USL Championship preview, April 5-7

The USL Championship weekend gets underway tonight in Oklahoma as FC Tulsa face 2023 champions Phoenix Rising at ONEOK Field. The Roughnecks have won one and lost one so far this season but meet a Phoenix side that have lost three out of four in their pursuit of a second title, new head coach Juan Guerra still not getting the best out of his charges. Tomorrow's games start at 7pm (BST) with the clash of two clubs who rebuilt their sides in the off-season. Hartford Athletic won their first two games but slipped up away at North Carolina FC last week; visitors The Miami FC have 4 points from four games and have looked both impressive and dreadful so far. Saturday's games continue at 9pm with three games kicking off at the same time. Detroit City, who drew city rivals Michigan Stars in the next round of the US Open Cup, welcome North Carolina FC to Keyworth Stadium for the first time and sit top of the Eastern Conference with three wins out of three so far. New head coach Danny Dichio has got them playing with a confidence they were missing last year but every game is an adventure for the promoted visitors.

Also at 9pm (and also with 9 points from three games), Louisville City host an Indy Eleven side that invested in a new attack over the winter and are yet to see proper dividends from that. City are always there or thereabouts come the end of the season but they look to be playing with a swagger this year that should be ominous for their rivals. A six-hour drive away in Memphis, Orange County SC are the visitors to Memphis 901's AutoZone Park in an all-Western Conference clash. OC sit top of the West at present, with 8 points from four games and that's 5 points more than their hosts, who narrowly lost to Sacramento Republic last week.

There's a break until the next USL-C game at midnight, between a Pittsburgh Riverhounds side who have uncharacteristically lost three out of three so far and their buoyant visitors, Tampa Bay Rowdies. These two fought it out for the Players Shield last season but couldn't be having more different seasons and - on form, at least - you'd be silly to bet against the Rowdies getting a result at Highmark. Still, surely the 'Hounds have to come good at some point...? Rhode Island FC seem to be enjoying life as the USL's newest expansion club so far, with star signing Albert Dikwa starting to find the net that he troubled so much last season. Unfortunately for them, this week's visitors for the half-past-midnight kick-off at Beirne Stadium are Charleston Battery, who started quietly but have exploded into form in the last two weeks...

Colorado Springs Switchbacks are a mystery, capable of winning and losing at the drop of a hat (but are doing nothing but losing so far), and they face perennial Western Conference powerhouses Sacramento Republic at Weidner Field on Saturday, a 1am kick-off for interested viewers (all USL-C and USL League One games are live on YouTube). Republic haven't hit their stride yet but still sit joint top in the West, and Trevor Amman - who moved to Republic from USL-1 Northern Colorado Hailstorm in the winter - will be eager to return from the Centennial State with more goals to add to the three he's scored already this season. Down at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico United are having a decent season so far without uprooting too many trees and won away at champions Phoenix Rising last week. Their visitors at 2am are an El Paso Locomotive team who have just 1 point from four games so far and it will be tough to look past a home win, save for the fact that Locomotive are always better on the road.

The sole Californian game from Saturday's USL-C fixtures is a derby match between Oakland Roots and Monterey Bay FC at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward. It's early days but both teams look every bit the mid-table sides they currently are and late-night viewers will be hoping for some derby magic. Saturday's final game sees Las Vegas Lights, whose restart under former MLB star Jose Bautista looks to be coming good, face San Antonio FC at Cashman Field, a stadium they've finally started to make their own. The visitors were champions two years ago and sit joint top with Orange County and Sacramento after their first four games, which should make for an interesting gauge of Lights' progress.

There's just the one game on Sunday, an 10pm kick-off in Alabama as Birmingham Legion face the exciting youngsters of Loudoun United. Neither side has gotten going so far this season but both have plenty of threats in the attacking sense and hopefully that will mean goals will flow from the chances that are bound to arise.

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