BlueGrass Ballers Review: Lou City Domination
On Saturday, August 9th, the top two teams in the USL Championship went toe-to-toe to determine league dominance. Louisville City hosted the Charleston Battery in front of 13,611 fans in their “Fill the Fam” night! Both teams came into the Saturday night brawl holding 41 points and 14 points above third place. This match is assumed to be a precursor to the Eastern Conference Championship.
The drums were loud, the heat was up, and the whistle blew. The Battery started off just as hot as the 91-degree temperature, as they do, with Akpunonu setting up a perfect through ball to Jennings. Jennings took the left-footed shot perfectly to the bottom right corner, which, if not for the heroics of Damian Las, would have surely been a difference maker. Thanks to the momentum built by Las’s save, Louisville sent an amazing long ball down to The Battery’s defensive end. Aiden McFadden took the ball gently to his chest and, with a swift flick, landed perfectly for Phillip Goodrum, who did what every high school attacker I ever coached for and took it to his right side, making his job even harder. Still, it’s a good thing Goodrum’s favorite spice is not meg because he took an impossible angle and slipped the ball through keeper Zamudio’s legs for Louisville’s first of the night, and just like Louisville’s other famous sport, they were off to the races! The rest of the half was more of the same: Charleston attacks, Las saves the day, and Louisville scores, counter football at its finest. The first half ended with Louisville up 4-0, goals scored by Goodrum (3), Wilson (16, 28), and Davila (Pen 45+6).
The second half wasn’t much to write home about for Louisville. It was a strong defensive showing for the back three for Louisville, boasting 5 blocks between them. The parked bus did finally let a goal in from Charleston’s Myers in the 52nd minute.
The one thing to take from this game was that the score feels good, but this was not as dominant a game as the score may say. This was a masterclass in counterattacking play and defensive fortitude. Las ended the game with five saves and Louisville ended with seven blocks. Charleston had a couple of extra shots and shots-on-target compared to Louisville and 70% of possession. They also led the game in passing with 398 accurate passes vs 139 from Louisville. These stats show two different things. First, Charleston had control of the ball and was moving it well, so Louisville’s midfield stepped up the pressure a bit to cause mistakes and turnovers. The second thing these stats show me is that Louisville’s defensive shape was strong. Yes, Charleston took more shots and had more control of the ball, but six of the shots were from outside the box (low percentage chance), and the control was mainly in their own half, accounting for 222 of their 398 passes. Charleston passed more in their own half than Louisville did the entire game.
What’s next for Louisville? The club turns down south to take on the actual team from Miami, The Miami FC. Miami has been in a slump, only squeezing out two points in the last five games and only three shots on goal in their last game against El Paso Locomotive. This should be another three points for Louisville, but Miami will look to push hard to get back in the win column, so expect a scrappy game out there.