WHO: Charlotte Independence, 2W-6D-7L, 11 points, 15th place Eastern Conference
WHAT: A regular season USL Championship match
WHEN: Saturday, June 22, 2019, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Louisville Slugger Field
WATCH: Well, if the weather holds up, go to the damn game. If it doesn’t, risk life and limb and your legendary status as a lightning-strike survivor and go to the damn game. But if you’ve already blown your body’s fuse-box once, check it out on WBKI-58, ESPN+ or listen to the dulcet tones of Kevin Kernen on one of 790, 1080, or 840 AM.
MARCH:
PRE-MATCH TAILGATE
Join us and the Lou City Tailgaters for all your pre-match festivity needs! Tailgating typically starts around four (4) hours prior to kickoff but you may find a few die-hards out there earlier. The tailgate is supporter run and supporter funded. We recommend BYOB and food contributions. If you do partake we ask that you contribute to the general fund. The main tailgate is located at the corner of N Preston St and E Witherspoon St in the Riverside Parking Cobalt Lot. The Coopers are joined here by several other SGs, so come say hello to everyone!PRE-MATCH MARCH
About 30-40 minutes prior to kickoff we’ll start the March to the Match. Join us as we march around the tailgate lot, up Preston St, and into the east entrance. Flags will be waving, smoke will be popping, and we’ll be chanting and singing the whole way!
POST-MATCH CELEBRATION
After the match concludes, we have beers at Against the Grain which is conveniently located right outside the Slugger Field gate. Make sure you ask for a pint of the Coopers rotating charity tap! $0.50 from every pour (on home match days) goes to Shirley’s Way, a most excellent local charity helping families of those afflicted with cancer.
WHO, AGAIN? Two weeks ago I would have off-handedly chalked this match up as an easy win for nuestros Morados. However, Charlotte GM and former head coach Mike Jeffries finally realized that six months as an assistant coach in the Chinese Super League does not a USL manager make after the Independence flailed around aimlessly for the first third of the season, culminating in a loss to the Florida Soccer Soldiers in the Open Cup, and so they fired Jim McGuinness. Either Mike Jeffries or Daryl Dixon has stepped in to try and right the Charlotte ship, and the first attempt went swimmingly as the Jacks walloped Birmingham 4-1 in Mathews last week.
Charlotte has a solid roster on paper. Fan un-favorite Enzo Martinez is back in the fold with his brother Alex. Dominic Oduro is probably too talented to be in USL but there he is. Jorge Herrera is still in blue. Celtic’s Andrew Gutman is there and actually leads the team in minutes played. Hugh Roberts is in the back. They should be a lot better than 15th. I guess that’s what happens, though, when you hand the reins to the team over to a guy whose only head coaching experience is in Gaelic football where you’re allowed to use your hands. Now that someone new is at the helm, I think we can expect more than CLT’s shown so far this season. Yay, great timing.
City, of course, has its own problems. Speedy Williams and Shaun Francis are still playing for Jamaica. Paco Craig is out on card accumulation, and Brian Ownby is still serving his red card suspension. Abdou Mbacke Thiam, Pat McMahon, and Richard Ballard aren’t expected to be available.
The good news, though, is that Paolo delPiccolo, Niall McCabe and Napo Matsoso are all available to play in midfield, so City should be able to have some measure of control there. Depth at centerback is also nice, and I think we can probably expect to see Taylor Peay and Oscar Jimenez at outside back again. There are still some good options in the attack, too. Expect to see Magnus and Luke somewhere in the forward/CAM roles for sure, plus the ever-more dangerous Lucky Mkosana.
City need three points and a good performance from this game. Let’s go get it. VAMOS MORADOS!
