This is a game Louisville City should have won. They should have scored more than once. They should not have had such a high line when Andrew Carleton broke free at the end of the game. The referee arguably should not have called a foul. Louisville City should not have split the points.

But all of that did/did not happen, and so here we are. It doesn’t matter what league you play in, picking up points of any kind away from home is good. One or three, it doesn’t matter. Earning points on the road is hard, and any time you do it, you should be pleased. But this was a game where City let points slip away. Yes, they got one. That’s good. You can’t be mad about taking a point away. Unless you had all three in your pocket and then dropped two of them while the clock ticked 90. Then, you can be a little angry.

City dominated the numbers in this game. More passes, more passes completed, more possession, more corner kicks, 70% completion in Atlanta’s half, nearly three times as many shots, seven times as many on frame, more than twice as many in the box. Atlanta had three scoring chances all night, the two penalty tries excluded. Louisville City had more than fifteen, but only scored one. Oscar created seven or eight chances all by himself. I’m not one hundred percent convinced that finishing ability is what is ailing the attack right now, but the chances were there. You could say City was a little unlucky, as the crossbar kept one, if not two goals from the City scoring column on each side of the break.

There isn’t much else about charts or numbers that tells the story of this game. On Carleton’s second penalty shout, Atlanta had just earned a throw. The ball somehow ended up in the ATL midfield, and Carleton made a big break to get behind City’s line. I’m of the opinion that the line was too high, near midfield. If you’re trying to kill the game off, there’s no reason for such a high line. Yes, the back three play a sizeable role in maintaining possession, but City didn’t have the ball. It was a good pass, and a good run. I honestly thought City did pretty well to catch back up and contain it, and I truly thought Carleton dove. Sean Totsch has dished out way more physical challenges than the one he got whistled for just then, and in that game.

I’ve softened a bit on my initial conviction that the play was not worthy of a penalty. Law 12 states that “a direct free kick is awarded if a player […] impedes an opponent with contact.” If we assume that Totsch made contact with Carleton inside the box, then maybe the call makes sense. But players make contact with players with the ball all the time. Both teams did it all game. There were only 22 fouls called the entire game. It’s hard to argue that play was a foul when so many others of the same or more physical variety were made in the same game and weren’t called for either team. I’m not sure Totsch even made contact with Carleton. I’ve watched the replay a few times and I’m not totally convinced. I guess I have to give the ref the benefit of the doubt that Totsch got a foot in there and tripped Carelton. If he caught Carelton’s foot and impeded him with contact, then it’s a foul. A cheap-ass foul, but a foul. A foul a ref usually doesn’t call. But, if that’s what happened, then it’s a foul, and the ref called it, and we dropped two points.

Alexis got the start as the middle centerback, and I thought he played well. His passing could improve some, but I thought defensively he did a very good job neutralizing a good scoring threat in Yousef Samuel all night. Paco and Sean both did a good job in my view. Paolo and Speedy both owned the midfield again. Speedy didn’t start out great but ended up playing very well, and had two really nice seeing-eye balls that didn’t come off. Ilija didn’t hit the score sheet but I thought he played great in his first start in eons. It was nice that Cam got his goal, and it was a well taken shot without much room to move.

It’s a sucky way to end a game. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Let’s kick ass against Bethlehem on Saturday so we can feel better.

VAMOS MORADOS