USL Championship & CPL previews, May 24-26

An eleven-game USL Championship weekend gets underway with three games on Friday night and the return to league action of Eastern Conference leaders Charleston Battery. They welcome El Paso Locomotive to South Carolina for a half-past-midnight kick-off (all times BST) that will mark Wilmer Cabrera's first game in charge of the visitors from West Texas. Loco have won one and lost eight of their eleven games so far this season and it was no surprise to see Brian Clarhaut given the boot after last week's home defeat to Memphis 901. Whether Cabrera can work some magic may be a question for another day as Battery are flying right now, even if they did lose on penalties to Atlanta United in the US Open Cup in midweek. Also at 0.30am is Hartford Athletic versus Monterey Bay FC, two sides who started the season brightly but have since fallen off. The Union still sit in fourth place in the West but have lost four of their last five games, a draw at home to Memphis the sole bright spark in the last month, but Athletic are no better. After winning three of their first five games, they've lost six on the trot, but coach Brendan Burke will still have a plan to beat Frank Yallop's side on Friday. It's just whether his side can execute it. Friday's final game comes from Oklahoma, where FC Tulsa open the gates of ONEOK Field for the visit of Oakland Roots. Roots will again be under the command of Gavin Glinton after Noah Delgado was dismissed four weeks ago, and the interim coach managed his men to an impressive 2-1 win over Orange County SC last week. The hosts look in need of, well, something, having been thumped 4-0 by Sporting Kansas City in the Open Cup and 5-0 in the league by Tampa Bay Rowdies in their last two games, with only El Paso beneath them in the table.

Saturday's games begin with an early kick-off (9pm) in Providence as expansion club Rhode Island FC look for their second win of the season - and their existence - against Championship powerhouses Louisville City. City have lost just once in the league this season - to Charleston - and are scoring goals for fun, with Wilson Harris in fine form, but could only manage a 2-2 draw in Las Vegas last weekend. Still, they should have more than enough to deal with a spluttering Rhode Island attack, for whom Albert Dikwa is looking more desperate each week. The most interesting of the two matches that kick-off at midnight is the visit of reigning champions Phoenix Rising to form side Indy Eleven. Although they hope to be leaving it soon, Indy have turned Michael A Carroll Stadium into something of a fortress, winning their last four at home in an unbeaten run that stretches to eight home and away matches. Now sitting fourth, they will have nothing to fear from Rising, even a fired up Phoenix side eager to get back on the horse after a narrow defeat in Seattle in the Open Cup at the weekend. The other midnight game is slightly less enticing, given that it features twelfth versus ninth in the Eastern Conference as The Miami FC host North Carolina FC. Both sides have just two wins each this season, but the visitors have been playing decent football, despite results not going their way. The hosts? Well, it's a "rebuilding" season for them, with everything that comes with that.

Miami's Florida rivals Tampa Bay Rowdies were very unlucky to be knocked out of the Open Cup by FC Dallas on Wednesday and will look to take out that frustration on Las Vegas Lights at Al Lang Stadium, a 0.30am kick-off from St Petersburg. Rowdies scored five without reply against FC Tulsa last week, a video of which will no doubt have been drilled into the Lights players this week. Still, Las Vegas took points off Louisville last time out, something only Charleston have managed this season, and so Rowdies may find Lights a different prospect. Up in Tennessee at 1.30am, Memphis 901 face Pittsburgh Riverhounds in a cross-conference battle. Both teams have thirteen points from their ten games so far, but while Riverhounds have drawn four (and drew last week with North Carolina), it's usually win or lose with Memphis, especially at AutoZone Park where they've won three and lost three so far this season. New Mexico United were one of three USL Championship sides to make it through to the Open Cup quarterfinals in midweek, sweeping aside the challenge of third-tier New York City FC II. They welcome San Antonio FC on Saturday, a 2.30am start for what will surely be a tougher test than that posed by the baby Pigeons, but the visitors are in an odd run of form of late, having won only one of their last seven games.

The final two games are 3am kick-offs from California, with Western Conference leaders - and Open Cup heroes - Sacramento Republic hosting Birmingham Legion at Heart Health Park, and Loudoun United visiting Championship Soccer Stadium in Irvine, where Orange County await. Sacramento beat MLS strugglers San Jose Earthquakes in midweek to grab a quarterfinal tie with Seattle and are yet to lose this season, even if they have drawn half of their ten league games so far. The Legion are an unpredictable lot; generally capable yet also fragile at times. Orange County had a great start to the season that has faded of late and they lost 2-1 to faltering Oakland Roots last week. Still, they sit third in the table and should have enough to see off United's youngsters, even if Loudoun did win in Irvine in the Open Cup three weeks ago.

Week seven in the Canadian Championship begins with a Friday night game in the Toronto suburbs as York United host HFX Wanderers. Wanderers' home loss to Valour FC last week left them at the foot of the table with just one draw from five games so far and the Nine Stripes will be confident of a home win. However, the Nova Scotians have more than they've shown thus far and it could go either way at the York Lions Stadium. The first of two Saturday games comes from the nation's capital as reigning champions Forge FC visit table-topping Atletico Ottawa. Forge won at CF Montreal in the Canadian Championship in midweek and will feel confident that they can avoid a repeat of last week's defeat to Vancouver FC, but Ottawa have Ruben de Campo in free-scoring mode of late and will look to consolidate their position at the top of the league.

Saturday's second game is the BC Derby from Langley, where Vancouver FC entertain Pacific FC. Both teams had unexpected results last week, with the Eagles winning away in Hamilton and the Tridents beaten at home by Ottawa, and it's sure to be a hard-fought affair, even taking into account the hosts' relatively young age. The CPL weekend finishes on Sunday in Calgary as ATCO Field plays host to Cavalry FC versus Valour FC, the Canadian Prairies derby. The Cavs were unlucky to go out of the Canadian Championship on away goals in the week, having won away at Vancouver Whitecaps, while the visitors from Winnipeg picked up their first points of the season on Monday with a 2-1 win in Halifax. An away win would reduce the gap between the teams to just a point, and possibly leave Valour a point off a play-off place, and so there's all to play for in Alberta on Sunday.