Louisville City FC hosts Oakland Roots SC on Saturday at a critical juncture in its 2023 season.
With kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. at Lynn Family Stadium, LouCity will be looking to play its way back into an all-important top-four spot on the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference table.
City (10-8-7, 37 points) has nine games to go in the regular season, and it’s safe to say the boys in purple have performed below their own expectations this year. After racking up club-highs in points (72) and wins (22) in 2022, City matched its record for losses in a single season last weekend when defeated by Birmingham Legion FC.
Still, LouCity returned most every key piece from last year’s squad and has still flashed signs of a strong side, including a run of four games unbeaten leading up to the stumble at Birmingham.
Oakland Roots (11-7-7, 40 points) sits third in the Western Conference standings ahead of its first-ever meeting with LouCity. The Roots will be playing a third game in eight days, going from Wednesday’s midweek victory at New Mexico United to Louisville.
City lost eight games both in its inaugural season, 2015, and again in 2019. The boys in purple, however, have always seemed to put it together at the end, advancing to the league’s Eastern Conference Final each season they’ve played.
Saturday’s showdown with Oakland could serve as a jumping off point to a similarly strong finish to the current campaign.
Follow along
• The game will air live locally on WBKI/The CW and ESPN Louisville’s 680/105.7.
• If streaming, download the free WDRB Now app to watch the local feed in Louisville. ESPN+ also streams the home feed of all USL Championship games not selected for national TV.
• For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @loucityfc on Twitter. Also find the club at louisvillecityfc on Instagram and Louisville City FC on Facebook.
Player availability report
Owen Damm (out)
Amadou Dia (out)
Niall McCabe (questionable)
Kyle Morton (out)
Brian Ownby (questionable)
Ramzi Qawasmy (out)
Jordan Scarlett (out)
Rasmus Thellufsen (questionable)
Story lines…
A familiar face: Saturday’s game will mark a return to Lynn Family Stadium for Napo Matsoso, a former LouCity midfielder who made an offseason move to Oakland for this season. Matsoso, who wore purple from 2018-2022 following his collegiate career with the University of Kentucky, also attended prep school in Louisville after immigrating from his native Lesotho.
Shot stoppers: Saturday’s game will match up two of the USL Championship’s top goalkeepers. LouCity’s Oliver Semmle leads the league with a rookie-record 11 clean sheets, while Oakland Roots’ Paul Blanchette sits second on the list at nine. Blanchette also paces the Championship with his 89 saves.
Strong starts: LouCity didn’t play from a losing position during its most-recent unbeaten streak. That changed in just the fifth minute at Birmingham, and the Legion doubled their lead minutes later. City dropped to 0-5-5 on the season when trailing at the half, whereas the boys in purple are 4-2-1 when leading at the break.
Hunting goals: LouCity failed to score at Birmingham for the first time in six games, but Dylan Mares worked for a breakthrough goal. Mares created a game-high three chances from his attacking midfield position a game after scoring the opener in a 2-2 draw on Aug. 12 versus Rio Grande Valley FC. The City newcomer Mares has four goals on the year, tying him for second on the team.
The green light: Midfielder Jorge Gonzalez entered at Birmingham as a 69th-minute substitution, marking his first minutes since June 3 due to injury. LouCity’s No. 9 got off a shot inside the box and won 5 of his 6 duels. From Spain, Gonzalez is in his third season with City, where he has nine goal contributions after originally arriving on loan from Major League Soccer’s Portland Timbers in 2021.
Injury outlook: Forward Brian Ownby could return from a muscle strain Saturday, but LouCity’s bigger-picture health setbacks continue in another area. Amadou Dia, a regular starter on the left side, exited in the 29th minute of the Birmingham loss. Coach Danny Cruz termed it a hamstring injury that will keep Dia sidelined “a while.” Dia leads City defensively in duels won (111), interceptions (35) and tackles (29).
