Louisville City picked up a very wet but deserved 2-1 win on Saturday night against Tampa Bay Rowdies to advance to the Conference Semifinals in the USL Championship Playoffs. Magnus Rasmussen put two goals behind Matt Pickens in less than 60 seconds and that’s all Morados needed to put the Rowdies in their rearview.
John Hackworth rolled out a pretty presumptive XI on the night with Chris Hubbard in goal, Paco Craig and Sean Totsch at center back, Oscar Jimenez and Pat McMahon flanking them, Speedy Williams and Napo Matsoso kind of playing a double pivot, MagRam at the 10, Ownby playing his now-usual false nine role and Niall McCabe and Antoine Hoppenot on the wings. Tampa Bay was without speedsters Malik Johnson and Leo Fernandes, but still tried to attack from wide areas for much of the game, anyway.
Conditions were, frankly, nuts. It poured numerous varieties of rain all game, the wind threw several goal kicks wayward, and the slip’n’slide turf over Slugger’s infield caused problems for both teams.
That didn’t stop either team from trying to play “normal” soccer anyway, which made for a pretty good game. City managed to complete 71% of their 429 passes, and 62% in Tampa’s half. Given the opposition, who likes to keep the ball, and the weather, 429 passes is still pretty impressive.
Morados were much more proficient attacking the Preston Street End in the first half than when they switched fields for the second. City took eight shots in the first period, with six on target and two goals. Tampa Bay was starved for offense and the ball in that same frame, attempting just 160 passes, taking four shots, and only putting one on goal.
In the second 45, Tampa Bay out-passed and out-possessed City, to go with nine shots. Only one was on target, their lone goal, but Kwadwo Poku probably will be kicking himself for missing a near sitter just before halftime. Rowdies also managed to take nine corners after the halftime whistle. Brian Ownby and Luke Spencer both could have scored in the 50th and 77th minutes and that would have salted the game away, but instead we had to wait until five inexplicable minutes of stoppage time were over before we could really breathe again.
Rowdies manager Neill Collins threw everything he could at City in the second period, and City seemingly obliged a bit by playing more conservatively than they had previously. Scoring threat Juan Tejada came on for Lucky Mkosana, Andrew Tinari came on for defensive midfielder Yann Ekra to try to pick up the attack, and it seemed like it worked.
Credit to LouCity’s defense, though, for only letting one of Tampa’s nine shots in. Centerback Abdoulaye Diakite was a handful on set plays all night but never got any good looks.
Brian Ownby terrorized the Rowdies wings and created four chances on the night. Speedy created three more, and missed a sitter of his own, but that’s okay. The Jamaican didn’t pass as proficiently as he usually does, but made up for it with some really crafty defense, winning three tackles and really commanding the midfield. Napo Matsoso only missed one pass all night and had two tackles and won two fouls.
It was a game the team had to win, and they won it. I expect Hackworth will want to shore some things up after that second half, especially with a trip to Pittsburgh in the cards this coming weekend. That said, if that’s Louisville City’s last ever game at Slugger Field, it only fit that it was a playoff win. Vamos Morados.
