Knoxville to Host Spokane in Front of Record Crowd for USL League One Final
League attendance record already broken based on tickets sold
The USL League One final is set for Sunday evening in Knoxville at Covenant Health Park. Top seeded One Knoxville will host third seed Spokane Velocity for the title.
It’s the second year in a row Spokane is the visiting side in the playoff final, having fallen to Union Omaha last year. Meanwhile, it’s Knoxville’s first time there, after having won the Player’s Shield this season.
The stadium is officially “multi-use” but in reality is a baseball stadium. As such, it has come with some of the headaches of converting back and forth, with a lot of turf issues through the regular season.
But with baseball over for the year, the turf should be in decent shape by Sunday. In addition, the club announced Wednesday that they were removing the protective netting around the stands to allow for a clear view by fans both in the stadium and watching on television.
At the time of this writing, the club has announced the sale of over 6,450 tickets, and seating areas are completely sold out. An additional 1,000 standing room tickets were made available to meet the extra demand. But even at the last announced number, the club will break the all-time USL League One attendance record on Sunday.
What to Expect from One Knoxville
The hosts finished the season top of the table on a three match win streak. They also had few issues taking down Charlotte Independence in the opening round, and edged by FC Naples in the semi-final.
One Knoxville has also never lost at Covenant Park, the home in which they moved this season. Since the beginning of the season, fans have called it the fortress, something that increasingly rang true as the season went on.
Knoxville led the regular season in goal differential, clean sheets and had the fewest goals conceded. It’s a testament to the incredible work rate of Goalkeeper of the Year Sean Lewis and Defender of the Year Jordan Skelton, and their team of fellow defenders.
However, this isn’t much of a change from the last two seasons, where Knoxville also conceded the fewest goals. What changed was goal scoring.
Under Mark McKeever’s system over the last two seasons, Knoxville finished dead last in goals scored. It was good enough to make the playoffs last season, where they were quickly dispatched in the opening round at Greenville. But this season, under Ian Fuller, the team found its scoring touches and hasn’t looked back.
The difference maker up front has been Babacar Diene, who successfully took the pressure off of Kempes Tekiela and Stavros Zarokostas, and lead the team with ten goals. The 29 year old joined from Pittsburgh Riverhounds, and found his scoring touches at the professional level, which in turn allowed Tekiela and Zarokostas to thrive in support roles.
Tekiela scored eight and provided five assists playing alongside or behind Diene, and Zarokostas provided six assists, and another three goals from the wing.
But Knoxville’s offense went considerably deeper than that, relying on two of the best two-way wingbacks in the league in Stuart Ritchie and Jaheim Brown to move the ball, and a surprising amount of production from Nico Rosamillia on the left. Rosamillia stepped into a top role after expected winger Mark Doyle suffered injuries.
What to Expect from Spokane Velocity
It wouldn’t be fair to say the pre-season favorites struggled down the stretch, because they still finished third and hosted the first two rounds of the playoffs. Going into the final two weeks, they still had a chance to win the Player’s Shield, but had a brutal road trip to end the season. They picked up a win at Naples, but lost badly a few days later in Portland, and ended the season with a draw at Omaha.
They also took both of their playoff matches into extra time and penalty kicks, taking down South Georgia Tormenta, and then exercising the demons by defeating Portland. Goalkeeper Carlos Merancio was a force in net, whether it was regular time, extra time or when saving penalty kicks.
The defense is led by David Garcia, a finalist for Defender of the Year and a First Team All-League selection alongside Knoxville’s Skelton. With Merancio and Garcia, Spokane conceded 35 goals (34 if you discount the three from the forfeit handed to the team against Westchester and only count the two scored in that match), fourth fewest in the league.
Similar to One Knoxville, there wasn’t a player on the team competing for the Golden Boot this year. Instead, it was a team effort up front, with Anuar Peláez leading the squad with ten, followed by his midfield backer, Luis Gil with eight.
It’s Spokane’s depth that makes things especially dangerous in playoff scenarios. Head Coach Leigh Veidman understands the nature of playoff soccer, and uses his depth wisely. Nico Brett has been getting the start up front, despite scoring fewer goals than Peláez.
The USL veteran is still an ever present threat, but with a stout defense able to keep things close, Veidman has been subbing in Peláez in the second half for a fresh threat. If Brett scores - it’s a bonus; if he doesn’t? Veidman has the likes of Peláez, Nil Vinyals and Marky Hernández ready to come in.
In the opening round against Tormenta, it was Peláez with the equalizing penalty late in extra time to send the match to penalties, where Merancio took care of the rest. Against Portland, it was Vinyals at the death, assisted by Hernández.
One Knoxville may have the stronger starting 11 this season, but it’s difficult for any squad to match the depth of Spokane.
Head to Head
The teams met twice this season, drawing 2-2 in March at Spokane and with Knoxville taking their home match 1-0 in August.
In many ways, this is one of the highly probable matchups based on early season expectations. Chattanooga may have shocked everyone with its second place finish, but after being knocked out in the first round, the playoffs found order.
How to Watch
If you aren’t one of the lucky 7,500 people to get in the gates (like me), the match will be available on CBS Golazo, available streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
Kickoff: 5:00 PM ET
This story cross-posted with Beyond the 90.