While scouting FC Montreal, James O’Connor didn’t look at the United Soccer League standings, where the club sits one spot from the bottom. Rather, he analyzed Montreal’s threats and form.
“And you think, ‘They’re a dangerous team,'” O’Connor said this week.
The numbers agree.
LouCity travels this weekend for a 3 p.m. Saturday game against Major League Soccer side Montreal Impact’s affiliate, one that is unbeaten in five straight matches with four victories over that span. This all happened after an 0-8 start to the season.
FC Montreal, which lost 2-0 to LouCity on July 4, has since matured into a USL force.
“Earlier this year, they had a lot of young guys, so they were in a lot of games,” said Louisville striker Chandler Hoffman. “It was just their inexperience that gave up late goals. It’s going to be a tough one for us, and it’s one where we need to come out and kind of be all over them from the start — dictate the game.”
Leading scorer Anthony Jackson-Hamel has goals in each of Montreal’s last five games, while Alessandro Riggi remains strong on the ball. Stopping them is one thing. LouCity has its own questions to answer as well.
Up top, Cameron Lancaster started last weekend’s 1-0 win over Bethlehem Steel FC in place of Hoffman, who with 14 goals on the season is in the thick of the USL’s Golden Boot race. Magnus Rasmussen also made a lengthy appearance in the attacking midfield at the 10 spot.
Will those changes stick? LouCity’s central midfield could use some of the depth, as Guy Abend is out while recovering from a concussion and Paolo DelPiccolo will sit due to yellow card accumulation.
O’Connor said Niall McCabe has recently battled a nagging labrum injury where “he has days when it feels OK and other days where it’s awful. For us, it’s impossible to manage because you never know if it’s going to be good or if it’s going to be bad.”
Then there’s the goalkeeper situation.
With Greg Ranjitsingh away with the Trinidad and Tobago Senior Men’s Team, either rookie Tim Dobrowolski will make his debut in goal on Saturday, or Scott Goodwin will come out of retirement to contribute. O’Connor hasn’t yet named a starter.
“He’s kept it pretty tight-lipped,” said Dobrowolski, who added, “I’m obviously hopeful…They’re a red-hot team right now — Montreal’s on fire — so I’m looking forward to either way watching a great game.”
LouCity recovered well from a back-to-back defeats to end July. The club has lost just once in its last five contests, to the league-leading New York Red Bulls II. Other recent results around the USL, including consecutive losses by FC Cincinnati, have Louisville in position to hold second or threaten for a regular-season title should the Red Bulls stumble.
O’Connor’s sticking with his mantra with four games to go: one at a time.
“More often than not, you get a lot of emotion involved with supporters and with different people,” the coach said. “If you look at the more successful ones, they’re able to keep that in check — keep a steady balance and steady flow of what they’re trying to achieve and not sort of pull away from it. That’s something we do here.”
