SD Loyal SC match preview against Louisville City FC
Credit: SD Loyal
The San Diego Loyal travel to Louisville, Kentucky, to take on the former USL Champions.
In what seems like the longest road trip any club could have, the Loyal are ready to play at home in San Diego.
They will have to wait another week though, as the Loyal will have to play their fourth-straight away match to start the 2021 season.
The first three matches haven’t ended in a result the Loyal wanted, but they have been improving each time out. An (0-3-0) start to the season can’t get any worse, so the Loyal won’t have much to lose if this next match doesn’t go as planned. It’s a long season, and there is still plenty of time to turn things around.
Louisville City FC is one of the elite clubs in all of the USL Championship. They won the USL Cup in 2017 and repeated in 2018, just a few years after Louisville’s inaugural season in 2014. So far in 2021, they are (1-0-1) as they defeated Atlanta United II (2-0) and finished the match tied against Birmingham Legion FC (1-1).
So far on the season, the Loyal has a 79.8% success rate on passing. The movement and the possession is there for San Diego, but the goals have yet to appear. With a total of 30 shots on the season, the offense is starting to improve but will need to convert more often if they want to see the results they want.
The Loyal have yet to earn any points on the season. It’s been a difficult start to their second season as a club, but manager Landon Donovan is aware of the talent they have played so far.
“When you don’t see the results, it’s hard,” Donovan said. ” This is a process that we need to go through in order to give ourselves a chance to compete at the highest level against the best teams.”
The Loyal will get another chance Saturday, May 22, to prove they are one of the elite clubs also. The former manager for Louisville City (John Hackworth) is the father of SD Loyal’s Morgan Hackworth. So there will be a little love between the two clubs, but when the kickoff gets going, the Loyal won’t hold anything back. Danny Cruz became the interim head coach for Louisville City after their first win of the 2021 season.
The match starts at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 22. All matches can be seen on ESPN+ and Fox 5 San Diego.
Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and now covers San Diego State Men’s Basketball. He also contributes regularly about the Padres. Chris is an athlete and is a huge fan of San Diego sports.