The hunt for a third star starts this Saturday at Lynn Family Stadium as Louisville City FC opens its 2022 campaign at home against Atlanta United 2.
With kickoff set for 7:30 p.m., this is a rematch of last season’s home opener that saw the boys in purple defeat Atlanta thanks to a second-half brace from team captain Paolo DelPiccolo.
While Atlanta United 2 is not an unfamiliar foe – City faced them four times last season in the Central Division – its team returns to Louisville a bit of a mystery.
As the second team of a Major League Soccer club, getting a look at what the side looks like in preseason is difficult, both in terms of style of play and personnel. Atlanta United 2’s website currently only lists seven active players.
Despite the information gap, the boys in purple will be ready for the challenge come Saturday night.
“With Atlanta United 2, you never know what they’re going to bring,” said goalkeeper Kyle Morton, the likely starter between the posts this weekend for LouCity. “They don’t always have a bunch of preseason footage that we can see, so we’re going to have to be prepared for a lot of things with them.
“Atlanta United 2 is going to be a very good team. They’re going to be youthful, but they’re going to have a lot of talent and we’re going to be prepared for whatever they bring.”
Saturday will be the first of two meetings between the teams, with City’s return trip to Atlanta set for Wednesday, May 4 – the last time they’ll meet in the USL Championship before United 2 moves to MLS Next in 2023.
Atlanta, along with the other remaining second teams, Loudoun United and New York Red Bulls II, is set to join the rest of the former USL Championship clubs in MLS’s second division.
Follow along…
• For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @loucityfc on Twitter and Louisville City FC on Facebook. Also find us at louisvillecityfc on Instagram.
• Visit our Match Center for everything you should know before you go to Lynn Family Stadium.
• Can’t make it? Saturday’s game will air on WBKI/The CW and stream via ESPN+ and the WDRB Now app. Listen to live radio coverage from Jeff Milby and Casey Whitfield on ESPN 680/105.7 or at ESPNLouisville.com.
