Louisville City FC fell by a 2-1 score Wednesday to FC Kaiserslautern, but that was hardly the story of the club’s first international friendly.
LouCity welcomed 7,167 fans to Lynn Family Stadium in a mix of home purple and FCK’s visiting red. The club saw returns from injury by midfielder Niall McCabe and defender Manny Perez. Plus late in the going, as many as seven LouCity Academy players — two current pros and five amateurs — were on the pitch at the same time.
City’s present held its own against one of Germany’s most-stories clubs, and some younger boys in purple received experiences that position them for the future.
“It was a fantastic evening, I thought, for everybody,” said LouCity coach Danny Cruz. “Our hope was that it was going to be a solid game for the fans. Hopefully everybody walked out of here thinking two good teams performed well on the night.
“They obviously had chances. We had chances. But all in all, I think it’s a special moment, and a huge credit for them for the travel that they’ve had. We’re happy to have them here.”
LouCity — in the midst of its USL Championship regular season — opened on the front foot, turning a giveaway in the Red Devils’ half into a 14th-minute opener. Dylan Mares tipped a pass over a diving FCK defender, and Enoch Mushagalusa fired in a shot from the top of the box to give the home side the lead.
Kaiserslautern — visiting the United States as part of its 2023-2024 preseason — turned up the intensity from there. Amid a pop-up driving rainstorm, star striker and U.S. international Terrence Boyd found himself tripped up in the box. But, laying down, he got a head to an unlikely equalizer in the 27th minute.
Boyd gave FCK the lead in the 41st minute after a LouCity turnover in the midfield led to a breakaway counter and chipped-in goal. LouCity’s best chance at an answer came in the 76th minute as Maarten Pouwels flicked a pass in behind to Paolo DelPiccolo, requiring a point-blank save from the Red Devils’ keeper.
“I thought it was a tough opponent,” Boyd said. “We didn’t know what to expect. I told the guys, there are guys here who can play ball in the U.S. They might not have the biggest names, but they can ball. They showed it, not just from a technical standpoint but the way Danny Cruz is letting his players play from a tactical view, it’s comparable to Germany — German football.”
Between City’s posts, Danny Faundez delivered a pair of dramatic second half saves to keep the boys in purple in it. This marked Faundez’s first minutes of 2023 after he heroically helped the club through last year’s playoffs. It was also one of six lineup changes from a weekend draw at Phoenix Rising FC, with Saturday’s USL Championship tilt against Las Vegas Lights also ahead.
As both sides rotated heavily after the halftime break, LouCity saw the returns from injury of the midfielder McCabe (last appearance on March 25) and the defender Perez (last played May 27).
“I’ve been here a while, so looking back to when we started, it’s hard to imagine we’d be playing a club like Kaiserslautern — something with that prestige at a venue like this,” McCabe said. “It’s all kind of surreal to imagine and comes down to a lot of hard work by a lot of people.
“Thank you to the club for coming over and putting this on as well. I thought it was a great experience — a good, competitive game.”
Allowed a deeper bench than in league play, Cruz also brought on four LouCity Academy standouts for their first team debuts: Gio Chavez, Dakota Hart, Jabari Rasheed and Jack Travis. Colin Elder made his second appearance, while academy grads Owen Damm and Carlos Moguel Jr. both started.
The FCK matchup marked the first of two summer international friendlies for the boys in purple, who also host Mexico’s Atlante FC on Saturday, July 15. Visit LouCity.com/Atlante for tickets and more information.
Game Summary: Louisville City FC vs. FC Kaiserslautern
Date: June 21, 2023
Venue: Lynn Family Stadium
Kickoff: 8 p.m. ET
Weather: 79 degrees, partly cloudy
Attendance: 7,167
Scoring
Louisville City FC (1, 0, 1)
FC Kaiserslautern (2, 0, 2)
Goals
Louisville City FC:
14’ Enoch Mushagalusa
FC Kaiserslautern:
27’ Terrence Boyd
41’ Terrence Boyd
