Match info
Riverhounds (15-5-9) vs. Miami FC (7-13-8)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 16
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Riccardo Silva Stadium, Miami, Fla.
Odds: Hounds +145 / Draw +230 / Miami +160 (FanDuel)
Streaming: ESPN+
Live statistics: USL Championship Match Center
Live updates: @RiverhoundsSC on Twitter
Match hashtags: #MIAvPIT and #HOUNDTAHN
(Sept. 15, 2023) — It’s a three-horse race for the top spot in the Eastern Conference with one month to go, and to maintain the top spot, the Hounds will need to hold serve Saturday night in a tricky road match at Miami FC.
Both the Hounds (54 points) and Tampa Bay (53) control their own path to the top spot with the Oct. 7 head-to-head meeting in St. Petersburg looming large, but neither team can afford a major slip-up before then, especially with third-place Charleston now just another point back at 52. That means the Hounds will be out to get full points from their first trip to Florida this season, something they have only been able to do once in three previous visits.
With no more two-match weeks remaining on the schedule, the Hounds won’t be forced to rotate their squad as much as through the middle of the year, so a similar lineup to the 11 that won 3-1 over Loudoun last Saturday is likely. One change to be expected is the return of goalkeeper Jahmali Waite, who returned to training Thursday — along with midfielder DZ Harmon — after being away on international duty.
Waite needs one more shutout to become just the third Hounds goalkeeper to have 10 clean sheets in a single league season, and the Hounds will be looking to add to their USL Championship-leading 13 shutouts overall. That will be objective No. 1 for the side when facing a Miami team that is near the bottom with just 32 goals on the season, ahead of only Detroit, Loudoun and Las Vegas. Still, Miami has some potent attacking players, led by top scorer Joaquin Rivas (six goals) and Kyle Murphy, a former 20-goal scorer who scored one of his five this season in the teams’ first meeting, a 1-1 draw on March 24 at Highmark Stadium.
On the attacking end, the Hounds will need to be more clinical than they were in last weekend’s win, a tight contest that could have been a rout with some better finishing. Though the Hounds scored three, they also posted a season high 19 shots with eight on target, and the chances were there to have the game put away sooner than Albert Dikwa‘s 89th-minute goal.
Dikwa enters the match leading the Championship with 16 goals, and his next goal will surpass former teammate Russell Cicerone for the best goal-scoring season by a player in the Bob Lilley era with the Hounds. He has a chance to become the Hounds’ first Golden Boot winner since José Angulo achieved the feat exactly 10 years ago, but he will need to keep up his scoring pace with just a one-goal lead over Phoenix’s Danny Trejo and four other players — including Sacramento’s Cicerone — within three of the lead.
While Dikwa has been the runaway top scorer, the service for the Hounds has come from a variety of places. Kenardo Forbes has seven assists to lead the team and has an outside shot at his second straight 10-assist season, but defenders Dani Rovira and Luke Biasi have four assists each and midfielder Marc Ybarra has three, highlighting the ball movement when the Hounds are at their best.
Saturday’s road match will be one of only two remaining this season not to air locally, but fans will still be able to stream the action live on ESPN+.
