Happy Birthday to the greatest country on Earth, the great United States of America! Now let’s celebrate with the greatest, most American sport in the world, soccer! What better way than to spend your Independence Day than at Louisville Slugger Field cheering on Louisville City FC with 10,000 of your closest friends!
The boys in purple play game 3 of their 4 game home stand against FC Montreal. They sit in the amazing spot of dead last with a measly 7 points. Their record is also the worst in the USL with 12 losses, 2 wins, and 1 tie. They lost their first 8 games before beating Richmond 2-1 to give them their first points. Let’s dive in to the keys for a team that’s unlike any in the USL.
Keys for FC Montreal:
This team is made of young kids who are more concerned with impressing the Montreal Impact than their own FC Montreal coach. If they want to stand a chance, they need to start acting and playing as a team.
The second key is to allow Anthony Jackson-Hamel the opportunities to make shots on goal. He has scored 3 of their 9 goals. The kid is defiantly out to prove his worth in the games I’ve seen. The kid plays with a chip on his shoulder. Expect him to give Sean Reynolds and the others difficulties.
The next key for FC Montreal will be to figure out which goalkeeper to use. They have experimented four different goalkeepers this season, which may be why they are in dead last. This position is probably the one you want more consistent than the others because the players get to know what he does and what the defense does under his command. If you change generals, the soldiers will play and act differently than normal, resulting in a huge performance shift. FC Montreal have played Maxime Crepeau in 11 of their 15 games, and he has conceded 20 of the 26 goals scored on the team. We will have to see who comes to play between the sticks on Monday.
The final key will be to find a rhythm of play. Many times, Montreal seem to find a rhythm and have a good 20 or 30 minutes, then go back to just playing as individuals out to impress. If they want to beat a LCFC team who is top of the table they are going to need consistent play for a full 90 minutes.
Keys for LCFC:
FINISH THE BALL. We had several opportunities to put FC Cincinnati away last week and failed to do so. Granted, their defense was some of the best I’d seen at Slugger; they knew when to hit the ground and back up to keeper. LCFC has to be more clinical and finish their chances on goal.
ATTACK FOR 90 MINUTES. It seemed like in the the FCC game, we dominated the first half, then got tired till about the 75th minute, then decided to go for the late winner. If we want to continue our dominance in the USL we need to keep the momentum for 90 minutes, or at least control the game more than the other team. This match against Montreal is one where we can increase our goal difference. I would love to get a USL Championship and Regular Season title in our second year. I can already see the parties at the Pubs!
Prediction: 3 0 LCFC
If we learned anything from the FCC game, it’s that we have to finish and follow our shots. We had to many opportunities that had fans “ohhhhh” ing and “Awww” ing and more vulgar words over blown chances. I expect LCFC will find a breakthrough early, exploit it and get a W on the day we told Britain we will get the W in 1776.
LC…FC!!!!
