If Wednesday night was just a private screening, Saturday will be a proper premiere.
Louisville City FC interim head coach Simon Bird won his first competitive match Wednesday night, leading the boys in purple to a 2-0 victory over the semiprofessional Southern Indiana FC in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Saturday marks his first USL Championship regular season game in charge, as Rhode Island FC visits Lynn Family Stadium for a 4 p.m. kick.
Replacing Danny Cruz on the sideline is a bit like replacing Paul Thomas Anderson on a film set — Cruz had won back-to-back USL Championship Coach of the Year awards. But as his players see it, the way Bird can best direct LouCity right now is to just keep shouting, “Action!”
“We are professionals,” goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux said. “We just have to keep working. (We are) very happy for Simon and Paolo (DelPiccolo), and they’re getting us ready for the weekend.”
Bird has been cast in a role that wasn’t written for him, but but he has a strong supporting cast around him.
“As players, we know there’s a standard here. We just have to continue doing what we’ve been doing,” defender Manny Perez said. “Nothing’s going to change. We’re going to continue to win a lot of games.”
Rhode Island, viewed as a LouCity villain following a 2024 playoff upset, seems poised to put LouCity to the test. The returning cast includes notable names like goalkeeper Koke Vegas, plus forwards J.J. Williams and Noah Fuson, among others. It’s a familiar foe.
That firepower has shown up this season. Rhode Island has outshot its opponents 39-13 over the first two games of the campaign, including a midweek win in the U.S. Open Cup.
Get your popcorn ready.
The game will be Youth Sports Day at Lynn Family Stadium. For more information, visit LouCity.com/Youth.
Follow Along
• The match will air live on MyTV 58 and ESPN Louisville’s 680 AM and 105.7 FM.
• If streaming, download the free WDRB+ app to watch the local feed in Louisville or watch the national feed on ESPN+.
• For starting XI and in-game updates, follow @loucityfc on Twitter. Also, find the club at louisvillecityfc on Instagram and Louisville City FC on Facebook.
Storylines…
(More than) Sentimental Value: Louisville City FC is unbeaten over its last 25 regular-season home games. That’s the fifth-longest such streak in USL Championship history. The record streak is held by the Richmond Kickers, at 33 games from 2012 to 2014.
Sinners: Rhode Island FC is, in fact, the most recent visiting team to defeat Louisville City FC in a regular season game at Lynn Family Stadium, on June 22, 2024. When the teams meet Saturday, that loss will have come 637 days ago. In that time, LouCity has lost just three times in competitive action: to Rhode Island in the 2024 USL Championship Playoffs, Detroit City FC in the 2025 USL Championship Playoffs and Minnesota United FC in the 2025 U.S. Open Cup.
One Battle After Another: The all-time series between LouCity and Rhode Island stands even at 2-2-1. Rhode Island is one of just three non-expansion clubs against which LouCity does not have a winning record in the USL Championship. The others are the Oakland Roots (1-1-0) and San Antonio FC (1-1-1).
Marty Sean Supreme: Sean Totsch made history on Wednesday, becoming the first player in Louisville City FC history to appear in 300 competitive games, across competitions — the USL Championship regular season, playoffs, Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and the USL Cup.
A new No. (F)1: Bird has been vocal that things are “business as usual” for LouCity, despite this week’s coaching change. One thing wasn’t business as usual in Wednesday’s win, however: Goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux made his club debut, earning the clean sheet without making a save in the game. The French goalkeeper signed from Loudoun United in the offseason.
