Tonight in Richmond, the 11th place Charlotte Independence face the 13th place Kickers. That said, the two teams are going in different directions: Richmond is winless in their last five, and Charlotte is ahead with three games in hand, and won their last outing in Saturday night’s Celebration of Soccer.

Coming off three straight losses, the Richmond Kickers fought to a draw in their previous game against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. After giving up a goal in the 64th minute, the Kickers battled to keep the third-place Rowdies from scoring again and putting the game out of reach. Then in stoppage time, the team in red scored a particularly impressive team goal just moments before the final whistle.

Do not sleep on this team.

Thankfully for the sold out crowd at the Sportsplex at Matthews, the Independence did not take that long to sneak one past the goalkeeper. It took just over 13 minutes for Jorge Herrera to score a masterful goal by curling around the wall. Our next, and final goal, came almost 50 minutes later, but it was easy to tell who the better team was on Saturday night.

That curl tho.

Teenage Phenom

Do you remember what you were doing when you were 17? I would imagine most of us wouldn’t be able to say we were starting for a professional soccer team. Chris Durkin, on the other hand, can say that he is. He was born in February 2000, he probably doesn’t know what Y2K was, and is starting at defensive midfielder for the Kickers.

This will be his third year being loaned to the Richmond Kickers from D.C. United. If that wasn’t enough he is also on the roster for the U-17 USMNT. Although he has only played and started in half of Richmond’s games thus far, he has played excellently in his limited time on the field. He is averaging an 81% passing success rate while averaging 48.7 passes per game. This kid is pure class and is playing well above his current age. He will certainly be an asset for Richmond the remainder of the season.

Let’s hope he doesn’t play tonight.

Our Favorite Player

One would likely argue that our most valuable player this season is Enzo Martinez. I’ll however make another argument and say that it is instead Jorge Herrera.

While Jorge has only started in seven out of 11 games, he has truly been a focal point of our offense. He currently is tied as the leading goal scorer on the team with four goals and also leads the team with three assists. His play has also caught the attention of the entire USL with three player of the week nods.

The craziest part about all this is he is doing all this at the age of 36! He’s not 40… I might have made that joke/mistake in the latest SNST Weekly… but 36 is still a ripe old age for USL, and that doesn’t seem to slow him down. You can listen to our Independence-focused episode of the Weekly here:

Aside from his offensive statistics, I believe he is our most valuable player for other reasons too. He brings a sense of calm and professionalism that is needed with a few younger players sprinkled in team this year. I truly believe that Jorge’s veteran leadership has been a major catalyst for our recent offensive turn around.

Hitting our Stride

I don’t want to jinx it… but as we discussed in the pod, I believe our offense has found a rhythm.

There are a few stats I would like to bring to light that I believe back this up. Currently we have scored 17 goals, or just over 1.6 goals per game, which is good for 6th in the Eastern Conference of the USL. Now, 6th may seem so-so, but when you take into account the amount of games we’ve played things change. Charlotte’s 1.6 goals per game is good for 2nd on a goals per game basis in the Eastern Conference. We are tied with Louisville City FC and New York RBII in goals per game in that category. Unsurprisingly the darlings of the Eastern Conference, Charleston Battery, are tops in that statistic with two goals per game.

Another stat, I would like to bring to the forefront is passing accuracy. Indy is currently 2nd in that area with a 78% passing accuracy. That’s important.

If all that wasn’t enough, I also believe Charlotte’s defensive woes will be a thing of the past. Bilal Duckett returned from surgery against the Islanders and made some key plays. He may have showed some rust, though I didn’t notice much, but altogether he played a solid game.

Inserting Duckett, or Super Duck as fans call him, into the starting 11 on a regular basis will continue to solidify our defense and make us a formidable opponent on both sides of the field.

Rocky Richmond

The Richmond Kickers’ form is oddly similar to Charlotte’s last opponent, the Harrisburg City Islanders. When the Kickers lace up Saturday, it will officially be over two months since their last victory. Like the Islanders the Kickers have had a number of draws in that span.

Unsurprising to anyone, Richmond find themselves near the bottom of the Eastern Conference with just 11 points on the season. You could point to numerous factors as to why the Kickers are where they are currently. One glaring thing that jumped out to me is that they have only scored more than one goal 2 times in 14 games played. The first time they did so was a 2–1 victory over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. The only other time they were able to score multiple goals was against the Ottawa Fury, but they lost that game 5–3.

To help alleviate those offensive issues, just last week Richmond brought in Franck Tayou. Previously, he has had USL experience with San Antonio FC, but he also had success in the Major Arena Soccer League. During the 2016–2017 season he lead that entire league with 57 goals while playing for the Sonora Soles.

His insertion into the lineup brought a much needed immediate spark. As mentioned previously, he scored Richmond’s lone goal to tie the Rowdies in stoppage time.

Franck, or as the Twitter-verse knows him @KingTayou, breaks down his last minute goal.

Prediction Time

Both of these teams will be looking to build momentum and jump higher in the standing when they meet at City Stadium tonight. I feel strongly that the Richmond Kickers will not end the season near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, but I don’t see their rise starting this Saturday.

I believe that Charlotte will indeed build upon their momentum from their new home in Matthews and get all three points on the road. I see this being another dominant victory for the Freedom Blue and Sand.

I do want to note that I predicted the correct score, our first clean sheet, and went one for two on goal scorers last week saying that Alex Martinez would score a goal. Here’s hoping I ride that lucky streak and am correct in this week’s predictions.

I’m predicting a 3–0 score line and the goal scorers being Enzo Martinez, Jorge Herrera, and Callum Ross. COYJ.