By Andrew Bell
Louisville City FC was defeated, 3-2, by the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Saturday night in an away game where LouCity faced adversity and unfamiliar situations, leading to its first loss in nine games.
Tampa Bay scored the opener in the 30th minute when Rowdies forward Cal Jennings was played into City’s box. Goalkeeper Damian Las came out to meet the striker but was rounded and finished past to give the home side the advantage.
Just six minutes later, a penalty call went Tampa Bay’s way. After a blocked shot bounced out to LouCity defender Aiden McFadden, the outside back tried to swivel and clear the ball but went through Tampa Bay’s Eddie Munjoma in the process. Rowdies forward Manuel Arteaga barely snuck his spot kick past Las, who guessed the correct way.
In the 47th minute of the first half, LouCity pulled one back to halve the deficit after City winger Ray Serrano whipped in a corner kick from the left side of the pitch. Arturo Ordoñez rose to meet it with a powerful header at point blank range. Ordoñez’s attempt bounced off Tampa Bay’s goalkeeper and teammate Jorge Gonzalez also had a shot at it before the ball landed to McFadden, who smashed the ball in.
LouCity found its equalizer in the 51st minute when midfielder Taylor Davila’s corner kick fell to Gonzalez, whose shot trickled into the bottom right corner through a crowded six-yard box.
Just when it looked like the teams were going to split the points on the night, Rowdies wingback Pacifique Niyongabire looped a cross toward LouCity’s back post. There, it found unmarked Tampa Bay substitute Damián Rivera, who volleyed in the attempt at close range in the 92nd minute to take all three points.
“I think the biggest frustration from the first half is when you go through it with the players, and you’re really clear with what they’re going to see, and they don’t deal with it,” head coach Danny Cruz said about his disappointment in his team’s poor execution of their game plan. “…I was really, really proud of the second half. We made some tactical adjustments that the players executed and I felt that the players left everything on the field there in the second half. We cannot switch off at the last moment there. It’s too easy of a goal to concede in the (92nd) minute. Now it’s about responding.”
The loss was just LouCity’s second of the season, and it came to a second top USL Championship Eastern Conference rival in Tampa Bay after the initial defeat to the Charleston Battery back in April. Charleston also lost on the night to Detroit City FC, keeping City three points clear of the top in the East, still with a game in hand on the Battery.
Unfamiliar territory
LouCity was placed in a few foreign situations on Saturday night. First, City’s match against the Rowdies was one of the only ones all season not to feature Adrien Perez, Wilson Harris or both for the majority of the match. Perez went out with an injury early in last week’s game against North Carolina FC, and Harris’s 20 minutes on Saturday were his first minutes back from injury in three games.
Notably, Perez and Harris lead the boys in purple in assists and scoring, respectively. The pair have a combined 15 goal contributions this season to go along with 49 shots and 24 chances created. Despite LouCity’s immense squad depth, the absence of Perez and Harris was felt keenly in the attacking third against Tampa Bay, which boasts one of the lowest goals conceded in the league at 15.
Also unfamiliar to LouCity on Saturday was its situation at halftime: trailing. The boys in purple came into the game having been behind at halftime only twice this season. One of those was against Las Vegas in May, when City scraped back to draw. The other time came when City lost to Charleston in April.
City’s ability to assert itself in games quickly is likely the reason it doesn’t find itself losing at the break very often. In 14 matches played, LouCity has scored 15 first-half goals. Only Indy Eleven and Charleston Battery have scored more this season in the USL Championship. Despite getting another first-half goal against Tampa Bay, it came after conceding twice in the opening 45 minutes, something that City has only let happen two other times in league play this season.
Finally, LouCity hasn’t faced many teams that mirror its own formation with wingbacks. Tampa Bay has been playing the shape most of the season, and it worked on Saturday. City has mostly played teams this season that utilize either 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 formations. This has allowed City to isolate and overload the one outside back in a four-defender formation by sending a midfielder, forward and wingback to the flank when attacking.
However, when playing against a similar formation, the opposing wingback and outside center back can eliminate any overloads on one side. City was unable to dissect Tampa Bay efficiently as a result, leading to a disparity in LouCity’s number of passes into the final third (82) versus Tampa’s (108). LouCity also had just 13 touches in the Rowdies’ box compared to the host’s 30 in City’s box.
Although it faced unfamiliar situations and lots of adversity on Saturday night, the boys in purple showed grit to claw back a pair of goals in quick succession. LouCity will look to make amends for its late switch-off when it welcomes Tampa Bay to Lynn Family Stadium in October.
Midfield synergy
Despite the loss, LouCity has plenty of reasons to be excited about its young midfield pairing of Elijah Wynder and Davila. Wynder, a LouCity Academy product, has certainly grown into his starting role this season. Last campaign, he was used more higher up the field but looks to have found a home between the boxes, where he has thrived so far this season, starting 13 games and appearing in all 14. The 23-year-old Davila, who was most recently with fellow USL Championship side Rio Grande Valley FC before joining LouCity, has also held down the starting job since arriving in Louisville this past offseason.
Synergy, defined as the interaction of two things to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects, is certainly what Wynder and Davila have in the middle of the park. Wynder thrives as a box-to-box midfielder who can break up the opposition’s possession, win 50/50 balls and provide strength in the middle of the pitch. Davila acts more as a creative playmaker, progressing the ball forward with perfect through passes, sending in dangerous set-pieces, and maintaining possession with quick one-twos with teammates. When combined, the two are a lethal one-two punch in the center of the field.
The pairing is perfect, as Wynder’s defensive prowess, aggressiveness and timely tackles allow Davila to receive the ball to then feed LouCity’s advanced players into dangerous areas. On the night, Wynder recorded 13 duels, won possession a team-high six times and won six fouls. Davila, on the offensive side of the ball, numbered 10 passes into the final third and a team-high two dribbles and five crosses against Tampa Bay.