hard to say. Charlotte can put the ball in the back of the net, and we’ll have to put together a much better defensive performance than we turned in last week to keep them out of ours.
WE AIN’T GOT NO HISTORY:
City and Charlotte both came into the USL at the same time, in 2015. The clubs have played four times, with Louisville City winning two, drawing one, and losing one. It’s fair to say that City was lucky to pick up its two wins, one off a Lancaster free kick at the death in Charlotte (or somewhere nearby) and the other a penalty goal from a questionable handball call in the box back in 2015 at Slugger.
Charlotte is a good team, their position in the table notwithstanding. Louisville City could really use a strong performance at home and three points to stay in the race for the East. This is going to be a hard-fought game. They usually are when we play Charlotte. Let’s go get three points.
COME ON, CITY!
