By Andrew Bell
Louisville City FC fell 2-0 to New Mexico United on Saturday night in an uncharacteristic display of blunders on both side of the ball exasperated by LouCity failing to capitalize on New Mexico’s two red cards.
United scored their first goal in the 32nd minute when forward Shanyder Borgelin dribbled into City’s box and left the ball for midfielder Harry Swartz, who smashed a shot through the legs of LouCity’s Oscar Jimenez, taking a deflection on the way and finding the net.
In the 53rd minute, Borgelin was shown a second yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Paolo DelPiccolo, leaving New Mexico with 10 men. Twenty-one minutes later, though, New Mexico doubled its lead through midfielder Nicky Hernandez, who took a big touch past LouCity’s defense on the left flank, skinned City’s back line, and punched the ball in. Hernandez was then shown his second yellow card of the night for an excessive celebration, thinning New Mexico to just nine on the pitch.
Despite its numerical advantage over New Mexico, LouCity failed to even come close to breaking down United’s defense on the night.
“It was a disgrace,” head coach Danny Cruz said. “The entire evening was a disgrace. I don’t think that it had anything to do with tactics. It had everything to do with desire, heart and quality on the ball. There’s no other way to describe it — not representative of the club. We learned a lot tonight, that’s for sure, as a staff.
“Tonight, from front to back, collectively, [there were] not enough people up for it. The lack of quality on the ball was shocking. The lack of ideas in the final third was shocking. I really have nothing positive that I can say about the game tonight, and it’s not often that I’m sitting here saying that.”
The loss kept LouCity fifth in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference standings just behind Memphis 901 FC, which also lost on the night but remained ahead of the boys in purple on goal difference. New Mexico, 11th in the Western Conference, shut out a LouCity side that had scored in its previous six games, hitting the back of the net on 12 occasions in that time.
While some bright spots were present on Saturday, LouCity looked way off its typical mark.
A missed opportunity
Three points on Saturday would have seen LouCity clear Memphis 901 to reclaim fourth place in the Eastern Conference — a spot that grants a home game to start the postseason. Instead, City was lucky that Memphis also dropped points.
LouCity was also fortunate not to lose even more ground to Memphis on goal difference against New Mexico. After Saturday, LouCity has the second-worst goal difference (-2) out of any top-eight team in the Eastern Conference, only ahead of Birmingham Legion (-10). Compared to the top eight from both conferences, City is 14th out of 16 teams. City’s slim margins are definitely a problem point for the team as it enters the last two games of the regular season before beginning playoff action.
A loss to a full New Mexico team would be disappointing for City. So, losing to a New Mexico side that played 40 minutes down a man and 20 minutes down two is surely a wakeup call.
LouCity started the match hot, playing more than 40% of the action in New Mexico’s third in the first 15 minutes. In the fifth minute, Carlos Moguel Jr. did well to win the ball within LouCity’s half and play Wilson Harris through, with the ball just escaping out of bounds before Harris could reach it. Two minutes later, Moguel Jr. had a go at goal that took a dangerous deflection toward, but ended up being saved. In the 15th minute, LouCity forward Brian Ownby cut and weaved through defenders before striking the ball from distance, sailing the shot just over the crossbar.
Despite showing early signs of offensive promise, LouCity only ever hinted at being a threat on the attack. In the first half, LouCity had just 0.15 expected goals, less than half of New Mexico’s total.
Even with two invitations back into the match, LouCity couldn’t find its footing. When New Mexico went down to nine players, all that had to be done from a United perspective was survive and hang on to the two-goal cushion. But New Mexico did more than just survive. With two less passing options, two less defenders, and two less offensive outlets, New Mexico put LouCity on its heels throughout the second half. When United couldn’t afford to send more than three players forward to counter-attack, the home side still looked more dangerous than when City passed the ball all around New Mexico’s box and found every option but the one needed to pull LouCity back into the game.
Twenty-three City crosses went unanswered against New Mexico on Saturday, 19 of which came in the second half. Even after New Mexico shifted into a defensive formation following the pair of dismissals, LouCity didn’t exactly pester United. Of City’s nine second half shots, only one landed on target — a header from center-back Kyle Adams that was easily corralled by the New Mexico goalkeeper.
LouCity’s 68% possession after the break wasn’t productive and was marked by back passes and a few too many impatient long balls and desperation crosses without a clear target.
“A lot of things went wrong today, on the ball, off the ball, everywhere,” LouCity goalkeeper Oliver Semmle said about what he saw from the match. “I think we really have to fix those issues, especially because the playoffs start in (three) weeks. Today, I think that the mentality piece was missing. We were not active enough, we weren’t pressing well enough, and we gave them way too much space. Then also on the ball when we had time and space to play and to punish them and to create space for us and use that to our advantage, we didn’t do that well enough.”
Individual successes, collective failure
As a whole, LouCity’s defensive unit was lackluster on the night. When New Mexico was on the attack in the first half, City’s back line looked uneasy. Even after United went down a couple of players, LouCity had to survive a few defensive scares, including a goal that was called offside by the finest of margins in the 64th minute.
Individually, however, center back Sean Totsch delivered a commendable performance that was ultimately eclipsed by the overall outcome of the game. In the 30th minute, Totsch made a perfectly timed tackle on the United striker Bergolin to disrupt an offensive movement by New Mexico. Just a minute later, Totsch put himself in the way to block a rocket of a shot at the top of the 18-yard box. In the 35th minute, Totsch did exceptionally well to poke away another dangerous chance from New Mexico’s Swartz, who had just pushed the ball out in front of him to wind up for a shot from the six-yard box.
Even moments before New Mexico’s opener, Totsch held his ground in the box as Bergolin tried to find a way around. When Totsch made a challenge on the ball, he disrupted the play, giving his team another chance to thwart the attack before the ball rolled out to Swartz.
On the night, Totsch won possession nine times and was victorious in aerial contests on four occasions, topping the list in both categories. The 32-year-old also recorded 5 interceptions, four tackles, and one clearance against New Mexico.
As a group, LouCity’s use of the ball was subpar. Forced crosses, impatient buildup play and an overall lack of quality in the final third were the themes of Saturday night. Yet, amidst his team’s underwhelming showing when going forward, Brian Ownby showcased the immense value that he still brings to the team. Against New Mexico United, Ownby had a pair of shots and chances created, with no other player on the field matching his output in the two categories combined.
Unfortunately, Totsch’s and Ownby’s individual efforts weren’t enough to counteract larger problems that were present on Saturday.
In its last few matches, LouCity has been susceptible to conceding from set pieces, including two against Miami a couple weeks ago and once against Loudoun United last time out. On Saturday, however, LouCity wasn’t a victim of poor set-piece defending; City hurt itself through its own delivery of free kicks and corners. LouCity academy product Moguel Jr., usually prolific in dead-ball scenarios, having already racked up three assists from corner kicks, struggled to set his teammates up for success in the air. Moguel Jr., who never lets his head drop amidst challenges, wasn’t even close to being the only one who faltered on the night.
LouCity returns to Lynn Family Stadium for its last two matches of the regular season. Next weekend, City will face Hartford Athletic in a game crucial for the team’s confidence, momentum, and mentality leading up to a tough game against Tampa Bay Rowdies to close the season. LouCity last faced Hartford back in early June, where the teams played out a 0-0 draw, a scoreline that City will hope to improve upon come Saturday.
Looking forward to the next games and postseason play, Cruz spoke about what he expects to see from his side: “I want to see a group that is going to fight from zero to 90 minutes because we have the quality to win every single game. For me, what I expect of the team that is on the field and representing Louisville City is that when they walk off that field at the end of the game they know that [everything] was left on the field.”
