As the name implies, the point of this series was to be a hungover reflection of the prior night’s game. However, the hounds just lost to LouCity falling to 0-3-0 or 0-0-3, whichever 3 losses is in this stupid sport. I’m just going to write it now in the form of a drunken rant instead. The hounds rolled into Louisville with the same starting 11 they used against Orange County. Which was 10/11 of the same starters they used against New Mexico. In case you forgot from like three seconds ago, they lost both of those games. Albert Einstein once said “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Or something like that—I don’t know, I wasn’t there when he said it. My point is there’s no reason to think this is a winning lineup. Sure, the hounds played a lot better against Orange County than they did against New Mexico, but that’s a low bar, and there was still no reason to think these forwards could score (we’ll get to me being wrong about that in a minute).
My real concern here isn’t that Bob’s losing it. It’s that he doesn’t seem to trust the rest of the lineup. Last season the Hounds had a handful of core guys, but kept a very dynamic starting 11. Actually, let’s take a second to look at those core guys from last season: Arturo Ordonez (33 starts, now in Louisville), King Kenny Forbes (30 starts, subbed off 20 times, and he’s not getting younger), Albert Dikwa (29 starts, now in Rhode Island), Danny Griffin (27 starts, now uncomfortably playing center back), Marc Ybarra (27 starts, now in Rhode Island), and Nate Dos Santos (27 starts, now in Charleston). You see what I’m getting at here, don’t you? The Hounds are playing farm system to the rest of the league. That’s a golden boot, player of the year, and defensive player of the year that just walked out this offseason, and the Hounds didn’t receive a single cent for it. When I raised concerns about it this off-season, it was met with equal parts, “Bob found those guys, he’ll find more” and “new fans just don’t know how it works in Pittsburgh”. Clearly the latter is true, but I have an idea of how it’s supposed to work. Bob Lilley may be the best coach in the league, and he is definitely the league's best scout (just ask LouCity or Rhode Island), but players like Ordonez and Dikwa don’t grow on trees. Sometimes you have to go out and buy a center back. Shouldn’t be a problem after a players’ shield and 30% increase at the gate, right? Wrong? We’re just going to make 5’9” Danny Griffin into a center back instead? Sorry Danny, but much like shallow women on tinder, I like my guys on the taller side (as center backs, I mean). My point is the power creep in the USLC is becoming too much for Bob to simply recruit around every season. Eventually, the Hounds brass is going to need to hand out a bag or two, and based on what I just watched, it couldn’t come soon enough … Ok, clearly I’m off track. I guess I have to talk about that game now.
It sucked. I’m not sure the Hounds touched the ball in the first 5 minutes, and if they did, they promptly delivered it straight back to LouCity. Eric Dick was big to keep the Hounds level through the first 25 minutes. Bob had seen enough, and in the 27th minute elected to swap Dani Rovira for more offensive minded spark guy, Langston Blackstock. Clearly Bob’s been reading the blog, because I’m real big on Blackstock. Just like that, the game starts to turn a little bit. It goes from Louisville dominating the shelled-up Hounds, to a tactical spar. The Hounds forwards started pursuing the ball and putting pressure on the back line and midfield of LouCity, forcing rushed passes and not allowing them to set up as easily. The Hounds started winning balls and even got a little possession of their own late in the half. In the 40th minute, Mertz found a streaking Blackstock on the side of the box. Blackstock one touched it to Babacar Diene, who sent it towards the bottom corner of the goal. Unfortunately, Damian Las was up for the challenge and made a good save. The chance clearly marked a momentum shift. The Hounds had some life, and they were going to control the last few minutes of the half, then carry that momentum into the seco--GOAL! Lou City scored going the other way, in stoppage time. A neutral ball headed back and forth a few times before the Hound’s Luke Biasi let it drop for Lou City’s Adrien Perez. Perez says thank you, and quickly gives it off to Ray Serrano at the top of the box. He is converged on by a few bodies but delivers a ball to Wilson Harris, who just slipped right by Danny Griffin and Illal Osumanu. The pass took a bounce somewhere but ended right on Harris’s foot who made no mistake. It was the worst. That’s the half 1-0 bad guys.
No changes going into the second half, and at least these look like teams that belong in the same league. LouCity isn’t quite shelling up, but they’re not playing the same aggressive open game they did in the first. The Hounds are winning the ball, but unable to do anything with it. The Hounds needed a break and the soccer gods answered. In the 59th minute, the always reliable Sean Totsch had a bad first touch on a ball in his defensive third. Junior Etou scooped up the ball and played it forward to Diene, who quickly crossed it into the box to Edward Kizza, who had slipped right by the infamous turncoat Arturo Ordonez. Kizza one touched the ball past the keeper, and just like that we’re level at 1-1. The Hounds capitalized on the mistake, and now they have all the momentum. For the first time all game, they have sustained pressure and are able to set up in the offensive third. But the soccer gods giveth and the soccer gods taketh away, and in the 65th minute Lou City went the other way on a counterattack. Serrano found himself one on one with Osumanu. Osumanu did well to force him to the outside, but when Serrano turned on the jets and tried to cut around him, Osumanu left his feet and missed the tackle. Penalty to Lou City. Totsch scores, we don’t have to talk about it. 2-1 bad guys.
The Hounds come right back when Jackson Walti threads a needle to a streaking Edward Kizza, who makes no mistake again, leveling the game at 2-2. No, that’s being called back? It was close but he looked onsides to me. The commentary team says Kizza may have played it into his own hand, but I haven’t seen a conclusive replay one way or another. Still 2-1 bad guys, it’s all political.
In the 72nd minute, the Hounds subbed Etou, Diene, and Forbes for Sean Suber, Bradley Sample, and Kazaiah Sterling. Sterling making a highly anticipated debut, as a former Tottenham prospect and is coming off a monster year in league 1. For a team that desperately needs an offensive spark, we were all very excited to see what he could do. The new look Hounds held onto the ball for the last 20 or so minutes, but had no ability to break the now defensively structured LouCity side. I’m not sure the Hounds had a shot in the last 20 minutes, and I’m not sure Sterling ever got a touch. The Hounds poked and prodded at the LouCity defense but couldn’t find a weakness, and then the game just sort of ended. Oh yeah, Lou City went the other way and scored again at the end. It sucked.
Takeaways
Danny Griffin is a midfielder
Blackstock should be starting
LouCity is really good, but we knew that. I’ve been saying that
Good things happen to bad people sometimes
Questions
Mertz looked like a world beater last game, where was he? Is he a pure quarterback and can only shine with really lopsided possession?
Kizza felt more like a support piece for Dik last year, but the same chemistry isn’t there with Diene just yet. Is Kizza the guy now?
Speaking of Babacar, let’s give a little credit. He has been mostly nonexistent so far, but forced a good save the last two weeks, and also picked up an assist this week. Is he starting to figure out Bob’s system?
When will this nightmare end?
I also watched Birmingham at Hartford, but given this nonsensical grammatically incorrect wall of text that will need fixed before posting, I don’t really think I should write about it right now. Here’s a really quick breakdown. All things in this game need to be taken with a grain of salt due to the horrendous weather conditions. First half Birmingham looked bad; like really really bad. The possession was only 60/40 but that 60% was all in the attacking third. Birmingham tried advancing the ball with short passes for a while, but ultimately settled on trying the hail mary long balls which always seemed to be collected by Joey Farrell (Oh look, another key player the hounds let walk. Did I mention he's 6'2"?). Hartford on the other hand passed the ball wherever they wanted to. Their forwards lived inside of Birmingham’s box and generated chance after chance, but had trouble converting. Birmingham would win the ball, Hail Mary, Joey Farrell, back to attacking third, shot attempt missed, repeat. Hartford found the net in the 23rd minute, but really should have scored 3 or 4 times in the first half. They had 18 shots in the first half, 6 of which were on net. Matt Van Oekel was very good to keep it close.
The second half starts with more of the same. Hartford was in control for 10 minutes or so but started taking on a more defensive structure when Birmingham started winning some balls in the mid field. Just like that, the game flips on its head. Hartford gave an inch, and Birmingham took a yard. The last 30 minutes of this game was an absolute siege on Hartford’s goal. Hartford felt the pressure and started fouling, and for a minute it looked like the game was going to get real choppy. Legion kept their composure and didn’t take the bait. They owned the ball and had good possession out wide and at the top of the box, but they struggled to get the ball in clean. They fired, what I assume was a million shots, from outside the box that all seemed to go just too wide or too high. Into stoppage time and just when it felt like a lost cause, a (maybe bogus, idk the commentary team was very convincing) handball called just outside the box. Diba Nwegbo fired the shot towards the bottom left corner, but it was turned away by Paul Walters. The rebound bounced to Miguel Perez with Walters still out of position from the first save. Perez had to take the shot quickly with his left foot and shanked it high and wide. Devastating. Game ends 1-0 Hartford.