Louisville City is hitting the road this weekend for the first time since March to take on Saint Louis FC in another high-stakes Group E contest. While St Louis got the best of Morados in the first encounter earlier this season with a 1 – 0 win, Lou City is 6-2-4 in the previous 12 match ups. City has come alive as of late having won three of their previous four matches. The Louisville squad has been known to have favorable August performances and they will be looking to continue that trend against their regional rivals. St Louis, on the other hand, has had mixed results as of late. Coming off a draw to Pittsburgh, they are 1-2-2 in their previous five matches and were recently bumped down to third in Group E.
St Louis is a fairly well rounded side, putting up decent statistics across several offensive and defensive statistics. They rank 14th in the league for shots on target per match with 4.7 (narrowly edging out City at 4.6). They’ve created 11 big chances (ranked 14th) but have a rather unimpressive goals per match at 1.3 (20th). City, meanwhile, are 7th for big chances created with 15. The Louisville group also sits at 1.3 goals per match. St Louis concedes 1.1 goals per match (Lou City is at 0.9) and have only earned two clean sheets (with City at four). They do pass and possess the ball well, ranking 8th and 12th in the league, respectively (5th and 6th for Louisville).
Players to watch on the home team include Russell Cicerone, Todd Wharton, Wal Fall, and Kyle Greig. Having played nine matches, Cicerone leads his team with three goals and has earned a player rating of 6.89. The 25 year old has scored all of his goals with his right foot inside of the box. Should the likes of Sean Totsch and Alexis Souahy play at the level they have been at recently, they will be able to really limit his opportunities. Wharton is tied for second on his team with two assists. The midfielder has earned an average player rating of 7.02 and has been an adept passer, completing 88% of his passes. Fall has been a staple defensive piece for St Louis. He has one goal and two assists to his name with a rating of 6.91. He has also been a decent passer having completed 82% of his passes. Greig has been a quality attacker for the St Louis side. The former MLS player has bagged two goals and one assist with a team-leading player rating of 7.04.
Louisville City will likely stick with their recent winning formula. While many of these players just played on Wednesday, that has not stopped Coach Hackworth from deploying them again in the past. Cameron Lancaster will be particularly well rest after only seeing the pitch for a few minutes at the end of the Indy match. There may be some tinkering to address tactical concerns. It’s not impossible to think that perhaps Brian Ownby may find his way back into the starting eleven along with Jonathan Gomez, who has proven he can compete with his much older opponents. Although unlikely to make the eighteen, new signing Arda Bulut will technically be available for selection.
This is expected to be a close contest. FiveThirtyEight is giving City the small edge with a 37% chance to win and St Louis a 35% chance. The bookies also have this match being a close one. The outcome of this encounter will have big impacts on all within Group E. A Lou City win will put them tied for first with Indy. A St Louis win would put Louisville back in third and put the home side back into playoff contention. Can Louisville City keep up their form away from home? Will Saint Louis, who is in their final season of existence, keep themselves in the battle and go for silverware one last time? It should be an exciting clash! Let’s go, City!