Louisville City FC’s spending this week preparing for a New York Red Bulls II roster missing a major name from the last time the clubs met: reigning USL Rookie of the Year Brandon Allen, who’s off to Major League Soccer’s Minnesota United for a loan spell through the end of the season.
But, said LouCity coach James O’Connor, “Regardless of the personnel, they’ve got very good players that can cause you a lot of problems.”
O’Connor reeled off a number of them — Florian Valot, Vincent Bezecourt and Junior Flemmings — for example. All were key pieces to a team that won the 2016 USL championship and will return to Slugger Field at 7:30 p.m. Saturday to face LouCity.
Still, New York’s feeling Allen’s loss. Before his departure for Minnesota, the striker scored nine goals in 14 appearances for Red Bulls II a season after he saw 15 shots hit the back of the net during an near-Golden Boot campaign.
Bezecourt, a midfielder, scored the lone goal for New York last time out in a 1-0 win over Toronto FC II. The victory snapped a three-game losing streak, kept the Red Bulls II in a playoff position, and served as a much-needed boost. Dating back to a 3-0 loss June 11 to LouCity, New York had won just one other game.
New York will have the ability to choose between its USL and MLS rosters to further replace Allen, allowing the Red Bulls to alter their lineups based upcoming competition.
“They’re a threat,” O’Connor said. “For me they got probably the best academy, one of the best pyramid systems in the country. So they’re obviously a threat with the quality they have for sure.”
Here’s more from O’Connor’s weekly press conference:
• On LouCity’s depth after a 4-1 win at Saint Louis FC, even with regular starters Kyle Smith and Paolo DelPiccolo out: “We’ve got a small squad, but all our guys can start, and that’s the biggest thing. We don’t necessarily have guys that are non-starters. All of our guys, I look at them all as starters. It’s just whether they get the opportunity to start in that particular game…So that’s credit to what we’re trying to develop here. It’s all about the team and all about the squad. It’s not necessarily one individual that is going to be seen as a superstar. I think our biggest strength will always be our team.”
• On whether he was pleased with the performance at Saint Louis FC: “Oh obviously, very. I think the performance even first half — I think with 10 shots we were a little unlucky go in one-nil down. I think they had a lot of possession, but we had a lot of half-decent chances. Obviously second half we were very pleased with our performance. Very pleased to score four goals.”
• On 100-degree temperatures at that game: “I’ve been involved here (four) years, and that was the hottest I’ve ever experienced. I’ve had some hot games, but that was unreal. It really was. (The players) deserve enormous credit. For the fans that went there, they obviously experienced the heat, and a massive thank you to them for making the effort to travel all that way. Again, the heat. When I come back and I say it’s hot, for the people who haven’t really experienced it they think, ‘Ah, it was hot.’ It was really hot Saturday. The players deserve a lot of credit for how they performed.”
