June 14, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release
Louisville City FC gets control of the ball in USL Championship play
(Louisville City FC)
Another chapter will be written in one of the USL Championship’s most competitive rivalries when Louisville City FC travels to play the Tampa Bay Rowdies at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Not much has separated LouCity and Tampa Bay in 14 games across all competitions, and that’s expected to be the case again with both clubs holding top-four positions on the Eastern Conference table heading into this weekend’s game at Al Lang Stadium.
City and the Rowdies have won six meetings apiece against the other to go with two draws. That includes four playoff meetings – three of them coming in the Eastern Conference Final each year from 2020-2022. Two of those conference finals went to extra time.
Home sides tend to have the advantage, as the only time LouCity took all three points from a game at Al Lang Stadium was in July of 2018.
This year’s first City-Rowdies meeting falls amid an eight-game unbeaten streak for the boys in purple, who enter off a 2-1 win last Saturday over North Carolina FC, which put a scare into coach Danny Cruz’s squad by stealing a goal back in second half stoppage time.
“It’s a growth moment for us for sure, especially here at home,” Cruz said. “…The group certainly will learn from it. It’s good to be able to fight through a game here and have to close a game out under pressure.”
LouCity now sits three points ahead of the Charleston Battery in the Eastern Conference standings and holds a game in hand on the second-place side. City’s 32 points earned are best overall across the USL Championship.
Fourth-place Tampa Bay heads back to St. Petersburg, Florida, for its only home game this month after a West Coast road trip that ended with a 1-0 defeat last weekend at Oakland Roots SC. The Rowdies have picked up 14 points from seven games so far at Al Lang Stadium with the best home record in the East side from LouCity’s perfect mark.
Saturday night will mark the third away match of this stretch of four to kick off June for the boys in purple. Away from Lynn Family Stadium, where the playing conditions don’t often mimic the ones in Louisville, LouCity is 3-1-2 with a +2 goal differential. City has outscored its opponents 9-3 across its last four matches on the road.
Follow along
– The game will air live locally on WBKI/The CW and ESPN Louisville’s AM 680/FM 105.7.
– If…