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USL Championship Power Rankings – Week 20

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 07/22/24, 4:30PM EDT

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LouCity’s second-half dominance is proving key to its position as Players’ Shield leader

If there is a blueprint to beating Louisville City FC this season, Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC was following it.

The visitors scored the opening goal at Lynn Family Stadium with a great pass by Zach Zandi and finish by Maalique Foster to open the scoring. In three of the four defeats LouCity has suffered this season, it conceded first.

But then, as the game wore on, the Switchbacks found out what other clubs have this season. At a certain point, Louisville is just going to wear you out and find a way through.

When it came, Sean Totsch’s stoppage-time winner wasn’t a surprise. It’s the 12th time this season LouCity has scored in the final 15 minutes or stoppage time this season, the most in the Championship in that span.

“At this club, we’re going to fight until the end,” said Totsch. “With the guys we have, we’re going to do big things. To really have to grind out a result at the end there, everyone did it, so that’s big for us.”

Consider it one of the major changes between this year’s edition of LouCity and the one that finished fifth in the Eastern Conference last season while scoring only eight times from the 76th minute on.

There’s this as well – LouCity leads the league in goals in each 15-minute block of the second half, as well as the final 15 minutes and stoppage time in the first half. Head Coach Danny Cruz’s side hasn’t only surpassed its second-half scoring total already this season with 32 goals, but it’s scored more goals in the second half of games than 21 of the 24 other teams in the league have overall.

The lesson? If you want to beat LouCity, you’re going to have to make sure they’re buried, because they’re not going to go down without a fight.

“We left everything on the field,” said Cruz on Friday night. “It’s certainly a performance the guys can be proud of.”

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Here’s how the rest of this week’s rankings look.

Birmingham Legion FC Charleston Battery Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC Detroit City FC El Paso Locomotive FC Hartford Athletic Indy Eleven
Las Vegas Lights Loudoun United FC Louisville City FC Memphis 901 FC The Miami FC Monterey Bay F.C. New Mexico United
North Carolina FC Oakland Roots SC Orange County SC Phoenix Rising FC Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Rio Grande Valley FC Sacramento Republic FC
San Antonio FC Tampa Bay Rowdies FC Tulsa

On The Move

6 RI 4 MEM

Rank

 

Team

Change

Summary
1 Louisville City FC
(13-4-2)
Week 21: v. MB		 2
Last Week:
3		 As the second half against Colorado Springs showed, when LouCity gets rolling in attack, it’s hard to withstand. Crucial home win to keep the Eastern Conference lead.
2 New Mexico United
(11-4-2)
Week 21: @ ELP 		1
Last Week:
1		 New Mexico’s home winning streak is over, but it still picked up a point despite being second-best against Birmingham Legion FC. There’s ground to be gained.
3 Loudoun United FC
(7-6-5)
Week 21: v. CHS, @ PIT 		1
Last Week:
2		 Loudoun’s clash at home to Charleston on Wednesday morning could be one of the most fascinating of the week. Can United deliver another big performance at home?
4 Charleston Battery
(11-2-8)
Week 21: @ LDN, @ TBR

Last Week:
4		 The Battery are undefeated in five and pushing LouCity at the top of the standings, while their social media team keeps raising the bar.
5 Tampa Bay Rowdies
(10-4-5)
Week 21: v. CHS		 2
Last Week:
7		 Tampa Bay got the result a great performance deserved against Indy. It hasn’t always been able to say that this season.
6 Las Vegas Lights FC
(7-7-6)
Week 21: @ COS 		2
Last Week:
8		 The Lights had the weekend off but are still in with a chance of moving into the top three this weekend when they visit Colorado Springs. That’ll work.
7 Sacramento Republic FC
(8-3-8)
Week 21: @ DET		 5
Last Week:
12		 That was the performance everyone in Republic FC’s colors needed. We’ll see if it was the turning point of the season in Saturday’s trip to Detroit.
8 Indy Eleven
(9-6-4)
Week 21: @ TUL		 3
Last Week:
5		 The Boys in Blue fell at home to Tampa Bay and are now solidly in fourth but with a lot of ground to make up to the East’s leaders.
9 Rhode Island FC
(5-4-10)
Week 21: v. NC		 6
Last Week:
15		 Rhode Island has scored multiple goals in six consecutive games, is undefeated over the same span, and looking like a playoff contender. Great stuff over the current month.
10 Memphis 901 FC
(8-8-4)
Week 21: v. SA		 4
Last Week:
6		 Memphis has followed up good wins with bad losses in the last four games. It’s still in fourth because of the Western Conference’s inconsistency but needs to find a better balance.
11 Birmingham Legion FC
(8-8-4)
Week 21: v. OC 		1
Last Week:
10		 Legion only took one point from two games this week, but what we saw in New Mexico gave us optimism the side can snap into form. More of that energy, quality please.
12 Oakland Roots SC
(9-10-2)
Week 21: @ MIA		 3
Last Week:
9		 The changes came too late to salvage a result on Sunday, but they should have offered a roadmap for Gavin Glinton as to where Roots can start finding results again.
13 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
(8-8-3)
Week 21: v. LV 		2
Last Week:
11		 Ronaldo Damus’ first missed penalty in the Championship couldn’t have come at a less idea moment. You don’t get many chances to knock off LouCity on its own turf.
14 North Carolina FC
(5-6-8)
Week 21: @ RI		 1
Last Week:
13		 North Carolina did so much right to manage Ezra Armstrong’s early red card only to see their chance of victory dashed at the last. Good result, despite that.
15 Detroit City FC
(8-5-4)
Week 21: v. SAC		 1
Last Week:
14		 We were expecting more from Le Rouge with the player advantage, but they just weren’t able to come through. Feels like a missed opportunity.
16 Orange County SC
(8-9-3)
Week 21: @ BHM		 1
Last Week:
17		 OCSC took the season series against San Antonio with victory at home. Those little things can add up in the long run.
17 Monterey Bay F.C.
(7-8-5)
Week 21: @ LOU		 1
Last Week:
16		 The next few weeks are going to be crucial for Monterey Bay’s playoff chances. Hopefully the players got a good break before heading to Louisville this weekend.
18 Phoenix Rising FC
(6-7-5)
Week 21: @ HFD		 1
Last Week:
19		 Rising’s win against El Paso was about as comprehensive as it comes. Good sign for interim Head Coach Diego Gómez.
19 Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
(5-9-6)
Week 21: v. LDN 		1
Last Week:
20		 The numbers said the Hounds were due an improvement in front of goal. With eight goals in the last two games, let’s see if they can keep it going.
20 FC Tulsa
(5-6-6)
Week 21: v. IND 		1
Last Week:
21		 You know that goal felt good for Phillip Goodrum against his former club. Tulsa’s still got a way to go to get into contention, even with games in hand.
21 San Antonio FC
(5-9-5)
Week 21: @ MEM		 3
Last Week:
18		 One step forward in beating Phoenix, one step back losing to Orange County. SAFC isn’t going to get to the playoffs like that.
22 Hartford Athletic
(5-11-2)
Week 21: v. PHX
Last Week:
22		 Hartford is proving the rule that it’s useful to have games in hand, but you can’t rely on them to salvage your situation. That gap to Rhode Island in eighth is looking pretty wide.
23 El Paso Locomotive FC
(3-13-3)
Week 21: v. NM
Last Week:
23		 Locomotive brought in a couple of Wilmer Cabrera’s guys last week but didn’t look sharp in Phoenix. This is a long-term overhaul, feels like.
24 Miami FC
(2-16-2)
Week 21: v. OAK
Last Week:
24		 When Miami hosts Oakland Roots SC on Saturday, it’ll have gone three months without a win. Woof.

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Tag(s): Power Rankings  San Antonio FC  CO Spring Switchbacks  Orange County SC  Phoenix Rising FC  Sacramento Republic FC  FC Tulsa  Charleston Battery  Louisville City FC  Pittsburgh Riverhounds  Tampa Bay Rowdies  Las Vegas Lights FC  Birmingham Legion FC  North Carolina FC  Indy Eleven  Memphis 901 FC  El Paso Locomotive FC  New Mexico United  Loudoun United FC  Hartford Athletic  Miami FC  Oakland Roots SC  Detroit City FC  Monterey Bay F.C.  Rhode Island FC 

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