USL Championship & USL League One preview, March 29-30 (plus USL League One round-up, March 28)

Action in the second-tier begins tonight in Cary as promoted side North Carolina FC - looking for their first win of the season - welcome the reshaped and unbeaten Hartford Athletic to WakeMed Soccer Park with an 11pm (GMT) kick-off. Saturday's action starts at 8pm when Louisville City play Birmingham Legion at the Lynn Family Stadium. City are two from two so far this season and are always good value for a tilt at the title, whereas Legion - with one loss and one win from their two games this season - are a curious orange and you never know what you're going to get. There's a pair of games at 11pm, beginning with Indy Eleven versus Detroit City at Michael J Carroll Stadium in Indianapolis, where Le Rouge will be hoping to go back to Detroit with their third win from three games this season, and continuing down in Florida as a rebuilt The Miami FC host Charleston Battery at the cavernous FIU Stadium. Also in Florida, but with an 11.30pm kick-off, is Tampa Bay Rowdies versus expansion club Rhode Island FC, and both sides have drawn both their matches so far this season; Rhode Island, however, had 2023 USL-C MVP Albert Dikwa find the net twice last week in Monterey and that's got to be ominous for the hosts.


Just before the clocks change at half-past-midnight is 2022 champions San Antonio versus Frank Yallop's Monterey Bay at Toyota Field. Both sides have a win and two draws so far this season but the Texans are good value at home and can be relied upon to grab some goals in front of a decent crowd. With the closk going forward at 1am, the California games revert to their usual 3am (BST) start time and there's three of them this week as Oakland Roots host a Las Vegas Lights side who won their first match in nine last week, in-form Orange County SC welcome FC Tulsa to Championship Soccer Stadium in Irvine, and perennial powerhouses Sacramento Republic take on Memphis 901. The weekend's final game - at 3.30am - sees reigning champions Phoenix Rising and New Mexico United clash in the "unsuitable places for human habitation" derby. Rising beat Oakland 1-0 last week after opening their title defence with two defeats, while United were beaten badly at Charleston, but this should be a fine advert for USL-C soccer.


The third-tier USL League One started its weekend early when expansion club Spokane Velocity visisted Charlotte Independence last night, where a disappointing crowd of just 686 fans at American Legion Memorial Stadium saw the home side record their first win of the season thanks to goals from Joel Johnson and Luis Alvarez, with Martin Gil having briefly restored Velocity to parity in between.

There's a pair of games tonight, with Lexington SC opening the gates of their gridiron marked Toyota Stadium in Georgetown for the visit of Greenville Triumph at 11pm (GMT), and Forward Madison making the trip to Fresno, California, to face Jermaine Jones's rejigged Central Valley Fuego side, with a 2am kick-off. There should have been another two games tomorrow but Chattanooga Red Wolves versus Union Omaha is off after the Red Wolves pitch needed work. Instead, the lone game sees top of the table One Knoxville host 2022 champions South Georgia Tormenta at 8pm and the visitors are beginning to get their groove back. Should be a decent third-tier encounter.

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