Louisville City’s struggling form in the new Lynn Family Stadium has come as a surprise to the fans accustomed to winning after having to witness losses to the likes of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, St Louis FC, and Sporting Kansas City II (why did they drop the Swope Park Ranger name!?). The situation could go from bad to worse as our boys in purple welcome Indy Eleven to the new venue. While Louisville enters the matchup with a record of 4-2-3 against their northern neighbors, Indy could be poised to claim the first Louisville-Indianapolis Proximity Association Football Contest of 2020. They currently are 3rd in the league with 13 goals while Louisville has tallied an uncharacteristically low 4 goals (tied for 24th). They also lead the league with 112 shots even with City sitting in 2nd with 81. That’s a 11.6% conversion rate compared to Los Morados’ 4.9%. Defensively, Indy has kept 2 clean sheets and have conceded 6. Lou City also has 2 clean sheets with 6 conceded. Indy’s Tyler Pasher has caught the attention of the whole league tallying 6 goals in 7 appearances. This match-up will also feature former the Louisville City player Ilija Ilić who helped to earn two starts above City’s crest.
Coming off a loss to what initially seemed to be one of our easier opponents of the season in SKC2, many fans have become nervous about our prospects of making out of Group E and into the post season. While many of the results have not gone our way there have been redeeming qualities. While many may not be high quality, chances are being created. In one game alone, Cameron Lancaster hit the cross bar twice. A couple of inches could have easily gotten the team 3 points. Always painful to see the woodwork hit in a loss. Fan favorites like Brian Ownby and Luke Spencer are still looking for their first goals of the season. Fingers crossed that they find those goals in this upcoming rivalry matchup.
While shots are being taken and we often appear to be the aggressor, we have allowed teams into the game with momentary defensive lapses. The most recent misplay by George Davis IV against SKC2 that turned into a goal keeps haunting my mind. Over the past few matches we have seen a continued shuffling of the back line by Coach Hackworth. Continuity would go a ways for us in the long run however it appears that he is still trying to determine the best defensive configuration. Based on game time and performance, you’d have to imagine that Pat McMahon and Oscar Jimenez are in those plans (with a strong case to also be made for Sean Totsch) however time will tell.
This team feels close to turning a corner. A few higher quality chances and a little tightening of the defense and were going to claw our way back in the standings. We may have lost Magnus Rasumussen for the remainder of this season but hopefully the newly acquire Jamaican international Jason Johnson can fill that void and address some of our offensive woes. If Hack can keep the boy’s heads up there is still hope for the season. According to FiveThirtyEight, Indy has a 38% chance to win (down 2% after their recent loss to SKC2) but Louisville City is not too far behind with a 33% chance (up 1% after Indy’s most recent loss). We are the underdog and Indy is looking for revenge for their Eastern Conference Finals loss and their home defeat to Kansas. It going to be a tough challenge but I am hopeful that this could be the game where our luck changes. See you all back in Butchertown on the 8th! Go City!