Sorry this is late but it’s been a struggle thanks to a condition commonly known as “Three Day Class Reunion in Nashville and No Childcare Responsibilities.” The cause of said condition was both preventable and very enjoyable, but the symptoms are horrific. I’ll spare you the details and get to the game.
This, the 33rd and final week of the USL Championship, was probably more memorable for what happened in matches that didn’t feature Louisville City than the one that did. City dominated and won an away match against a half-interested Memphis team, yes, and we’ll talk about that. Much more entertaining was opening up my FotMob app at an unnamed country coverband bar and seeing that Tampa Bay hadn’t managed to achieve the same feat, and that New York Red Bulls II had enthusiastically demonstrated their general sense of apathy toward the postseason match hosting structure. ICYMI, the Rowdies lost 2-1 to a very bad Hartford team away, and Loudoun ended their 2019 campaign with a bang, hanging seven goals on RB2 at the fireworks factory that is Segra Field.
Think, for a second, about how LouCity finished out this campaign, using RB2 as a contrast. The Baby Bulls were sitting in first place in the East just over a month ago. They’ve won just once since the calendar flipped to September, lost six of their last eight matches, and slid all the way down to sixth place.
Nuestros Morados, on the other hand, were exiled in or near the play-in spots for most of June and July and looked terrible doing it. Then, the club figured out a solution to its “we forgot to sign a replacement for Kyle Smith” problem, Pat McMahon started getting more time, Akil Watts signed on, and City gets to host at least one more playoff game at Slugger Field before moving to the new digs.
I was ringing the alarm bells back in July, thinking things had really gone south and wouldn’t improve after then-recent losses away to Swope Park, a home loss to a meh Bethlehem Steel, and a thrashing at Loudoun. I’m happy to be wrong. While 4th place is City’s worst-ever regular season finish in club history, it’s about as good as I expected before the season kicked off. Not many clubs can say that.
No, City never really threatened for first, and an insane combination of choke jobs up the table got us on the top side of the postseason bracket at the very last minute. But we saw all the new signings that clubs like Indy and Nashville made last offseason. We knew Tampa Bay was going to be good. We knew Bob Lilley would Bob Lilley, though perhaps not as well as it worked out. We knew not signing a central defensive midfielder or right back might be a problem.
We didn’t know we’d lose Paolo DelPiccolo for most of the season, or that we’d have to be picking up retired goalkeepers from their day jobs just so we could actually field a team for a few weeks. We didn’t know that Richie Ballard’s leg just doesn’t want to play soccer unless it’s October. We couldn’t have known that Brian Ownby would get hurt again and not score his first league goal until August 11. We couldn’t have known that Luke Spencer would get injured again and bag just eight goals in 17 starts. We didn’t know that Lucky Mkosana was going to be a poor fit in purple. We certainly didn’t anticipate Paco Craig’s popularity with the referees’ books or leading the league in yellow cards, or that City would set a club record for red cards in 2019.
We also didn’t know how good Napo Matsoso was going to be. We didn’t know that Magnus Rasmussen would be as good as he’s been. We didn’t see Pat McMahon’s career renaissance coming. Most of us wouldn’t have said “Chris Hubbard belongs on the team sheet in Sharpie” back in March. We knew how good Speedy Williams was, but we didn’t know he’d have one of his best seasons yet playing about three yards in front of the center backs most of the time.
It was a challenging season. Some of those challenges were avoidable, and there are some lessons to be learned there going into the offseason (whenever that starts). But the incredible challenges this club faced in 2019 from a health standpoint were unpredictable. It’s absolutely a testament to the players and the coaching staff that they persevered to find themselves in a strong position at the start of yet another postseason, playing some of their best soccer all year. It’s almost as if they’ve done this a few times before.
Oh, yeah, Memphis. City dominated shots and possession and got an important road win to set all this up. After going down early on a very good strike from Marcus Epps (that he nearly reproduced just afterwards), Speedy Williams converted on a messy play in the box to bring things level at halftime. Antoine Hoppenot got on the end of a similarly messy play in the second half, and City won. Memphis, to their credit, were not easy to break down, but that’s boring soccer to be playing on the last game of their season in front of their own fans.
It was a good way to finish the regular season. Now, let’s go wreck some shop in the playoffs.
