Louisville v Angel City Pre Match Thoughts
Louisville prepares to take on Angel City on Saturday night in front of a crowd that is already expected to be greater than 9000 fans. The team has seven more league matches to try to overcome a two-point gap in the playoff positions while holding off the teams below them. Angel City is one of those teams and they have been on a decent run of form with former Louisville player Savannah McCaskill winning the NWLS Player of the Month award for July. All that being said, I believe Louisville is the better and deeper team at this point.
If there is one thing that I hope the returning World Cup players brought back with them from Austrailia/New Zealand I hope it is confidence. Coach Björkegren said that he watched how the players were deployed in the World Cup, but I don’t think he will deploy them any differently in Louisville’s setup, at least not this season. However, I think all of the players will be striving to show that they can continue their form in Louisville.
I counted 20 outfield players available at practice today, and those 20 are the best collective 20 that Louisville has ever had available for selection in my opinion (Kgatlana is expected back soon as well). I asked Lauren Milliet if there was an increase in the intensity of practices due to the players available now and she said that “having a lot of people healthy makes it way more competitive in terms of spots.” Competition at every spot is something that top-tier clubs have in my opinion, and something that Louisville has lacked until this season. With Nadim and Ekic now fully back, the competition for minutes up front will keep everyone on their toes. The midfield depth is much improved over the start of the season, and there is probably just enough depth in defense to manage the remaining schedule.
Björkegren, Pikkujämsä. and Milliet all basically categorized the matchup on Saturday as a “must win”, and I tend to agree. Björkegren even went a step further to basically label every home match as a “must win”, but things aren’t that dire yet. I think a road match in Chicago is more winnable than a home match vs. Portland, but that’s only based on the standings (as I continue to think this team and fans give the Thorns way too much credit and reverence.) The Louisville vs. Angel City match ups so far have been wildly entertaining from a neutral fan perspective and there have been loads of goals. I think any reasonable score line is possible, but I think a 3-2 either way seems more likely than a 1-0. Louisville could have that extra little bit of an edge looking to avenge a draw that felt like a loss, and with a record crowd might be able to ride the emotion to a slight advantage. Either way, it will be key to not play scared and to come out on the front foot. Louisville still has a tendency to start slow, and you don’t want to lose the crowd before you have a chance to win it over.
