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!
WHO ARE WE PLAYING, AGAIN?
North Carolina FC, nka The Dead Whales, fka The Railhawks, aka Failhawks, aka not a real bird please notify your nearest bird rights activist. This is NCFC’s first year in USL. Well, wait. That’s not true. They were in the USL back when it was USL-1, but was one of the clubs (then owned by the infamous Traffic Sports organization) that defected to NASL when they resurrected that ill-fated league in 2008. But now they’re owned by NASL lawsuit magnet Steve Malik, are working on an MLS bid (who isn’t) and, more importantly, are back!
On the field, NCFC has had brushes with success in the regular season but have never won a post-season tournament. Their last season in NASL was just OK, and that roster was almost completely overhauled going into their return to USL for 2018. Carolina is managed by Colin Clarke, who’s been at the helm since 2012. Their first outing in their new/old league went poorly, a 3-1 defeat at home against the visiting Tampa Bay Rowdies. Despite actually playing pretty well, NC let in three goals. They passed the ball pretty accurately and generated 13 shots in the match, 8 on target. That usually spells a couple of goals, so maybe they were unlucky.
Players, based on one game, to watch for: former MLSer #10 Kyle Bekker; goal-scorer, defender, joker and midnight toker #31 Steven Miller, and #14 Daniel Rios.
Better believe I’m gonna run with any chance I get to insert a Heart video into a blog post about soccer. Louisville City will not look the same as it did against Nashville last week. Shaun Francis got called up for an international friendly, so he’ll be wearing black and green and yellow instead of purple this weekend and playing Antigua & Barbuda in Funky Kingston. That could mean Kyle Smith’s return to winger, which would mean Speedy gets to start in midfield. Or, it could mean Pat McMahon plays on the wing, Kyle stays in the midfield, Alexis finally gets to play and start in defense, and I wonder why Speedy isn’t playing. Most likely it’s something I haven’t even thought of yet, and we haven’t even gotten to how the front three will line up and who will be in it.
No matter what, it’s gonna be fun. The weather forecast looks awful, so just use the appropriate measures to ward off the rain and cold. I won’t tell you what those measures should be, I’m not your dad. I will say that there are some measures that also make you yell really loud and forget things.
VAMOS LOS MORADOS, VAMOS A LOGRAR TRES PUNTOS!
