WHO:

Orlando City B, Dad’s new family. 0-1-0, 0 points Eastern Conference, USL

WHAT:

Louisville City’s first USL away match of the season.

WHEN:

Tonight! Thursday, March 30, 2017, 7:30 P.M.

WHERE:

OCB had move back into their parents’ house, Orlando City Stadium, 655 W Church St, Orlando, FL 32805.

WATCH:

Now is the time when that sweet local TV deal kicks in: the match will be live on WBNA 21 in Louisville. If you’re out of town, you can follow via USL’s Match Center at United Soccer League soccer dot com, or follow this here link to watch the match free of charge on YouTube.

Louisville City and the Coopers are having a watch party down at Against the Grain at Slugger Field, by the way. You should go there! The food and beer are top notch! The company will be bearable! The merchandise will be available! WATCH PARTY! Oh, and speaking of beer, 50 cents of every pint of ATG’s Ball Control you purchase will go to benefit Shirley’s Way, a totally awesome charity that raises money to help people afford cancer treatment. Cancer sucks, so go to Against the Grain and do your best to drink it away tonight with some Ball Control!

WHO, AGAIN?

Orlando City B, the team that replaced Louisville City as Orlando City A’s USL affiliate/development farm. Let’s be honest, aside from some front office idea exchanges, some startup funds, and a very angry striker, Orlando City never gave us anything anyway. So, like Alice Deejay, we’re better off alone.

OCB was a pretty meh team in 2016, as you’ll recall, juuuuust managing to make the top 8 in the East before NYRBII performed ritual sacrifice on them in the playoffs with a 4-0 first round win. The Lion Cubs have taken inspiration from a meh 2016 to transform into more meh in their 2017 opener, a 1-0 loss away to Tampa where they were bossed all over the field and took two shots the entire match.

This is a game that Louisville City would very much like to win, given the way these matches played out last season. You’ll recall an agonizing stoppage time loss against OCB at Slugger last year, and the crazy 10 man 3-4 win down in Florida that preceded it. There aren’t a whole lot of guys left over from Orlando’s 2016 outing, but the ones that remain include the always dangerous Richie Laryea, Tommy Redding, and Lewis Neal. New additions include Hadji “The Nomad” Barry and THREE Brazilians, my favorite being a guy who just goes by Timbo. His parents must have been big Home Improvement fans.

I’m unimpressed by Orlando City so far. If Louisville City plays with the same intensity they had against St. Louis, I feel pretty good about our chances at picking up some points in this match.

COME ON, CITY!