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Louisville City is on a roll, going unbeaten in its last five matches including four wins in a row before Friday’s draw vs. then-No. 4 Indy Eleven. Now, Louisville City is prepping for a weekend showdown with Pittsburgh. 

Coach John Hackworth spoke about the challenge of facing the Riverhounds after Tuesday’s training session. 

“We know we are about to go play a really difficult opponent, first, and then we are playing at their place, which is a difficult place to play as well,” Hackworth said. “The size of the field and the surface makes it difficult.”

The Riverhounds are 4-1 in their last five matches and undefeated at home this season. In 13 home matches, they have won eight times and given up a draw five times. In fact, the last time Pittsburgh lost at home was July 21, 2018 (a 1-0 loss to Charleston Battery). 

“Pittsburgh is an excellent team and Bob Lilley does an excellent job coaching them,” Hackworth said. “This is another six-point game.”

Hackworth calls games like this six-pointers because when LouCity is playing a team they are in direct competition with for USL Championship Eastern Conference Playoff positioning, the final result could be as much as a six-point swing for the winner, three points for winning and three points the foe didn’t get because they lost.

 Louisville City must find a way to draw Pittsburgh out of its defensive block. 

“We do that generally by playing out of the back,” Hackworth said. “Our build-up play, our ability to move the ball out of the back, that’s the design of it. We like to identify open space that we can use to attack out of the back.”

LouCity drew with Indy Eleven Friday night and then were able to rest for a few days before beginning training for Pittsburgh. Hackworth said his thinking was to make sure his players were refreshed for the stretch run.

“We did give the guys a couple of days off because there are times when rest and regeneration are more important than trying to get out and train and keep pushing,” Hackworth explained. “Physically and mentally the guys got recharged and then we build towards Pittsburgh.”

Louisville City’s lineup will be different for the Pittsburgh match because midfielder Speedy Williams and defender Shaun Francis were called up to the Jamaican National Team. Defender Paco Craig will also sit out due to a Yellow Card accumulation. 

Louisville City and Pittsburgh kick off at 7 p.m. Saturday night at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh. The game will be televised on MyTV-58 locally and streamed on ESPN+. The radio broadcast will be on 1080 WKJK.

Louisville City is on a roll, going unbeaten in its last five matches including four wins in a row before Friday’s draw vs. then-No. 4 Indy Eleven. Now, Louisville City is prepping for a weekend showdown with Pittsburgh. 

Coach John Hackworth spoke about the challenge of facing the Riverhounds after Tuesday’s training session. 

Louisville City fans elected Abdou Thiam as Dr. Mark Lynn and Associates/Visionworks Man of the Match for his performance vs. Indy Eleven Friday night. 

Thiam, who came in as a substitute in the second half, made an instant impact, scoring the equalizing goal on a header. 

“I knew my chance was going to come,” Thiam said. “Even before coming in, Coach was telling me, ‘You’re going to have a chance. Just focus. You just need to finish it’ and if you look at the last game, I had chances. I used to be unlucky but today I was lucky to put it in.”

Louisville City coach John Hackworth brought Thiam in and paired him with Luke Spencer, altering the formation to put more pressure on Indy Eleven. 

“We changed the system and we played 3-5-2 and he was looking at me up top, Look at that game, we had to come back,” Thiam said. “It wasn’t an option, but we had to come back. All week, we were fighting together because we knew the game was going to be tough. We didn’t expect that it was going to be an easy game. We know from now there is no easy game anymore. We just need to fight and to be honest, we didn’t play the way we wanted to play but we fought the whole second half.”

Indy Eleven had only allowed 17 goals for the entire season. And Indy’s early goal made Louisville City’s task even tougher. Thiam said Louisville City remained confident because of the leaders on the team. 

“To be honest, if you look around the team we have good leaders like Luke [Spencer], George [Davis IV] and Napo [Matsoso],” Thiam said. “All the guys can lead the team. We have the same mindset. We knew the only way to success with this game is to fight and stay together the whole game. I think we did good and all the guys make all our jobs easier because they hold the team and they really lead us where we want to go.”

Louisville City will go on the road to face the Pittsburgh Riverhounds next in Pittsburgh as the Boys in Purple continue their quest to move up the Eastern Conference table.  

Tickets >> LouCity vs. Indy Eleven Tickets 
Stream Link >> LOUvIND on ESPN+

Louisville City takes on Indy Eleven Friday night at 7 p.m. at Slugger Field. The Boys in Purple are on a four-match win streak and they are hosted one of their most heated rivals in a crucial match for USL Championship Playoff positioning. 

“This is a key game, no question,” Louisville City coach John Hackworth said. “When you can gain three points on a team ahead of you in the table – while also taking away three points that they could have won, that’s why I call these six-point games.”

Indy Eleven coach Martin Rennie knows this is a key match-up with both teams playing well, “It should be a good game for us. We played Louisville earlier in the season. The match had good tempo and we played well. Both teams are in pretty good form at the moment. It should be an interesting game for the players and the fans.”

The teams drew on June 29 at Lucas Oil Stadium, pushing the all-time regular-season series deadlocked at 1W-1L-2D.

Last season, the two teams played three times with each team taking a win, a loss, and a draw.  Indy Eleven won 1-0 on May 5 in Indy, the August 5th matchup ended in a 2-2 draw and LouCity won 1-0 in the regular-season finale on October 13. 

Louisville City ended Indy Eleven’s season last year, beating Indy 4-1 in the USL Championship Eastern Conference quarterfinals. 

Louisville City holds a 3-2-2 all-time series lead on Indy Eleven, but according to the fans, the series is much, much older. Using the hashtag #LIPAFC, Louisville City fans (and even the clubs) have joined in to create a shared history of the rivalry dating back for more than 100 years.

“I didn’t know the history until the documentary series came out this week,” Hackworth joked. “Indy is a good rival because they are so close and the last few times we have played them they have been good games. The last time we played I thought it was one of the highest-level soccer games I have seen this year.”

Friday night is Fan Appreciation Night at Louisville City. Fans will be greeted at the door with a free pair of sunglasses and a soft case from First Financial bank. The club brought back fan favorites like drink specials – $3 domestic drafts and $5 draft and a hotdog combo – and a fan-favorite Mariachi Band will be playing on the concourse in pregame. 

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday night. The game will be televised on MyTV-58 locally and streamed on ESPN+. The radio broadcast will be on 840 WHAS. 

Louisville City FC is on a roll, winning four-straight matches and tallying 12 points as the playoff race heats up. Meanwhile, its rival to the north, Indy Eleven, has won four of its last five. 

“They are a good team,” Hackworth said. “They have quality in their lineup, especially some of their attacking players who are having career kind of years. They also have a good defense and the way they play defensively is really tough to break down.”

Indy has only allowed 17 goals this season, three fewer than any other team in the league. Indy has the second-most Clean Sheets in the league with 10 on the season (three teams have 11). Louisville City has given up 29 goals and has six Clean Sheets. 

“Their three center backs are all physical, tough and tenacious players,” Hackworth said. “Evan Newton is a strong goalkeeper. They are just a solid team all the way around.”

When a team is as strong on defense as Indy Eleven has been this season, what can Louisville City do to break them down?

“It means we need to be a little more sophisticated in our gameplan and how we are going to break them down,” Hackworth said. “We need to create opportunities for us to penetrate their backline.”

While the Top 10 teams in the Eastern Conference make the USL Championship Playoffs and neither LouCity or Indy are in danger of missing the mark, both are trying to secure a first-round bye given to the top six teams. 

Indy Eleven is currently 4th with 46 points. Louisville City is currently seventh with 42 points. The top eight teams have separated themselves from the rest with Ottawa at 39 points and ninth-place Birmingham Legion sitting at 32 and 10th-place Charleston Battery at 30. 

Hackworth said his team is focused on the task at hand and not the standings. 

“It’s the same mantra we have said every week,” Hackworth explained. “We are going to try to get better by focusing on the details. We reviewed North Carolina Monday morning and found areas where we knew we needed to do a better job. We are watching what Indy did over the weekend and trying to figure out ways we can get at them a little bit.”

Both teams will be working with a short week this week. Hackworth and the team hit the training grounds Monday morning to start their prep for Friday night’s match. 

“It just changes our periodization as we build in this short week,” Hackworth said. “It changes our tactical periodization as well as our physical periodization.”

Louisville City and Indy Eleven kick off at 7 p.m. Friday night. The game will be televised on MyTV-58 locally and streamed on ESPN+. The radio broadcast will be on 840 WHAS.

Louisville City got a 55′ goal to push past formerly red-hot North Carolina 1-0 Saturday afternoon at Slugger Field. The win moves Louisville City to four straight wins and stopped North Carolina’s three-game win streak. 

After the match, coach John Hackworth spoke with the media about his team believing in their abilities. 

Louisville City FC is riding a three-game win streak heading into today’s matchup with North Carolina FC. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at Slugger Field. 

Ticket Link >> LouCity vs. North Carolina Tickets

Half-priced Kids Tickets >> CODE: LOUCITYKIDS

Saturday’s match pits old friends John Hackworth, coach of Louisville City, vs. Dave Sarachan, the first-year coach of North Carolina. The pair have known each other for years, and have worked together in the U.S. Men’s National Team program.

“I know North Carolina will be ready,” Hackworth said. “They have been in great form recently and are the hottest team in the East right now.”

North Carolina FC has won four of its last five matches including three straight. North Carolina beat Memphis 2-1 on Aug. 10, punished Pittsburgh 5-0 last Saturday and then beat the Tampa Bay Rowdies 4-2 Wednesday night.

Sarachan said he knows his team is in for a challenge Saturday at Slugger Field. 

“Similar to what I would have said from day one. They’re well-coached, they’ve got good players, they’re playing at home,” Sarachan said. “They’re fighting like we’re fighting to get the best spot in the table. I expect they’ll be up for it and I think it’s going to be another good test for us. It’s our third game in a week, which is not easy. But having said that, you know, you can recover quicker when you’re in good form. I think our guys will be ready for it.”

The Boys in Purple are up for Saturday’s challenge. North Carolina is currently 2nd in the East with 46 points. Louisville City is seventh in the East with 39 points. 

“It’s always fun for us when you have a hot team coming in,” goalkeeper Chris Hubbard said. “It’s a big opportunity for us in terms of points and the table. It should be a challenge, but it should be fun.”

Louisville City is hoping to continue its strong play of recent weeks.

“I think it is about us finding that finishing touch and then securing the defense a little bit more,” Hubbard said. “Our mentality really hasn’t changed. We have always believed in hard work and playing hard and all, but I think it is finally coming together and we are clicking a little better.”

The game will be broadcast on WBKI TV locally and streamed around the country on ESPN+. Internationally the LOUvNC is available on YouTube. Saturday’s radio call is by Kevin Kernen and Jeff Greer on 840 WHAS.