Saint Louis FC Will Try To Bounce Back Against Richmond Saturday

Saint Louis FC takes on the Richmond Kickers this Saturday at City Stadium in Richmond, Virginia in a United Soccer League match. STLFC is 5-8-4 on the season while Richmond is 3-10-7 and sits below the local club on the USL East table.

Kickoff is set for 6 pm Saturday night in Richmond. The match can be streamed live on YouTube and in the St. Louis area on KPLR 11. Scroll down for a preview of this weekend’s match and the streaming link.

Saint Louis FC is back home at Toyota Stadium at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton on August 5 against the Swope Park Rangers.

Last Time Out For Saint Louis FC

Following a 1-0 win over the conference-leading Charleston Battery on July 15, hope was back amongst the STLFC faithful. Saying things were “back on” was reasonable. After 45+ minutes last Saturday, Saint Louis was holding a 1-0 lead over Louisville City FC on the strength of a Daniel Jackson tally. Early in the second half, Christian Volesky earned a straight red and trip to the showers for an ill-advised dangerous play.

Four minutes after the red card, the man disadvantage and intense heat combined to be too much for Preki’s club. Louisville City would score 4 goals in the second half for the three points and Kings’ Cup victory on a 4-1 score.

Head Coach Preki gives his thoughts on the upcoming game against @RichmondKickers in this week's episode of @stlbugs "Bugging the Coaches" pic.twitter.com/2SVEke13YS — Saint Louis FC (@SaintLouisFC) July 28, 2017

Kamara Leads Richmond In Scoring

Alhaji Kamara leads Richmond, D.C. United’s USL affiliate, in scoring with four goals in nine matches. In 20 USL matches this season, the club has scored 13 goals with those coming from eight different players.

The Kickers will be playing on short rest as they played to a 0-0 draw with the Charlotte Independence earlier this week. It was the second consecutive short week for Richmond as they played a mid-week exhibition game on July 19 against Swansea City AFC in between Saturday league contests.

After falling in the exhibition match, Richmond earned a victory on July 22 3-2 over Bethlehem Steel FC. The win snapped a 13-match winless streak.

Saint Louis FC will likely see Matt Turner in goal Saturday for Richmond. The 23-year old Americanhas played in 17 matches for Richmond this season on loan from the New England Revolution of MLS. Turner has conceded 21 goals while making 51 saves and earning three clean sheets.

Doody Leaves STLFC, Returns To Chicago

Patrick Doody was been recalled by the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer. The recall followed the injury last week to back Brandon Vincent. Doody had joined Saint Louis on July 14 and played in two matches for the club. The Naperville, Illinois native also spent parts of the previous two seasons in St. Louis, playing a total of 33 games.

Aside from being available for selection by coach Veljko Paunovic during league matches, Doody will serve as a guest coach for the 2017 Special Olympics Unified Sports All-Star soccer match on August 1 in Chicago. The event is part of festivities surrounding the 2017 MLS All-Star Game in Chicago.

Volesky Given One Match Suspension

Christian Volesky was handed a one-match suspension by the USL following his red card ejection last weekend. He will sit out this Saturday against Richmond.

Saint Louis FC Signs Emmanuel Appiah

Saint Louis FC signed 23-year old Ghana native Emmanuel Appiah earlier this week. Appiah, the 15th overall selection in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft, most recently played for the Swope Park Rangers last season. The midfielder played in twelve matches last season for Swope Park, including four in the playoffs.

Appiah played his college soccer at the University of Cincinnati.

What To Expect Saturday In Richmond

Saint Louis FC head coach Preki doesn’t exactly post his lineup days in advance of a match. He certainly doesn’t email them out in a press release to bloggers like myself. The former MLS Coach of the Year has been forced to roll out multiple different lineups this year due to various circumstances.

He’ll have to make another change Saturday due to Volesky’s aforementioned suspension.

Against Louisville City, Preki rolled out a Starting 11 featuring three forwards in Volesky, Daniel Jackson and Octavio Guzman. It’s possible that Milan Petosevic could see the start in Volesky’s absence. The 6’3″ Serbian came on for Jackson in the 58th minute last weekend.

Seth Rudolph could also see a start in a realigned formation. The 24-year old from Belleville came on in the 67th minute for Tyler David last weekend and twice came close to scoring.

Ivan Mirkovic will hopefully be able to play the entire match Saturday. After playing 45 minutes two weeks ago in his first game back from injury, his time on the pitch ended after 38 minutes last weekend due to a collision with a LouCity player.

STLFC Donates $5,000 To Women’s Club

Fire & Ice SC, a Women’s Premier Soccer League team headquartered in Belleville, won the WPSL Central Division last weekend to advance to the league’s Final Four. The amateur club took to the online fundraising site GoFundMe to raise money to make the trip to California this weekend. Jim Kavanaugh, Tom Strunk and the Saint Louis FC organization donated $5,000 to the cause. Kavanaugh and Strunk are the CEO and CFO of Saint Louis FC, respectively.

Fire & Ice SC will play the San Diego SeaLions on Saturday in the WPSL semifinals.

THANK YOU to everyone that has donated to our trip! Shout out again to @jimpkavanaugh and @ts9767 w/ @SaintLouisFC! pic.twitter.com/ZLfgncyokU — Fire & Ice SC (@Fire_and_Ice_SC) July 26, 2017

Barry & Strunk Join This Is Silly! Podcast

While local media coverage of Saint Louis FC is lacking, Saint Louis FC fans are fortunate to have one of the best supporters’ podcasts in the USL. President Patrick Barry and CFO Tom Strunk joined the Louligans characters in the latest episode. I highly recommend you give it a listen. Just click the logo to the right.

Scouting City Stadium In Richmond

The Richmond Kickers play at the 22,000-seat City Stadium in Richmond, Virginia. The club has called the stadium home since its establishment in 1993. The stadium, then known as University of Richmond stadium, hosted the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship between 1995-1998, including the 1997 national semifinal when 18,202 people saw Virginia beat Saint Louis University 3-1. The Billikens’ lone goal that day was scored by captain Tim Leonard, now an assistant coach with Saint Louis FC.

The Kickers are hosting a Craft Beer Fest on Saturday before the match. $16 gets you a ticket to the match and 2 drinks of your choosing from 30+ beers on tap with live music in the parking lot as well. Single game tickets to a Richmond Kickers match are priced from $12-$20.

Stream Saint Louis FC v Richmond Saturday

Every USL match is streamed for free live on YouTube. In the St. Louis area, Saturday’s match can be seen on KPLR 11.

Listen to KTRS FC Soccer Weekly for Friday nights from 7-9 pm on 550 KTRS.

Want to watch the game with friends? Join the St. Louligans at International Tap House in Soulard Saturday to watch the match.

Stuck in the St. Charles area? Watch the match at Hattrick’s Irish Pub in O’Fallon, MO.

Saint Louis FC v Richmond Kickers 7-29-2017 #RICvSTL

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