Hartford Athletic head back to Brooklyn for a critical USL Cup fixture, with the Latics looking to build on last weekend’s two-goal performance against Detroit City, which saw them find the net for the first time in over a month. Hartford almost certainly need to win this game in regulation to really stay alive in the USL Cup, with manager Brendan Burke saying “as far as that competition [the USL Cup] goes, it absolutely is [win or go home].”

For team captain Jordan Scarlett, nothing has really changed that much. The center-back emphasized the team’s winning mentality and pointed out that Hartford dropped points on a penalty shootout loss in their winning campaign in the USL Cup in 2025:

“We have to go out there and win anyways. Our standard is no matter if it's a warm up game, everybody wants to win. So we take winning through every single phase. I think last year we lost the game, to Detroit on PKS, andw e came out winning, so it doesn't really change anything. We know we even if we won the first game we would have to gone there [to Brooklyn] and try to win anyway, so it doesn't really change much.”

When the two teams met earlier this season, it was a tale of two halves. In the first half, Hartford generated the better quality of chances and went up 2-nil. In the second, Brooklyn dominated the game, outshooting Hartford 17-5, with the host also pulling one goal back and only Antony Siaha’s career-high ten saves keeping them from finding the net again. Asked which of those halves was more indicative of how the upcoming fixture might go, Burke said that he expected it would be “more the second half” and that he anticipated the game would be a “serious, serious grind.” 

““They get really narrow through the front four and they do a great job of crowding the area in front of your center backs. They crowd that area and they jam balls in there and they they do a good job of their wingers getting really narrow and being second forwards on the weak side. So we talked a lot about that this week, about crowding out that area and at least giving ourselves a chance to react when balls are played in there and then counter out, which we're lethal at.”

Scarlett noted that he expects the game to be a “dog fight,” but that Hartford would be ready for that, saying “Our system is a dog fight anyways. It's it's chaos, but it's controlled chaos.” 

Brooklyn’s approach is also particularly suited to the confines of Maimonides Park, which has one of the smallest pitches in the league, and Hartford will adjust to that, with Burke saying, “Their field is uniquely bad in the sense that it's small, it's tight, it's turf, so it become set pieces, forward first actions, you know, reactions. So we're starting a different lineup with that in mind.”

There are unlikely to be changes along Hartford’s backline, so any alterations to the lineup would come through the midfield or the front four. With Burke emphasizing the small pitch and the likelihood that the game will become crowded, it’s plausible that Junior Moreira or Andres Hernandez might be preferred to Barry Coffey, with Hartford playing one or the other alongside Beverly Makangila in front of the back line. Other changes could see Augestine Williams return to the starting eleven, likely playing as part of a front two, with Michee Ngalina and Adewale Obalola the most likely candidates to be his running mate.

On the other side of the pitch, one player who has stood out for Brooklyn is Markus Anderson. The forward did not appear until their third game of the season, but now has four goals and two assists in seven USL Championship games, and is generally now leading the line, with former Latic Juan Carlos Obregon dropping to the bench. Burke had a lot of praise for the forward, while also not discounting the different options available to Marlon LeBlanc

“Anderson's fantastic. I mean he's very well-rounded, he's fast, he's good on the ball, he can see a pass and will make a pass, and he's also a very good finisher for this level. So I think the sky's the limit for that kid. So credit to him. In terms of how they line up, they could play JC [Obregon] underneath him, they could play any number of players underneath him. They have good speed on the wings. They have, you know, guys that can be pocket players like [CJ] Olney. So they have a lot of different looks they can give you.”

Overall, Burke had a lot of praise for Brooklyn, seeing them as one of the better teams that is currently outside the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference, and real contenders in the USL Cup as well. They may not have quite figured everything out yet, but they are getting there:

“I don't think they've completely found what they are yet, but I think they're getting really close and they they look good for my money. For all the teams below the [playoff] line - obviously Rhode Island wake up in the second-half of the year usually - but for all the teams outside of Rhode Island under the line, I think they're probably the best one.”

So it’s a difficult fixture, featuring two teams who are defensively solid, but have generally struggled to score (Brooklyn are a bottom-three team by most attacking measures). On a cramped turf pitch, that’s not exactly a recipe for success, but Hartford will be targeting a win in regulation - and perhaps a couple of goals along the way.