Week 15 Preview: what you need to know

For obvious reasons, this one will be shorter than normal…

The most important part

The good guys are in a much deserved extended break. Also off this week is The™ Miami FC. That means the Legion’s place above the playoff line is secure until they play again June 25th, as Miami also do not play again until then (v. LA Galaxy II). Indy Eleven can push the Three Sparks down to 7th, but only if they beat the Colorado Springs Switchbacks this weekend; a draw would not be enough given the tiebreakers.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t entertainment galore available…

Best of the rest

There are games Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday this week. That key Colorado-Indy matchup is late Saturday (9:00pm) and it’s in mountain country, so the Western Conference leaders should be heavily favored.

Plenty to get you pumped up prior to that though. Tomorrow night at 7:00pm Memphis 901 visit Hartford Athletic to try to get back in the winning state of mind. Despite being on the road they should also be strong favorites; Hartford’s only 2 wins this season were against Loudoun and the Baby Bulls. But hey, there’s always hope. And if you want to stay up really late, the Legion’s next opponent, New Mexico United, visit the Oakland Roots (10:00pm). Neco Brett & Co. were on a bye last week, so should be well rested, although only 2 points separate these two teams.

Saturday’s schedule kicks off with Detroit City hosting a Western Conference team for the second straight game. This time El Paso Locomotive head to the Motor City (12:00pm). Sacramento Republic took all 3 points last week at Keyworth, the first team to do so, so Detroit are smarting a bit. Is this where their lack of depth begins to hurt? We shall see.

Several games kick off at 7:30pm, but the one that most would have scratched completely just a week ago is now potentially the most interesting. The Tampa Bay Rowdies welcome the Charleston Battery. The Battery have been largely pitiful this season, but got the shock 3-0 win over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds last weekend. The Rowdies have recovered from their early season jitters though and reality may come crashing down hard on Charleston. Still, this one has some implications for the idle Legion, who are 4 points shy of Tampa Bay with a game in hand already. The Eastern Conference has gotten rather tighter of late: the top 8 teams are separated by just 7 points.

For their part, the Riverhounds try to get over the big loss by visiting Rio Grande Valley (8:30pm). Pittsburgh is just 2 points ahead of the Legion, so we should be looking to the Toros to keep us in shouting distance. However, the Toros have been pretty erratic all season. Louisville City also need to get back into winning form, and to do that they need to best Orange County at Lynn Family Stadium (8:00pm).

Sunday has just one game: San Diego Loyal v. Las Vegas Lights (6:00pm). That one falls clearly into the meh category.

That’s pretty much it for this week. Enjoy!