DANCING DERBY CITIZENS DO THE CHARLESTON OVER SOUTH CAROLINIANS: RED CARDS RUNNIN’ WILD THE ORDER OF THE DAY

LOUISVILLE CITY FC 4

CHARLESTON BATTERY _ 1

6-1-19

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<MKOSANA

RASMUSSEN⚽️

<DAVIS4⚽️ WILLIAMS MCCABE⚽️

DELPICCOLO

FRANCIS <JIMENEZ📒

CRAIG📒📒🧨 SOUAHY

LUNDT

OG⚽️

SUBS:

OWNBY>🧨 SPENCER> PEAY>

UNUSED:

DEE JANE TOTSCH HUBBARD

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It was an up and down day for the USL title holders. On the up, they cruised to a 4-1 victory over close rival in the standings Charleston Battery. On the down, they surrendered two key players to suspension in addition to farewelling two more regulars to international duty.

Although City topped the red card count 2-1, it was the visitors who played the longest time short-handed when Trinidad YNT international Kierron Mason got himself dismissed in the 19th minute. At that point The Boys In Purple led 2-0, however for much of the remainder of the game City struggled to capitalize on their possession and extra man advantage before safely pulling away late in the piece.

The evening could not have begun on a more positive note as from kickoff the hosts grabbed the initiative and inside 3 minutes they would be ahead.

Starting a USL match for the first time since in Atlanta back in Week 2, Il Capitano Paolo DelPiccolo directed the ball to Niall McCabe on the right touchline and the irrepressible Irishman skipped a delivery into the area. Lucky Mkosana tried a back heel which in effect became a dummy and the ball continued through to George Davis IV who wasted no time turning it on Joe Kuzminsky’s goal from 8 yards out. The tall keeper got both gloves to the shot but it was too hot to handle and Cuatro had his 1st tally of the season on the board.

Mike Anheuser’s side could have pulled it straight back when Oscar Jimenez failed to connect on a pass to Speedy Williams and was intercepted by kilometer killing midfielder Kotaro Higashi who moved the ball to Arthur Bosua. Alexis Souahy slid in to temporarily dispossess but Higashi, following up, returned to Bosua. Bosua now had room in behind and he struck with force but Ben Lundt was out to meet and cancel the effort.

Los Morados took back the play with Lucky pressing and causing disruption of breakout play and PDP conducting as the ball was regained and attacking plays created. In the 11th Paolo set Oscar for an effort from the edge of the area that Kuminsky saved well for a corner.

Oscar was soon involved again as Paco Craig found him in an advanced spot up the touchline. No. 19 quickly shuttled the ball on to Niall who wheeled and pulled a first time cross low toward Lucky. Mkosana lunged but missed it at the near post and the ball deflected back off Kyle Nelson into the arms of Kuminsky on his line.

The home side got a mild scare in the 15th when the returning captain uncharacteristically gave a ball away to pocket dynamo Dante Marini. Marini then put 6’6 Ian Svantesson in on an angular run toward the center of the Louisville area. Just as the UAB Blazer alum thrust for entry for what would have been a clear path to goal, Paco committed and brilliantly slid to eradicate the danger, an important prevention even at this early stage.

Charleston followed on soon afterward as Paco now committed a loose clearance that was picked off by Mason and fed to Marini who lofted the ball in for twin tower Arthur Bosua, but the 6’4 co-striker got his header all wrong and sent it safely wide.

In spite of the two good looks they had given up due to misplays, City had already forced 3 corners to Battery’s 0 and were enjoying the bulk of the possession. In the 19th, Mason would commit the error in his own penalty area which in comparison to The Purples’ faux pas would prove devastating.

The 20-year-old defensive midfielder received a lay back from Marini which ought to have led to a simple clearance but he dithered in his decision and tried to slip the ball past the incoming Lucky. But No. 77 whipped the ball away and was in for a strike on an isolated Kuzminsky as Mason reached back and grabbed a handful of his jersey. The wise Zimbabwean calculated the handicap of his lost step as Mason quickly let go and deciding the evidence had been clearly on display appeared to lose his footing and go down. The referee liked the evidence enough that he blew without hesitation for the penalty, and without ceremony sent Mason from the field.

Supposed club ‘penalty king’ Sean Totsch was on the bench so pretender to the throne Magnus Rasmussen stepped forward to convert Morados first PK of the season. With the composure you would only expect from the cool Dane, he did so, firing accurately left of the diving Kuzminsky to give his club the 2-0 advantage.

For the following phase of play the Battery made efforts to climb back into the contest without being able to make much impact in the City area until, in the 32nd minute, an attack developed from Nelson through Svantesson to the ubiquitous Marini and Alexis Soahy was forced to make a huge block to deny the little Columbian’s goal chance.

In the 33rd, Magnus fed Niall at the corner of the 18 yard box and he fired in a ball that bounced back off Lucky on the 6 yard line and right to Magnus who had instinctively followed up to snap a shot in on Kuzminsky, the goalkeeper in position to collect without trouble.

Niall and George had swapped wings and 2 minutes later the former switched to the latter and No. 22 fed Oscar who turned it back inside to Speedy Williams in space in the area. The Jammin’ Jamaican half rounded center back Leland Archer but the steady Trinidadian stayed with him just enough to force him to squeeze his effort inches wide of Kuzminsky’s left-hand upright.

In the 38th, Oscar broke up an attack and sent the ball to Lucky who connected with Niall and No. 11 cut back at the corner of the area and served ideally for Magnus, but from 10 yards City’s now stand alone scoring leader could not turn in a promising opportunity, missing the frame altogether.

Two minutes further on and Paco stepped forward through the left channel to take a pass from his partner Alexis, drew attention and fed to Shaun Francis sliding inside from left wing in support. Lucky tried another novel back heel, this time making good contact to compel a save from Kuzminsky for a corner.

As the clock reached the 45 minute mark City continued to probe up the right side as Oscar broke forward, played a give-and-go with George IV and drilled in toward Lucky at the near post but the ball eluded him and everyone as it sliced across the 6 yard area.

The half drew to a close and it had been a pleasing first 45 for Hack’s heroes, with a minimum of issues at the back and a 67/33% possession advantage, not to mention being a man up going into the 2nd. As encouraging as anything else, the high quality return of No. 36 whose ability to organize in midfield and drive attacking play Louisville fans were beginning to realize how much they had been missing.

But the feeling that the remainder of this match was going to become a cruise would soon be dispelled. Shortly after the whistle, Oscar cut down Higashi as he tried to start up out of defense and received a caution for his trouble. In spite of being short of the ball and deprived a player, the 10 men left on Anheuser’s army were making do and at least had not conceded again after their rocky first 20 minutes of the encounter.

4 minutes into the half, Svantesson beat Paolo to a left wing throw, headed to Bosua, collected the return and won a corner from Shaun Francis’ deflection.

Vincenzo Candela’s service from the right cleared near traffic and fell to Bosua who found himself in a mismatch with Paolo on the edge of the goal area. The captain attempted but failed to box Bosua out as the much taller Columbia University alum had position and leaned away and used the flight of the ball to direct his header beyond Ben, inside George IV on the back stick and into the onion bag to shockingly shave the Louisville lead to one.

City now resolved themselves toward restoring their two goal lead as they again inched nearer and nearer Kuzminsky’s cage.

Lucky was on the doorstep but offside from Niall and Oscar’s cross to Alexis, lingering after a previous set piece, was crashed against the bar, though the Frenchman was adjudged to have fouled leading up to his header. Both deliveries were top rate, however.

Shaun Francis had been low key in the 1st as the attacking emphasis had been up Oscar’s right-hand side, but now his low cross in the direction of Lucky was turned away over the end line by Archer.

In the 59th Oscar was off the field for treatment following a minor looking collision and the impressive imp-like Marini took full advantage of a stretched and temporarily short-handed defense, playing forward to Svantesson who again combined with Bosua and now turned, flicked inside past Paco and fired a powerful effort from outside. Again Ben was in position as the shot was too straight to threaten the City goal.

In the midweek US Open Cup match against Birmingham Brian Ownby had been introduced around the hour mark and again, as on Wednesday night, he was inserted in an attempt to reignite the flagging Louisville attack. It was George Davis IV who made way.

The change almost paid instant dividends as Paco sent Brian forward and he hit an incisive pass to Magnus who had ghosted away from Higashi and into the box alone in the inside left channel. The rising left-foot drive he unleashed could only find the outside of the side netting, however, when the Dane would probably have expected to at least test Kuzminsky.

Seconds later, Shaun found Brian just inside Battery territory and he accelerated and headed for the byline, evading Nelson in the process, and played back inside for Magnus who this time scuffed his first time attempt. The ball rolled across to Niall who won a corner off of Battery skipper Jarad van Schaik. Oscar’s deep delivery was met by Paco who fouled and Kuzminsky took the clearing free kick.

His lofted ball down the middle cleared PDP, attempting to outdo Svantesson, and landed for Marini who slipped Niall as he drifted away and just as he neared the City area and pulled the trigger Paco came crashing into the diminutive midfielder, flipping him to the floor. The only doubt was over the color of the card and for the second week running it appeared luck was on the Londoner’s side as just the yellow was produced.

The free kick of van Schaik’s appeared to cannon of Brian’s face in the wall and likely left him smarting for a time.

With 20 minutes remaining, Svantesson left the field on behalf of the talented Jamaican MNT squad member Nicque Daley and Luke Spencer replaced Lucky Mkosana as both teams looked to change up and impose through the center of their opponent’s defense.

Once more a City substitution seemed nigh on a stroke of genius as Luke was involved in a play deep in Charleston territory.

Oscar floated a delightful ball over van Schaik for Magnus who was impressive as he sturdily shrugged off the opposing captain’s hefty shoulder charge then flicked a nutmeg through his legs to Luke near the end line and Luke played it straight back. Maggie, as he is now known in the locker room, skillfully rolled the ball back out toward the top of the area and pinpointed Speedy Williams who had made a smart run to the penalty arc and was set to smack a telling shot goalward. However, as has occurred on multiple occasions over the seasons the ball took a subtle bobble on the plastic replacement turf surface and consequently ballooned off Speedy’s foot high over the crossbar.

To be fair, the ever more notorious and monstrous Slugger “Turf Monster” has probably claimed more victims from visiting clubs than the Morados over the years, although the exact statistic is not available as details of Louisville’s answer to Loch Ness remain likewise shrouded in mystery and lore.

Leland Archer now conceded a corner after positive combination play involving Oscar and Niall and, as has become a routine tactic (and a successful one), Oscar shaped to send his kick central then switched up at the last second to diagonal a short ball back to a midfielder. Commonly it is Niall on the end of these, but this time Magnus wanted in on the action. His shot from the angle appeared to take a flick off substitute Romario Piggott which was just enough to critically handcuff Marini and the unlucky midfielder, who was otherwise the Battery’s standout player on the night, was helpless as the ball took a vicious ricochet and bolted past an equally helpless Joe Kuzminsky.

Disappointingly for Magnus the USL adjudged it (correctly) as an own goal but his instigation of the play must be acknowledged, even if not in the eventual box score.

With 15 minutes remaining The Boys In Home Purple were back in the box seat and had their tails up as Brian played to Paolo who rolled a ball central to Speedy and from 30 yards No. 80 this time avoided a quirk in the carpeting and smashed a thunderbolt on Kuzminsky’s goal, but the keeper made an acrobatic stop as he extended at full length to keep the Gold Cup bound box-to-boxer from leaving town on a personal high.

Taylor Peay came on in relief for Oscar, probably as a preservation measure, but also perhaps with late set piece aerial threats from Bosua in mind. It was the first time Oscar had not reached 90 minutes in a USL game this season, the final squad member down in this respect.

As the game was about to reach the final 10 minutes, Brian tracked back into the left back area with Marini hot on his tail and, as he attempted to shepherd the ball out of play, Marini grasped a piece of jersey. Probably unnecessarily Brian took exception and poleaxed Marini with a nasty rising elbow. Whether he was unaware it was the 5’3 man behind him is doubtful, though had a taller player received the same swing in the chest it may have been a mitigating factor.

Nevertheless, the official (who coincidentally had cautioned Brian on both occasions he saw City in 2018) had no choice but to issue red. For reasons only those at field level could explain the decision was disputed by the Morados (perhaps due to the aforementioned coinciding dealings between the protagonists) and Brian was serenaded off the pitch by the crowd, the bulk of whom (to give them tenuous benefit) may not have been able to make out the action down near the corner.

At the other end, van Schaik was certainly close to the line as he was cautioned for stamping down on Paolo’s leg as his opposite approached with an intimidating though fair challenge of his own.

The resulting free kick was just outside the area and Niall, with the ever hungrier Magnus as his chief competition, seized the ball and measured out his approach. With the wall appearing well set and Kuminsky more or less in the center of his goal, the Irishman sent a brilliant bender over the human barrier and into the ‘upper V’, giving Kuminsky no chance of repeating his spectacular save of a short time earlier.

4-1, and Louisville could breathe easy and finally say they had the type of scoreline they ought to have achieved.

But as the 90 minutes elapsed another completely needless incident occurred when Paco was whistled for a minor foul deep in Charleston territory. Bosua was keen to get the the ball back in play but instead of backing off Paco chose to save his legs, reaching in to block the taking of the free kick at point blank range.

At Bethlehem, Paco had been fortunate, but finally his luck would run out, a second yellow card being the mandatory punishment, thus elevating to 5 the number of regular squad members unavailable for Saturday evening’s Loudoun United match (Slugger, at 7 pm).

Piggott also saw yellow for kicking away the ball (consistency) after fouling Taylor.

A chance fell at either end in stoppage time as Alexis’ poor pass to PDP was slid away by sub AJ Paterson to Candela whose 26 yard strike followed suit and went straight to Ben. The quick outlet throw released Shaun whose 50 yard chip to Niall across the area was expertly taken down and slotted inside to Luke and the substitute striker sharply cut left to evade Archer’s block attempt, his drive just about shaving the right-hand post.

The final whistle went shortly afterward and Hack’s boys had bagged a critical 3 points to place them clear 6th in the USL East standings.

Still, the makeup of the team will look a little different next week for an intriguing battle against 15th places league new boys, Loudoun.

Vamos Morados !

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@LouCityKiwi’s PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF 10:

Ben Lundt: 7 1/2

Largely untaxed as the City defense kept mostly intact but alert and in position when called upon and excellent in distribution.

No chance on the sole goal against.

Shaun Francis: 7

Satisfactorily safe display on the eve of departing to play with Jamaica in the 2019 Gold Cup.

Paco Craig: 6 1/2

Saved a goal chance with a great tackle in the 1st half and contributed well in transition before proceeding to reprise his bad boy theme of last weekend, finally managing to earn his ejection for two not so mindful 2nd half decisions.

Alexis Souahy: 7 1/2

Put together a nice body of work in a defense that was generally not overly tested.

Oscar Jimenez: 7

Few problems in defense and got forward more successfully in the 1st half than in the 2nd. Subbed after 77 minutes after taking an earlier minor knock.

Paolo Delpiccolo: 8

Long awaited welcome back to the starting eleven for the midfield general. Sprayed around a plethora of classy passes, bringing a nice balance to the central triangle. Had his moments defensively and struggled when exposed against superior aerial opposition, most notably by Bosua on the goal against. Still, a more than adequate return – and only just in time, with Speedy about to head out of town.

George Davis IV: 7 1/2

Bagged the important opener and otherwise played busily though conservatively with most of his passes lateral or back, ensuring maintenance of ball possession for his team.

Speedy Williams: 8

Didn’t one bit mind the return of his natural helmsman, the captain. Buzzed around effectively between boxes and hit the best open play shot on the day forcing a terrific save. Will be interesting to observe the adjustments to be made as he departs along with Shaun Francis for the Gold Cup.

Magnus Rasmussen: 7 1/2

Interesting night for the ‘Supporters Player of the Game’. Prospered from the return of PDP and the early ejection of Mason. Converted his PK, was the instigator of the Battery own goal and could have even grabbed a couple more had his anticipated finesse in front of goal not temporarily abandoned him.

Lucky Mkosana 7 1/2

Helped out even without a touch on the 1st goal and won the penalty kick for the 2nd while generally continuing to burnish his reputation as a pest amongst opposition defenses. Consistency on the ball continues to be the biggest challenge.

Luke Spencer: 6

Mostly marginalized to the perimeter and involved all too sparingly in his 20 minutes on the field upon subbing for Lucky, though did get one reasonable chance at goal near the end.

Brian Ownby: 6 1/2

Came on in the 2nd and provided an instant spark to the City offense, offering strong running and key passes. Then undid all his good work as his flagrant elbow gave the referee no choice but to enforce his ejection. Lasted just 17 minutes in total.

Taylor Peay: 6

Came in for the final 15 minutes, starting to get forward well though generally looking a little off the pace.

“LOS MORADOS NO. 1 ⭐️ OF THE GAME”

⭐️⭐️⭐️Niall McCabe⭐️⭐️⭐️ 8 1/2

A fruitful night for the long server as he was relieved of his false 9 duties of the Open Cup game and restored to where he belongs, the engine room of the midfield. Recorded a stunning free kick goal as well as a fine assist on the opener while looking threatening with key plays on several other occasions. Responsibilities may even increase with the impending absence of Speedy.

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