As we hit the midway point in this shortened USL Championship season, let’s take a look at what we’ve learned about Louisville City FC and related clubs thus far.
Matsoso’s providing a spark
Lesotho international Napo Matsoso has shown stretches of brilliance in the past, as fans will remember his five goals in five games he had in the final stages of the 2019 season. I recall when he was signed back in late 2018 as a so-called depth option, but the former University of Kentucky star has established himself as a key players on this team as well over the last month.
Beginning Aug. 8 against Indy Eleven, Matsoso hit a new level when shifted out wide into a new attacking position. Coach John Hackworth moved the usual center midfielder initially to unsettle Indy and get captain Paolo DelPiccolo back on the pitch in his usual role. In actuality, the shift has provided Matsoso a chance to show his ability in a more isolated position and influence the game more directly.
Three games and four goal contributions later, Matsoso quickly picking up attention from fans and opponents alike. His assist on Corben Bone’s second goal Wednesday against Sporting KC II was one of the finest runs you will see in the league this season. The sign of a good winger is when they make it easy for a teammate to score a goal, and that is exactly what Matsoso has been providing during LouCity’s three-game unbeaten run.
Stadium will be a serious home field advantage
After looking at the renderings and tracking the construction process, anyone could tell that Lynn Family Stadium was going to be a formidable home ground for the boys in purple. While its planned April 11 debut didn’t come to fruition, the wraps finally came off three months later.
LouCity stumbled out of the blocks — it was bound to happen to some clubs with the nature of the stop-and-start season — but has more recently found its footing in the new facility, posting back-to-back wins into this halfway point in the campaign.
Even with 4,850 fans allowed in at the moment, the din generated by both the supporters and drums in the ground is impressive. Once the stadium can reach its capacity, whenever that may be, Lynn Family Stadium will come alive.
Tactical chameleons
In years past, LouCity has been the kind of team that bends the opposition to its will, forcing opponents to play on their terms. Things have changed. It’s about a measured approach to games nowadays under Hackworth, tailoring his own team to the opponents, aided by scouting and expanding experience with specific rivals.
Against strong teams like Indy Eleven, the boys in purple came out with energy and pressed high up the field to unsettle the visitors and force them into mistakes — and that worked. Against the likes of Sporting KC II in the most recent bout, LouCity let the game come to them, inviting SKC to make mistakes and that worked out remarkably well.
Changing personnel, tactics, game plans, and training sessions all to fit the opponents make life hard for Hackworth and assistant Danny Cruz. But the results are starting to speak for themselves.
LouCity’s depth on display
The highest number of offseason roster additions since 2017 have added both quality and depth to an already strong core. Although Corben Bone just broke through for his first goal for LouCity, he had already been making an impact in the midfield.
With more players comes more competition in both training and for starting spots, but other than the obvious benefits, this particular LouCity team is built for the truncated and compressed schedule. Having a deep bench also means that beyond accounting for quick turnarounds, the challenge of playing the same teams four times can be minimized.
The quality of the bench for Louisville is one of the best in the league on any given day. More than quality, though, Hackworth has a player to fit nearly any situation. Take the bench against Sporting KC II for instance.
Need a goal? Bring on Luke Spencer or Jason Johnson. Need another central defender to kill off the game? Jimmy Ockford is warming up as we speak. Is a bit more pace required to get by a flagging defense? Brian Ownby or Jonathan Gomez are right there. The reserves are a continuation of the starting 11.
Now, Indy’s the team to beat
Indy Eleven appears to be the best team in the league at the moment. They have more points than anyone else in the Eastern Conference, and they have the league’s co-leading scorer in striker Tyler Pasher. Their goalkeeper just set a league record with 50th career clean sheet, and Indy has only conceded five times since returning to play.
All of this is true right now, but no trophies are handed out halfway through the season. After a draw in their first meeting, LouCity and Indy are scheduled to meet again on Wednesday at Lynn Family Stadium with two more matchups on tap after that.
When managers have a player that is in a run of form, like Indy Eleven coach Martin Rennie has with Pasher, they have to let them do their thing. We already knew from the first matchup of the season that it was imperative to keep the star man contained, and thought that his run of form may be coming to an end.
Pasher was largely corralled by the LouCity defense, yet the one moment he broke out in the Aug. 8 matchup, he scored. So we are still waiting for the 26-year-old Canadian to come off the boil. Pasher is responsible for nine of the team’s 15 goals and has only failed to score in two games. Incidentally, Indy lost both of those games. While it seems pretty clear that if you can limit Pasher then you can limit Indy, that remains easier said than done.
While Indy sit atop the group, there are still a possible 24 points to be won by LouCity, and 21 for Indy given a game in hand for the boys in purple. It is important not to discount or dismiss Saint Louis FC, as LouCity sits ahead of them simply on goal difference heading into an idle weekend for LouCity.
It is fair to say that LouCity has come through the first half of the season strong thanks to its recent unbeaten run. The team is well poised to earn a playoff position, and if the club plays its cards right against Indy in particular, a top seed and home field advantage in the postseason remains within reach.
