Hartford Athletic look to continue their unbeaten start to the USL Championship season on Saturday evening as they head to South Florida to take on Miami FC. It’s the last game of a gruelling month played mostly on the road to start the season, and the Latics will be looking to add to the eight points they’ve already secured from their first four league games.
Brendan Burke’s side had extreme travel difficulties on their trip to Florida, with severe weather causing the club’s plans to be disrupted. According to Burke, after being diverted to Vero Beach Regional Airport, the team had another substantial delay on the tarmac before finally reaching their destination.
“We’re descending into Fort Lauderdale, and this massive storm had just blown in, and they’re like, we can’t land. So we went out over the ocean and circled for maybe 45 minutes, and then we had to go to Vero Beach. And we land there, and they were like, this is such a small airport, there are no gates available. So we just sat on the runway for two and a half hours. And they eventually got us into a gate, but they never let us off the plane, and we sat there for another hour and a half, getting no information. So the players were exhausted and really frustrated. And when we finally took off, got to Fort Lauderdale, we still had to drive down to Miami. Thank God we didn’t travel on Friday."
Travel in the USL Championship is always a challenge – flying commercially with a group of 30 is a complicated endeavour – and Thursday’s weather only added to the difficulties. The Latics will try to shake off a 12-hour travel day and prepare for a Miami team that is poised to move out of the Eastern Conference cellar, where they have languished over the last two seasons.
“Games like this are absolute traps and Rhode Island fell into it a week ago," Burke told The Blazing Musket. "Miami have talent. They are not going to be the bottom dweller in the East this year, they just aren’t. They’ve spent enough, they’ve invested enough to get results. And right now, they’re fully fit. This is a big challenge, and we have to treat it that way.”
One of Miami’s biggest additions has been Arney Rocha, who is coming off a USL Championship Player of the Week award for his two-goal, two-assist performance in the win over RIFC. His talent and athleticism are the kind of thing that Miami has simply lacked over the last two seasons, with Mason Tunbridge and Mathieu Ndongo providing similar positive physical characteristics that have contributed to Miami’s good start to the season.
Miami also balanced that with experience. Rodrigo Da Costa has over 200 appearances and is a second-team all-league selection. Arthur Rogers – a former Latic – is a two-time USL League One Defender of the Year and was the assists champion for that division in 2023. It’s a significantly improved team, and a tough challenge for a Hartford team that is still working its way back to full fitness.
One positive for Hartford is that Michee Ngalina is in line to make his first start since the season opener, after limited appearances in the last two games. For Burke, he’s also the most important piece for Hartford headed into Saturday night.
“This will be Michee’s first start in a month," Burke said. "He’s obviously one of the most gifted players in the league, and when he’s fully focused, he can flip a game on its head. I don’t think it’s even worth talking about anyone outside of Michee.”
Ngalina and his teammates will need to be sharp, given that this is their third game in eight days, and they also endured a difficult day of travel. For Burke, this gives Miami an advantage, but he still believes his squad can take a result from this game.
“They’re in their comfort zone, they didn’t go through a nightmare travel day," Burke said. "So we have to be near perfect.”
