WHO: Oklahoma City Energy FC, 7W-3L-3D, 24 points, 4th place Western Conference

WHAT: Louisville City’s second of three inter-conference USL games.

WHEN: Saturday, July 27, 2015, 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Slugger Field

WATCH HERE:

WHO, AGAIN? This is OKC’s second year in the USL. Their inaugural season was pretty forgettable aside from two different six-game losing streaks, neither of which cost head coach Jimmy Nielsen his job. What a country! The Energy, which borrowed from such hallowed naming conventions as the Orlando Magic and the Dallas Burn, is the direct result of a super-fun lower-division soccer arms race between the USL and the NASL that ended when one of the NASL team’s would-be owners jumped ship and hooked up with Prodigal, LLC, which owns the USL team. Now the NASL is suing that guy, even though he and that league signed a settlement agreement after he scuttled their Sooner Schooner. Who doesn’t love a good origin story?

With respect to the team itself, it’s much improved this season. Just a week ago, OKC held the top spot in the West, and can brag about wins against Colorado Springs, Seattle 2, and Sacramento Republic, as well as a five game unbeaten run that just ended in Sac-Town last weekend. Not bad. Statistically they’re solid, and average just over a goal and a half per game, while giving up 1.15. How do they play? I don’t know, and Google can’t seem to find any writers that talk much about their style. I do know that striker Danni Konig leads the league in goals with nine, and Casey Townsend has four assists on the season. They’re not a particularly imposing team physically, thankfully, as Louisville City has struggled with big, physical teams of late. Defender Gareth Evans is kind of a big dude, though. Either way, this bunch is good and will be a good midseason litmus test for Team Purple.

STATISTICAL COMPARISONS OF DUBIOUS VALIDITY:

SUPPORTERS: The Energy allegedly has support groups is called The Grid and Joule’s Army, which are certainly names having to do with electricity. I was kind of hoping for something similar to an electrical contractors’ union, but St. Louis already has that plastered all over their kits. Are they armed with jumper cables and oscilloscopes? I’ll be disappointed if they aren’t.

ACTUAL MARCHING GOING ON: Join us for pre-game libations and stuff at Patrick O’Shea’s on Main Street, Against the Grain, Troll Pub, Sidebar, or Goodwood, and join us for our March to the Match about an hour before first kick starting at the corner of Second and Washington. You’ll love it/us!

First match with us? Learn our chants and songs!

Want to find us in other places? Check the header at the top: we’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, we lurk around on Reddit, and we have our own message board forum, too.

WILL LOUISVILLE CITY WIN? No idea. A week’s rest is definitely what the doctor ordered, and I’ll be interested to see if James O’Connor’s got any new wrinkles up his sleeve for this game, as City’s become fairly easy to scout of late. Predictable is okay when you’re just better than the other team, and very easy to counteract when you’re not. I’m sure either he or his hat have come up with something.

Win or lose, we’ll be drinking awesome beers with alcohol in them at Against the Grain after the last whistle blows, and you should, too.

GO CITY.