Another game with an opponent struggling after a season-opening win. After Loudoun’s last performance, forgive me if I’m starting to feel like I’ve seen this season’s script before. Even the USL’s own “Talking Points” preview for the week said as much. Will Loudoun be able to come up with a dramatic twist, or will they follow a similar routine with a different cast?
Head-to-Head History
Surprisingly, Loudoun and Memphis have a perfectly even head-to-head record: 2-2-2 all around. Loudoun’s 2 wins came within their last 3 matches, including last year’s season opener in Memphis where Laurent Kissiedou got sent off after reacting to Landry Nanan Houssou tousling his hair. Neither player will appear in this match, so it should be a clean slate, unless two former Loudoun defenders now playing for Memphis hold a deep-seated grudge.
Their Season So Far
Memphis is similarly down on their luck after opening their season with a victory. They haven’t scored in 180+ minutes of play. They had two players drawing red cards in a match against the Indy Eleven (one at the end of it, but still). Their roster seems very bottom-heavy and their new attackers haven’t done much after their first match. Both sides in this match want to stop their respective slides, hungry to prove their early performance this season wasn’t a fluke.
Know Your Opponent
Their head coach is named Stephen Glass, the disgraced former journalist for The New Republic…no wait wrong Stephen Glass. This one was a Scottish footballer who had a stint coaching Atlanta’s 2 team (and briefly Atlanta United themselves in the 2020 season) and a poor performance coaching Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership. For the past 2 years in Memphis he’s had mixed success, getting just enough points to sneak into the playoffs but not much beyond that.
Between the sticks stands Tyler Deric, a pretty good goalie who took refuge in Memphis from the now-dead Rio Grande Valley. Their defense is pretty solid with a rotation that includes former Loudoun defenders Akeem Ward and Carson Vom Steeg, plus Abdel “Tulu” Yacoubou (who had his own fanbase to cheer him on when he played with Hartford here in Leesburg a couple years ago) and former Seattle/Tacoma defender Abdoulaye Cissoko.
In the midfield, they have veteran Lester Paul wearing the Captain’s armband and Alvaro Quesada providing support on the wing, on occasion. On the attack, things haven’t quite panned out yet. Neco Brett, the scoring machine from Birmingham, has yet to score with Memphis. Ditto for Noe Meza from Union Omaha. However, 19 year old FC Dallas Academy graduate Nighte Pickering scored the game-winning goal for Memphis’ in his first-ever pro action. Expect to see him on the right wing.
Projected lineups
For Memphis it’s a bit complicated to predict as this team has a lot of defenders and only so much space to put them. Assuming Akeem Ward is healthy and not suspended he might be inserted into one of the wingback slots. I’m fairly confident that the attackers will remain the same as before though, they’re due for some goal-scoring show, but hopefully not against us.
On the Loudoun side, Riley Bidois is finally with the team and Alex Nagy was shown in some training photos earlier this week. If they do appear, they’re probably coming off the bench. Haven’t heard anything about extending Brett St. Martin or Elias Norris after their surprise appearances on the roster in Loudoun’s home opener, so they probably aren’t sticking around with this team.
As for the Starting 11, we all got blindsided when Valot and ElMedkhar were scratched at the last minute due to unexplained injury concerns, and replaced with Tommy Williamson (he’s not dead!) and Abdellatif Aboukoura (we love him!). If the former two are healthy enough to play today, they go back in the starting lineup…
…but if they aren’t, then expect Bouchy to be starting on the LW again, and Wes Leggett to be out there supporting Zach Ryan up front in a 4-4-2.
Prediction
Like the last game, it’s a question of if Loudoun will play down to their competition and make some boneheaded lapses that lead to enemy goals, or if they’ll be able to adjust to the other coach’s tactics and find openings of their own. Having the home crowd on their side should be an advantage, but that’s not quite something you can quantify on the score sheet.
Anyway, I’m going to reverse-jinx this and say 2-1 Memphis win, with Neco Brett breaking out of his slump, as Loudoun regroups to fight Richmond in the Open Cup on Wednesday. Prove me wrong, lads.