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Match: Bethlehem Steel FC vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Date: Sunday June 10th (4:00pm Start)
Venue: Goodman Stadium (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)
Referees: REF: Matthew Kreitzer AR1: Jaroslaw Werel AR2: Mark Treilman 4TH: Melvin Holmes II
Streaming:
All Time Record: 0-0-0
After two straight losing efforts away from the Lehigh Valley, Bethlehem Steel FC look to come back from Canada with a little bit of fire in them. Earlier in the week I chatted with Kev and Mike of Mon Goals here, so feel free to give it a listen for my thoughts before the game against TFCII, which are largely unchanged.
What Pittsburgh will look like:
Not too sure honestly. Not for lack of trying, but between a midseason coaching change, a pretty ugly foul and insane goalkeeper rotation, the Hounds have been running amok lately. Corey Hertzog has five goals for Pittsburgh on the season and will surely be a guy with more in his bag than TFCII had, which is a bit troubling for BSFC given how the Junior Reds took us to task mid-week. New Riverhounds signing Ryan Adeleye has been with the team over the last few weeks and Hounds skipper and former Navy head coach Dave Brandt said Adeleye will be featured on Sunday. Mauricio Vargas got the win and the clean sheet when Pittsburgh played Harrisburg in the completely fine, not at all flawed Keystone Cup last weekend. Pittsburgh will look to stave off the physical play that Bethlehem look to create, and doing that is going to be vital if the Hounds want points this Sunday.
What Bethlehem will look like:
Hopefully the shooting boots from the Toronto game continue. Hopefully Brendan Burke puts the backline to the familiar and effective Richter-Daly-Trusty-Washington format and the trial of Washington in the midfield and Trusty out wide was just to save some legs. I’d love to see more of Anthony Fontana, as he’s blown me away with how calm he’s looked on the ball, but I have a feeling Bolu Akinyode is going to be back to his usual position this weekend. Cory Burke might be out, might not be (won’t know until game time) but I think Gabe Gissie played well enough that a Bethlehem Steel FC team that plays through him on Sunday like they did on Wednesday should get back in the win column.
What to Expect:
Bethlehem will be fired up after a poor showing in Toronto and will capitalize on a chance to start the six game home stand on the right foot by putting the sword to Pittsburgh. There’s a chance this game is heated from the get go, but Bethlehem should have enough composure to bag three points by a score of 2-1.