The heartbreak of last season’s Eastern Conference Final defeat to the Tampa Bay Rowdies is fueling a 2022 Louisville City FC team hungry to claim the third USL Championship title in club history.
LouCity’s remarkable start as a club includes seven consecutive trips to at least the conference finals in the USL Championship Playoffs with two league trophies and a runner-up finish. The goals remain high entering a new 34-game campaign opening Saturday.
With the season kicking off this weekend, here’s a look at some major storylines, key additions and big matches ahead for the boys in purple.
Story lines to know
Danny Cruz’s first full cycle: Given a full offseason and preseason to reshape the team to his preferences, City’s 32-year-old manager will be looking to build on an impressive start to one of the USL Championship’s most prestigious jobs. Offseason signings suggest his squad will have flexibility between playing four at the back — as Cruz did much of last year — or switching to a three-defender formation that could be the coach’s long-term preference.
Replacing JoGo: There is no one-for-one swap when it comes to filling the role played by last year’s USL Championship Young Player of the Year. Jonathan Gomez has transferred to top-tier Spanish club Real Sociedad, but LouCity has brought in some capable replacements over the offseason. In particular, 28-year-old Amadou Dia — Phoenix Rising FC’s club Defender of the year in 2018 and 2019 — is one to watch at Gomez’s former left back spot.
A new striker partnership? Cameron Lancaster’s scoring record at LouCity should stand for a long time, with 66 goals in 120 career appearances. That didn’t stop the club from adding another scoring threat to the mix. Enter Wilson Harris, a 22-year-old striker who scored 25 goals in 66 appearances for Sporting Kansas City II over the past four years. What remains to be seen is whether Cruz uses them together or goes with a lethal one-two punch off the bench.
Key Additions
Look no further than Dia and Harris, who along with goalkeeper Kyle Morton look like contenders to crack the opening day starting lineup. That’s not to mention some younger players — such as Manny Perez (23), Enoch Mushagalusa (22) and Ray Serrano (19) — who will complement the club’s veteran core.
Dia, Harris and Mushagalusa all come from the Sporting KC organization, while Morton split time last season between a loan at the USL Championship’s Memphis 901 and MLS club Houston Dynamo. Perez, who earlier in his career spent two years with Scottish power Celtic FC, played 10 matches last season with MLS’ Austin FC. Serrano is a promising talent who at 15 became the youngest player in Seattle Sounders history to sign a pro contract.
Season Structure
City opens its 2022 campaign with a home tilt at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Atlanta United 2, one of the league’s most talented MLS reserve squads. The teams met four times last season, with the boys in purple winning twice, losing once and drawing the fourth time.
While most 2/II teams have left the USL Championship, Atlanta and New York Red Bulls II remain in LouCity’s Eastern Conference. Following pandemic-impacted 2020 and 2021 seasons, the league is returning to a more traditional structure this go around with each club seeing all the others in its conference once twice and away.
The remainder of the schedule will be filled by some intriguing matchups with Western Conference foes. Which leads us to…
Key Games
Beyond Saturday’s opener, mark your calendars for a number of big-time matchups and rivalry meetings this season at Lynn Family Stadium.
LouCity hosts its only home game against rival Indy Eleven on March 26, while playoff nemesis Tampa Bay Rowdies visits on Aug. 13. Birmingham Legion FC, City’s top divisional rival last season, comes to town for a holiday weekend fixture on July 2. And a highly-anticipated showdown with Phoenix Rising, the two-time USL Championship finalists, is set for July 20 in Louisville with the game to air on ESPN2.
Playoff Format
At the conclusion of the regular season, the top seven teams in each conference will qualify for the 2022 USL Championship Playoffs with the top seed on both sides receiving a bye to the conference semifinal round. The bracket will be re-seeded following the conference quarterfinals to ensure the No. 1 seed plays the lowest-seeded remaining opponent.
The playoffs will remain a single-elimination format, culminating in the 2022 USL Championship Final on a to be determined date between Nov. 10 and Nov. 14.
