WHO: Loudoun United, 4W-4D-8L, 16 points, 14th place Eastern Conference

WHAT: A regular season USL Championship match

WHEN: Sunday (?), July 28, 2019, 7:30 p.m. EDT

WHERE: Audi Field, 100 Potomac Ave SW, Washington, DC 20024

WATCH: WBKI has the TV broadcast, 840 WHAS has the radio call with Kevin Kernen and Formerly-In-Shape All-Star Jeff Greer, and ESPN+ has the inter web stream. The club’s hosting a watch party at El Nopal out on Blankenbaker Parkway, which will probably be fun!

WHO, AGAIN? Loudoun United is an MLS 2 team full of kids that we should beat. So was Bethlehem Steel. I’m all for giving due respect to our opponents, because failure to do so is foolish, but this is Louisville City. The 2-time defending USL Cup champions. This is a game our Morados should, and at this point, need to win.

Of course, with and without the context of how this season’s gone, it won’t be easy. Folks worried about whether Loudoun will field a bunch of DC United’s bench players may be soothed by the fact that the senior team is on the road in Chicago the night before, making it unlikely that Ben Olsen will ship guys that didn’t play on Saturday to his 2 team as soon as they get off the plane on Sunday.

However, the Loudoun United “regulars” still aren’t too bad. We already know how talented the wunderkind Griffin Yow is, though he may not play. They held Indy Eleven scoreless last week until the 81st minute. There’s no one player that really stands out for DCU2, Yow notwithstanding, but they’re well-coached.

Louisville City’s bigger problem, really, is themselves. They’ve generated the most chances in the league and have only 28 goals to show for it. Their leading goalscorer is a midfielder who only has eight tallies all season. The offense is pretty predictable, and I think that’s a big reason why Morados haven’t been able to score much lately.

I understand the idea of trying to pull defenders over to one side of the field on a dribble, which theoretically gives a runner or two on the opposite side of the field more space to score, but the problem is the service either isn’t getting to those said runners or the opposing defenses have become disciplined enough to just stay home with City’s other attacking players. Oscar Jimenez has proven to be excellent at putting good service in, but of the 67 (!!!) chances he’s created this season, only three have been converted into goals.

You read that right. The league’s leading big chance creator has three assists. Three.

No, not every cross into the box is a great one, but surely more than three of them are convertible.

I’m interested to see if there’s a change in approach for this game. John Hackworth often talks about how they make adjustments in their gamelans depending on certain things they notice in scouting the opposition. That makes perfectly good sense, but I do wonder if the constant tinkering based on opponent has taken away from the team’s ability to impose their will on whomever they’re playing. Personnel problems due to injuries might have something to do with that, too, and it’s certainly understandable that you should attack opponents where they’re weakest. But why not focus on your own strengths, too?

Which gets me to my main point: I don’t know what LouCity’s strength is offensively. Yes, with a healthy Brian Ownby and Antoine Hoppenot, they’re able to get the ball to the byline fairly easily, but it hasn’t resulted in goals. There’s little to no thrust up the middle. There doesn’t seem to be a player that’s able to create enough space for himself to get a clean, accurate shot off. The offense hasn’t shown that it’s able to create that kind of space in the best place to take shots, about 10-12 yards straight out from the goal.

I don’t know if that’s something that can be addressed in the middle of the season without another player acquisition, or if it’s something that can be addressed tactically. But it must be a point of focus for the coaching staff, you’d think. So that’s really what I’m watching for in this game: how does LouCity intend to score goals? Possession is fabulous, but it hasn’t kept the Boys in Purple from going down a goal in seven straight games.

Let’s hope we see at least some indication of purpose and plan for all of the above on Sunday. I’m looking forward to it. VAMOS MORADOS.