The title reflects perfectly how I feel about the Orlando/Louisville contest tonight. After the preseason, and the draw against St. Louis, I had a decent amount of trepidation about this season. I know it’s early, but before this game, counting preseason contests, we had four goals, half of which came from PKs. We have an amazing press. We controlled the bulk of all three preseason games. We dominated possession against St. Louis, especially in the first half. But in all that, only two goals from open play. Jonathan Lintner, Director of Media Relations for Louisville City FC (@jonathanlintner) said “The goals will come.” I wasn’t convinced. I responded with a cynical, “Will they though?” and included the stat above.

I hate watching road games. I feel helpless. Whenever I’m in Slugger, I feel like I have an effect on the outcome somehow. That isn’t true for when I’m watching on Youtube and trolling Twitter at the same time. Going into tonight, I had that same fear.

Last season, we could win a game, but I could still see something wrong with the way we played. I’m like Jordan (@blenderhd) in that sort of way. We could win a game, and I would still call out Montano for being out of position, Quinn for being lazy and slow on the ball, or Dacres for having a heavy foot. I think O’Connor was wise in cutting that fat off the meat in the offseason.

I didn’t see a single player out there tonight whose performance I wasn’t happy with. Oscar Jimenez, who I’ve always been on the fence about, is really showing quality at corners. Both tonight, and against St. Louis, he’s connected with Tarek Morad for a near goal. Oscar’s only short coming is his size. OCB didn’t take as much advantage of that though as St. Louis did.

On to Lancaster. First off, let me say that I hope whatever injury took him out of the game is not a serious one. I think Lancaster really showed how good he is at long shots from the top of the box. His goal furthered my case for him to start as a CAM instead of a forward. If Lancaster is facing goal, and has the ball at his feet, he is dangerous. When he is marked by two CBs, it’s tougher for him to turn to goal. I’ll echo my argument that I’ve made on SoccerCityRadio (@soccercityradio) and on Twitter. Lancaster should start at CAM and Spencer should start in the forward position. I can see why O’Connor doesn’t do this, it does put all of our eggs in one basket. Only Ilic would be available to back them up off the bench. But I think a tandem attack from Lancaster and Spencer would be the highest scoring duo in the USL.

Tarek Morad had a little snafu, gifting OCB an own goal. I don’t know what happened there. DobroWALLski, as I’ve taken to calling him after tonight’s performance, seemed to be right there, with no OCB player challenging the cross. Maybe a breakdown in communication, or just early season jitters on Morad’s part had him try to clear it, but instead deflect it into our net. I can’t imagine the feeling. It looked to really shake Morad, but he played solidly after that, so it was a forgivable mistake.

Let’s talk about George Davis IV. He’s the oldest player on the team, and tonight he was the engine. 83% passing according to Nicholas Murray of the USL. Cuatro nutmegged OCB’s keeper for a goal, then dished it to Spencer, just to have him follow suit later in the game.

Lets just say Lintner was right. The goals came. If we keep playing like we did tonight, they’re going to keep coming. After this stressful preseason and first game against STL, this game was a dip in a cool stream on a hot day.

GO CITY and Love Always

~J