Louisville City FC hosts Birmingham Legion FC at 8 p.m. Saturday in a top-five matchup in the Eastern Conference at Lynn Family Stadium.
LouCity (10-3-3, 33 points) returned to form with back-to-back wins after losing four of five through May and into June. The boys in purple began the season on a 13-match unbeaten streak. City is two points out of first place in the Eastern Conference, trailing Memphis 901 FC.
Birmingham (7-4-4, 25 points) started this season with a four-match winless stretch, but the Legion has been scorching hot since, undefeated in its last five and eight of their last nine. Birmingham is currently fifth in the Eastern Conference but has played at least one fewer games than every team ahead in the standings.
Saturday will be the second meeting between the teams this season. They drew, 0-0, on April 2 in Birmingham despite City playing with 10 men after midfielder Napo Matsoso was sent off with a red card late in the first half.
Here’s more of what to watch for on Saturday…
Follow along
- The game will air live locally on My58 TV and ESPN Louisville’s 680/105.7, with streaming via ESPN+ and the WDRB Now app.
- For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @loucityfc on Twitter and Louisville City FC on Facebook. Also find the club at louisvillecityfc on Instagram.
Injury report
- Cameron Lancaster (Out)
- Kyle Morton (Out)
Story lines…
Halfway there: With Saturday marking the midway point of the season, City’s 10-3-3 record has already bested both of the club’s title-winning squads through 17 games (2017: 9-3-5, 2018: 8-4-5. A win Saturday would tie last year’s team that went 11-3-3- to start the year. Only the 2016 boys in purple put together a better start through 17 games, boasting an 11-1-5 start.
Familiar foe: City and Legion FC developed a bit of a rivalry last season while battling down to the regular season’s final day for a Central Division title. The boys in purple came out on top with a 1-0 victory on the road and earned a No. 1 playoff seed as a result. This year, the USL Championship has reverted back to the traditional Eastern Conference/Western Conference table, meaning a home and home series against each club.
Between the posts: Goalkeeper Danny Faundez has proven himself worthy of the starting role since stepping in for Kyle Morton, who’s tied for league’s Golden Glove leader and remains in concussion protocol. Faundez, a preseason trialist turned signee, has two wins in as many league starts, and he recorded his first career clean sheet in City’s 2-0 win at Hartford Athletic last weekend.
All the bagels: While Saturday’s clean sheet was Faundez’s first, it was the eighth for LouCity, which started the season with seven shutouts in its first 10 games. City leads the USL Championship in that category and had three more clean sheets in its run to the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16.
Attack is back: The boys in purple top the league with a plus-19 goal differential, ranking among the top three in goals (32) and goals per match (2). City has outpaced its expected goals total (29), a figure that ranks third in the USL Championship.
Tucked in, locked in: Saturday’s Man of the Match took care of business on both offense and defense, with defender Sean Totsch recording his fourth goal on the season and winning six duels and nine possessions. Totsch’s goal served as the game-winner, nodding in Amadou Dia’s lofted cross across the face of goal.
PdP approved: Captain Paolo DelPiccolo didn’t take long to find the back of the net after coming on as a substitute at Hartford, scoring just four minutes after he came on. He corralled Jorge Gonzalez’s shot from outside the box and slotted home a close-range finish. It was DelPiccolo’s third goal of the season.
