It was a dominating performance for Louisville City FC Friday night at Louisville Slugger Field as the team ran riot in a 4-0 victory over Bethlehem Steel in the first round of the USL Cup Playoffs.
But looking beyond the goals and between the numbers, there was one big reason for Louisville City’s emphatic win.
“They won almost all the individual battles tonight,” Bethlehem Steel coach Brendan Burke said following the game.
Overall, Louisville City won nearly 55 percent of it’s 50-50 duels and even on plays that wouldn’t be considered duels, Louisville City’s players were dominating their opposites across the field.
It’s something that has been lacking at times from Louisville City this season, even in some wins, but it was especially noticeable the last time these two teams met, a wild 2-2 draw at home. Per Opta, Bethlehem won the majority of 50-50 duels, with hulking centerback Hugh Roberts and powerful central midfielder Derrick Jones patrolling the middle of the park for the Steel.
This time around, Louisville City took note of what the Steel had to offer, learning from that last game and correcting the mistakes to advance in the playoffs.
“Yeah, it was something we touched on, because when we played them the last time, there were a couple statistics in there that we weren’t too enamored with. So that was something – individual battles and duels – we were able to rectify that, because the last time we played, I felt as if we drew two-two at home, but I thought they caused us some problems.”
The Louisville City three-man backline was especially impressive in the 4-0 victory. Sean Totsch won all five of his duels and all three in the air and double goal-scorer Tarek Morad also came away with seven out of 12 wins in duels, but Paco Craig in particular drew praise from Oscar Jimenez for his performance on the left side of the backline, winning 14 of his 18 duels and six of his nine battles in the air.
“He was a monster out there,” Jimenez said of Craig. “Winning every header, getting in tackles, pretty much everybody was winning their battles. Luke (Spencer) was up top winning his battles. I haven’t seen the stats yet, but I feel like we were better in that aspect.”
Of course, we can’t leave out the captain, Paolo DelPiccolo. The 26-year-old sometimes goes unnoticed for putting in the hard work in the center of the park, but he was immense once more for Louisville City on Friday. DelPiccolo led the team with 22 total duels and 10 aerial duels, winning 15 overall and seven of ten in the air.
DelPiccolo also won four free kicks, doing the dirty work to allow Louisville City’s attacking midfielders and wingbacks the freedom to take advantage of space out wide and behind the backline.
Friday’s win was a look at what can happen when the boys in purple do everything right. They created 15 goal-scoring opportunities, with Jimenez picking up a pair of assists. They were efficient in front of goal, with 11 of 18 shots on target. They won the majority of individual battles across the field and exerted dominance on the scoreboard with timely goals.
It was just about the perfect start to the USL Playoffs for Louisville City, which broke its record for most goals scored in a playoff game. And even thought the players and O’Connor said they believed this team can be even sharper, it’s a snapshot of how good this LouCity team is and perhaps how far they can advance in this year’s postseason.
Bethlehem’s Burke summed it up best postgame.
“I think they could go all the way,” he said.
Opinions expressed in this piece were not subject to club approval. For more insights on LouCity, follow former Courier-Journal reporter Dan Karell on Twitter: @DanKarellPreps.
