After the match concludes, we have beers at Against the Grain which is conveniently located right outside the Slugger Field gate. Make sure you order a pint of the Coopers-inspired Ball Control! $0.50 from every pour (on home match days) of Ball Control goes to Shirley’s Way, a most excellent local charity helping families of those afflicted with cancer.
WHO ARE WE PLAYING, AGAIN?
I already wrote this blurb for Carolinas soccer blog Soccer ‘N’ Sweet Tea, but I liked it and will be copy and pasting it below. Visit them if you’re interested in what’s going on with Charlotte Independence, North Carolina FC, Charleston Battery, Greenville Triumph, Charlotte Eagles, or whatever other myriad teams that exist in the Carolinas. On to the show:
Louisville City was humming right along after introducing John Hackworth as its second-ever head coach, picking up seven points in his first three matches. There was little reason to believe that total wouldn’t hit ten going into Tuesday night’s match against Toronto FC II, but the Little Reds had other plans. There are a variety of reasons why Morados lost that game: fatigue, unfamiliarity with a few key roles in the unusual formation rolled out in that match, a hex put on Slugger Field by some mysterious gypsy passing through Louisville back in late May. Who knows? Either way, that performance caused us to re-assess our expectations going into Friday’s match against Charleston.
The Battery are still pretty good. They’ve always been a stout defensive team and, despite losing a lot of their more talented players nearly every offseason, manage to nonetheless find the playoffs every October. This year has been no different. The Battery thoroughly defeated City on Daniel Island back in July. They’re on a bit of a cold streak, with just one win in their last five. Charleston do have a week’s rest behind them, however. City are playing their fourth game in fourteen days with a short bench, just one home win since May, and a new coach who’s still perhaps figuring things out. City fans are justifiably nervous about this.
I’d have been quite a bit more certain about the lineup under former coach James O’Connor or even the player-coach triumvirate that led the team before Hackworht was hired. Now that Hack has signed two new players, one of whom’s loan expires on Saturday, I’m not entirely sure what to expect in terms of personnel. Here’s my best guess, though:
Defense: Kyle Smith (RFB), Alexis Souahy (RCB), Paco Craig (LCB), Shaun Francis (LFB)
Midfield: Paolo Delpiccolo (CDM), Speedy Williams (CDM), Jose Carranza (AM), Ilija Ilic (AM), George Davis IV (AM)
Forward: Luke Spencer
