WHO: St. Louis FC, 5-3-3, 18 points, 3rd place Group E
WHAT: A regular season USL Championship Group E match, also a Kings’ Cup match
WHEN: Saturday, September 12, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Lynn Family Stadium
WATCH:
TV: WBKI/The CW
Radio: 1080 WKJK
Stream: WDRB Now/ESPN+
MARCH: It’s 2020 so unless it’s for justice for Breonna Taylor, let’s not.
WHO, AGAIN? St. Louis FC has proven to be an unusually tough nut for Louisville City to crack in 2020. STLFC has always been worthy of some modicum of respect as an opponent, but they’ve also typically been a team that Morados have handled pretty well.
Not so the last two meetings. Recall in Round 1 of this year’s Kings’ Cup that City hit the woodwork three times before Wal Fall and Tyler Blackwood combined to steal three points from City in their second match of the restart at LFS. Then, a couple of weeks ago, City took their first road trip of the entire season to Fenton and came away with a 1-1 draw that saw them on the back foot for a lot of the match.
As the “regular” season begins to wind down, this is a big match. Yes, all of these group matches are big, and they’re really all six-pointers. However, considering the quality of Group E and everyone’s places in the standings at the moment, this match represents either an opportunity to climb back on top of the group and really separate from third place in the group. Three points on Saturday means City would be five points clear of third place with four matches to play. That’s not unassailable, of course, but it’s breathing room. A draw is fine, though sub-optimal, and makes the run-in a little tighter. A loss is not good, either, though also not fatal to a playoff campaign as it would leave City in third but just a point behind St. Louis.
Best to just get these three points now, is what I’m saying.
As far as the actual game goes, the possession battle is going to be fairly key. St. Louis is fine to absorb pressure and try to nick goals on counters and set plays, but we also know they can switch it up with high pressure and possession, too. Offensively, STL is competent, and they’ve scored nine goals in their last five matches. It’s defense where they’re vulnerable, leaking eight over that same time period.
In other words, if Louisville City want to win this game, they’re going to have to keep up the scoring. They’re going to have to find space in the channels and continue the clinical scoring they showed last week in Indianapolis. It’s reasonable to expect we’ll see the same starting lineup in this match as we’ve been seeing, but the tactical piece may be a little different because City’s struggled to control the game against STL the past two outings.
For St. Louis, forward Kyle Grieg is starting to come on as scorer. Tyler Blackwood is still a player to watch, and Wal Fall is always a guy to be accounted for no matter where he is on the field.
It’s a big match. Let’s go get three points. VAMOS MORADOS!
