Louisville City has not been afforded much rest after their rebound win over Sacramento Republic. They are back on the road for a midweek match against FC Tulsa. Last time these two saw each other was back at the end of May and it ended lopsidedly in LouCity’s favor. Tulsa is essentially out of the playoff picture and coming off a loss to ATL2 (ouch). However, with a home field advantage on their side, there is no reason why they serve as another bump in the road for Louisville’s push for optimal postseason positioning.
At 1.3 goals for per match (15th), 1.6 goals against (19th), and 1.21 points per match, Tulsa falls somewhere between Indy Eleven/Monterey Bay and Phoenix Rising. The former earned wins over LouCity and the latter a draw so not exactly ideal company from a purple perspective. Couple this with their statistical home field bump and you have a more competitive match than it initially looked at the outset. Quite the precarious positioning for a LouCity team needing to maximize every matchup for the sake of playoff seeding and the race for the regular season title.
Rodrigo Da Costa, Gabriel Torres, and Adrián Diz are problems to keep an eye on. Da Costa is a known entity on Tulsa. He has been with the club since 2019 and is serving as their primary scorer. 1.1 shots on target per match (1st) and seven goals (1st) along with 43 chances created (1st) and 10 big chances created (1st). All that has earned him an average player rating of 7.11 (3rd). Torres, formerly a Hartford player, has four assists (1st) and 2.2 interceptions per match (1st) with an average player rating of 7.33 (1st). And finally, there is Diz. He has jumped around Western Conference teams but finds himself in the East this season. The defender has 5.6 accurate long balls per 90 (1st), 1.8 successful tackles per match (2nd), 2.0 interceptions per 90 (2nd), and 4.8 clearances a match (1st). At a 7.14 player rating (2nd), he’ll be looking to stifle LouCity’s normally potent offense.
With all that said, FiveThirtyEight is still projecting confidence in Louisville with a 57% chance to win and only a 19% chance for a loss. It won’t be a walk in the park between the travel and concurrent stretches of short rest for the boys in purple. Coach Cruz will have them prepared and playing their best despite the adversity. Vamos Morados!
Parting Thoughts
Want to do a little more reading on LouCity? I suggest the following:
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