WHO:

Richmond Kickers, 1-2-1, 4 points, 11th place Eastern Conference

WHAT:

A USL home match

WHEN:

Saturday, April 14, 2018, 7:30 p.m. Maybe.

WHERE:

Louisville Slugger Field, 401 E. Main Street, Louisville, KY 40202

WATCH:

At the game! If it gets played! The weather looks awful, but a little liquid courage conquers quite a lot. If you can’t make it because you’re trapped under something heavy, you can still:

  • Listen: on 790 WKRD or 840 WHAS? The club’s schedule page says 790 WHAS and I’m confused. You’ll figure it out.
  • Watch: on WBNA 21
  • Stream: on ESPN+ for the first time ever! I don’t have a link, and neither does USL, but that’s where its.

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 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?

We’re fairly familiar with the Kickers by now. They wear a lot of red, they try real hard, and they usually (no, wait, always) lose when they come to Louisville. The Kickers had never even scored a goal at Slugger Field before last season’s 3-1 loss. Richmond has never beaten Louisville City, and has only managed to take two points off Morados in three seasons.

To be fair, Richmond is not necessarily a bad team. They just can’t score goals. At least, they couldn’t until they beat North Carolina 2-1 in Week 3. Kickers did manage a 1-1 draw at home against Red Bulls 2 last week, and that’s honestly kind of impressive. The Kickers have always been a solid defensive team that works to slow opponents down in the midfield before clearing the ball out of the back. It’s the final third that they struggle with. That said, Richo’s managed to score four goals this season, which isn’t terrible. Unfortunately, they gave up four against Bethlehem in Week 1, which was bad for their goals against average.

DC United perpetual loanee Travis Worra again starts between the sticks for Richmond, He’ll be without starting defender Alex Lee, who’s out on suspension. Conor Shanosky remains a fixture in the back for the Kickers, however, and Yudai Imura has returned for another season in red. Like Louisville City, Kickers have four goals from four different players. They signed attacker Brian Shriver on a free after he spent the previous near decade on several NASL teams. His last season in Jacksonville didn’t go great, but he’s already hit the scoresheet once for the Kickers, so watch out.

Richmond is fine, but this is a game Louisville City should win handily. Of course, I’m wrong about everything, so prepare to dig your fingernails out of your palms in this nailbiter of a Week 5 matchup!

VAMOS MORADOS! VAMOS A GANAR!