WHO:
Harrisburg City Islanders, 6-12-6, 24 points, 13th place Eastern Conference
WHAT:
A mid-week league match!
WHEN:
Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE:
Louisville Slugger Field, 401 E. Main Street, Louisville, KY 40202
WATCH:
At Slugger! That would be ideal, IMO. This is also the USL Game of the Week, which means it’ll be streaming live on ESPN3/WatchESPN (is there a difference?), but not on YouTube. WBNA-21 will have it on TV, and 1080 WKJK will have the radio call.
WHO, AGAIN?
We’ve heard this song before. In fact, I wrote that song earlier this season. Louisville City is on a damn tear, Harrisburg can’t throw it in the ocean from a life raft. Yet last time, Harrisburg came away with three points at one of their rotating baseball field venues in the Capital City, while Louisville’s bus ride home was probably rather quiet.
LouCity will be without Kyle Smith for this one, which could bring some interesting changes defensively. Does O’Connor keep the three man back line and put Morad in on the left while Oscar plays on the right? Does he go back to four at the back just for this game? Could Mark-Anthony Kaye be deputized as a left or right wingback? Not a fan of that last idea, myself.
Smith is a pretty important part of this team’s recent success, and his two-way game on the right will certainly be missed. That said, three games in seven days was going to require some rotation in the starting lineup, and Kyle plays a lot. He could honestly use the rest.
I’m also interested to see who starts in attacking midfield in this match. Spencer’s on a tear, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ilic or Lancaster get the nod for this one. McCabe has played well of late, too, but this could just as easily be George Davis IV’s return to the fold.
Long story short, we have no idea what to expect from LouCity’s starting lineup other than a team that should, no matter who’s playing, beat the City Islanders. Fingers crossed.