No, you’re not having déjà vu — Louisville City FC is headed back to Al Lang Stadium for a meeting with the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
The quarterfinal matchup in the Prinx Tires USL Cup is set for a 7 p.m. ET kickoff on Wednesday night. It will be LouCity’s second trip to Al Lang in just 13 days, after Tampa Bay defeated Louisville there on Aug. 1 in a USL Championship regular season game.
Given that 5-4 result, LouCity will be eager to prevent Wednesday’s game from becoming a case of déjà vu, all over again.
The two perennial Eastern Conference contenders each advanced to the tournament’s knockout stage for the first time this season — the second year in which USL Championship teams were involved in the competition. Louisville won Group Four with a 3-0-1 record (11 points) while Tampa Bay cruised to victory in Group Seven, going a perfect 4-0-0 (12 points).
Wednesday’s winner will advance to the semifinal round, to be held on Wednesday, Sept. 9 — a draw on Thursday will determine the site and opponent.
For LouCity to get there, the boys in purple will have to put last week’s defeat solidly in the rearview mirror ahead of a difficult road trip. After Wednesday’s knockout game, LouCity will travel to California to take on Orange County SC, the top team in the Western Conference, in league play.
“We obviously owe it to them,” LouCity midfielder Evan Davila said of Tampa Bay. “And they’re going to be thinking the same thing. So it’s going to be a battle. It’s a cup game. We want to win trophies at this club. So it’s going to be a really good game. Both teams are going to bring it.”
LouCity interim head coach Simon Bird likened the opportunity to a playoff game, noting, “It’s a must win game.”
“I think we’ve got to use it as fuel as well to go there and take the game to them and to come back from what was a really disappointing weekend last week,” Bird said of the loss, later adding, “We like that challenge. We want that challenge. Now we’ve got to deliver.”
Last Saturday, LouCity bounced back from the loss to earn a 1-1 draw with San Antonio FC at home. Tampa Bay, continued to impress, earning a resounding 3-0 win over Orange County in a game featuring the league’s top two teams.
LouCity has lifted trophies the last two seasons, with back-to-back Players’ Shield titles. A win Wednesday would put Louisville two more victories away from making it three trophies in three years — that would be the kind of déjà vu LouCity fans are eager for.
Follow Along
• Local radio coverage of the game will air on ESPN Louisville’s 680 AM and 105.7 FM.
• To watch streaming coverage of the game, log on to 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…
Akale’s ascent: Mukwelle Akale scored LouCity’s lone goal in last Saturday’s draw with San Antonio, capping a strong run of recent form. Since the start of June, Akale has become a regular for LouCity, starting six of his last seven league appearances, dating to June 10. He has scored twice in that span, upping his season total to three goals.
Scoring streak: Louisville City has scored in its last eight games in USL Championship league play, the longest run of games with a goal in the competition since a run of 12 games from May 18, 2025, to Aug. 17, 2025.
Shootout success: If Wednesday’s game is tied after regulation, it will advance straight to a penalty shootout. LouCity has had success in shootouts in its history, advancing in six of the eight shootouts in which the club has taken part. That includes earlier this season, when LouCity downed Detroit City FC in a shootout in the group stage of the Prinx Tires USL Cup.
Series history: The all-time series between Louisville City and the Tampa Bay Rowdies is tied 9-9-2 across all competitions, in a series that dates back to 2017. Neither side has taken three victories in a single season in the series. LouCity and the Rowdies met three times in a season twice: In 2019, LouCity took a 1-0-2 advantage and in 2022, LouCity took the series 2-1-0. There have been two three-game winning streaks in the series: Tampa Bay took three straight from Sept. 9, 2023, to June 15, 2024, while LouCity took the next three games in the series, from Oct. 12, 2024, to June 7, 2025.
