Louisville City FC is seeking to advance to the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday when it takes on Saint Louis FC. Lou City dispatched Long Island Rough Riders 5-0 last Wednesday, thanks to goals from five different players in purple.
Lou City has been advanced to the fourth round only once before, in 2015, where they were halted in extra time by MLS’ Chicago Fire. Though looking to make a deeper run this year, City has bowed out in the third round in each of the past two seasons.
When & Where
City will host Saint Louis FC at the University of Louisville’s Lynn Stadium at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
The public can stream tonight’s match live on WAVE3.com (mobile and web), and fans can also stay updated on #LOUvSTL via Twitter & Instagram.
STREAM (Web): bit.ly/1dwbq7w
STREAM (Mobile): bit.ly/21gkG4u
DOWNLOAD: LouCity app for iOS | LouCity app for Android
Last Time Out
Louisville City FC confidently handled Premier Development League side Long Island Rough Riders 5-0 in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup last Wednesday at Lynn Stadium.
Kyle Smith and Ilija Ilic notched first-half goals while Luke Spencer, Brian Ownby, and Cameron Lancaster netted goals in the second to seal a convincing victory which put Lou City through to the next round.
U.S. OPEN CUP: LouCity hosts Saint Louis FC in Third Round clash
Rewind against SAINT LOUIS FC
The last time these two rivals met was in a preseason friendly in Evansville, Indiana. Despite conceding an own goal early in the match, Lou City managed to grab one back thanks to Niall McCabe. The friendly would end 1-1 in Lou City’s final tune-up match before the USL season began.
This rivalry has been dubbed the “King’s Cup,” and it goes back to Lou City’s first ever professional match, where it defeated Saint Louis FC 2-0.
James O’Connor’s pre-match press conference:
On the injury situation:
“Yeah, I mean we’ll have to see. Wednesday may be a little bit soon for a couple of them, certainly Francis, Richard, obviously Brian has been struggling. He came on last week and he got another knock so, he obviously wasn’t involved Saturday. We’re just going to have to wait and see as to can we risk them or are we going to have to be extra safe?”
On if the 5-0 Open Cup win was a confidence booster:
“I mean I suppose people maybe would consider that. I don’t necessarily think we needed a confidence booster. I think we’re in a great position in the league and a strong performance again Wednesday night, so for us confidence isn’t really a problem. I think it’s more the outside. Maybe people look at it and think ‘okay where are they mentally?’
But I think when you’ve got such a great group of players that have such a strong mentality, I think the biggest thing for us is making sure that we get the rest and recovery in between games. I mean that’s the biggest factor we’re dealing with. I think when we play Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday, it’s really tough. We’ve got all these games in amongst the heat and the humidity that’s cranked itself up so for us, it’s trying to manage the squad and that’s where we’ve had to really be.
We’ll be mindful of the internationals because of the Open Cup rules–you’re limited to five internationals–you throw into the mix then, you’ve got guys that are carrying injuries and knocks … We need to be really strategic in how we go about trying to put a team out that we think can win games.”
On the Saint Louis rivalry:
“I think obviously from Sean Reynolds and Kadeem [Dacres], the two lads will obviously be desperate to come and beat us and give a good account for themselves. Obviously, I’ve known [Saint Louis FC coach] Anthony [Pulis] for many years. We played together, and I think the fact that it’s a regional rivalry as well, I think there will be some desperation from both teams to try to win the game. I think obviously the opportunity to get into the next round of the Open Cup, for both clubs, will be a big prize so I would expect both teams to really go at it on Wednesday night.”
On being at the level we want to be:
“I think there have been glimpses [of the level we want to attain]. I think for me, we’ve had, even at the start of the year when we won all the games, you know, consecutively, there are always games where I’ll come away from them and there’ll be something I want us to be better at. I think if you get the perfect game, you may as well just retire. I think you’re not looking hard enough. There are always areas for growth. So, for us, we’ve always been intentional about finding that growth and giving the guidance to the players to say, ‘Look these are areas we want to get better at and these are areas we can improve upon.’”
On the current league standings:
“I think we are where we’d hoped we’d be, I think it’s so early in the league, you start looking at the league table in October, not early in May because you can be top of the league in May and it’s irrelevant. We need to be top of the league when it counts, which is at the end of the season. For us, again, it’s the process. We’re fully focused on Saint Louis—a massive game. They’ve played some really good football, Anthony [Pulis] is very organized. They obviously have the bite, with Sean [Reynolds] and Kadeem [Dacres], and the fact that it’s a cup game, there’ll be desperation for them to want to go on and have a cup run so we have to make sure we’re prepped and we’re ready to go.”
Team News
QUESTIONABLE – Richard Ballard (stress fracture)
QUESTIONABLE – Shaun Francis (hamstring)
