After last week’s pasting in Hartford, Loudoun United needed to rebound, however it wasn’t going to be easy, as they would be facing a Louisville team that lost a USL Championship game for the first time 5 days ago. So they would want to rebound themselves, it reasons to think. And they seemed to do just that, winning 4-1, though the winning margin came to a 10-man Loudoun side for the entire second half, so things like that are kind of inevitable in Loudoun’s first loss at Segra in 2025. Still, what was learned from it?

Things we see from Bibi. Hakim “Bibi” Karamoko came on at halftime of Friday’s game, and came off at halftime of Wednesday’s, and his 90 minutes over those two games wasn’t horrible?

The 2nd one is Wednesday night’s, playing against possibly the best back 3 in the USL, so he can be allowed a moment, but still drew the penalty that Abdellatif Aboukoura converted to level the score at that point. He also has 3 created chances over those games, second to Aboukoura’s 4, which is either a blessing or a curse to Loudoun’s attack presently. Based purely on the small sample size Gods, as he works more with his teammates, he’s going to improve further, and as guys like Wesley Leggett and Pedro Santos (hopefully?) return to the lineup, proves to be another tool in the toolbox.

On a note to the latter, Jacob Erlandson made his return to the team as a second half substitute, his first action since an injury against Pittsburgh more than two months ago. Not to beat the drum here, but Erlandson back to full health couldn’t be more opportune (as well talk about!), as he can help the team play three strong center backs, while keeping Drew Skundrich in central midfield, or Cole Turner getting there on occasion. Rising tide of health.

On working the system and getting into heads. There was a moment early in the game where Philip Goodrum bowled over Turner from behind, and Turner took exception to it. A similar moment occurred with Kwame Awuah in the first half, and Joshua Encarnacion only provided chats to the offending parties. In fact, Encarnacion’s first card was given to Danny Cruz in the 33rd minute. It was kind of curious that Loudoun and Louisville had the same number of yellows, despite Louisville conceding twice as many fouls.

That’s not the issue here, after Karamoko drew a foul because Amadou Dia kicked him, both teams ran towards the ball to exchange some pleasantries, as the pair were nose to nose. Ultimately, Yanis Leerman headbutted Kyle Adams, which caused two players to run to Encarnacion and Louisville’s bench to collectively and uniformly ask for something. They didn’t really need to, since Encarnacion had a good view of it, and Leerman walked off to minimal protest. Later, Ryan Martin got two yellows in quick succession, leading to this phenomenal chyron:

Again, this isn’t to pick on Encarnacion’s performance, but at some point, there is going to be a game Loudoun play that has ramifications, or just requires everyone to be on the field, and not losing their composure. This was the closest thing that Loudoun’s had that’s met those circumstances, whereas Louisville’s been in enough high-stakes games for both clubs. Sometimes tough, hard lessons have to be learned whether you have enough people around you that have gone through them or not, and today’s was Loudoun’s.

Last week’s lesson: learned. I said on DC News Now’s pregame show I wasn’t worried about Loudoun’s response, and they handled the first half well, and a larger chunk of the second, and gameflow was pretty decent:

Danny Cruz and the Loo were comfortable and willing to absorb the pressure, counter when they could, and, like the last time these two teams played at Segra, employed a little long throw in magic, some self-inflicted by Loudoun.

Because I keep forgetting to do it, here’s the highlights!

Random Stat of the Day: 13, number of goals Abdellatif Aboukoura has scored this season across the Regular Season, Jagermeister Cup and Open Cup, tied for the most single season goals in Loudoun history (Kyle Murphy, 2019).

Your (unfortunate) Moment of Zen: Maybe I’m old or pollyanna-ish, but this is kind of gross to do in the 91st minute, and hopefully gets addressed:

So, where does this leave us? Well, it leaves Loudoun without their coach for (presumably) Saturday’s Jager Cup game with Charlotte, and given Charlotte’s place in League One right now (firmly in second), combined with Loudoun’s form, shouldn’t be considered a walk by any means. If Loudoun win, combined with Louisville playing North Carolina FC (for the 2nd time in eight days), they’d find themselves in a healthy position in the Group, without having to play the weakest team in it (Richmond) yet.

Again and as before, there’s a lot of soccer left to play and these are the dog days. Loudoun continues to learn from games like this, and hopefully they take Wednesday night’s one a little closer to heart.