Hartford Athletic resume their defense of their USL Cup title on Saturday night with a visit to New Jersey to take on New York Cosmos. Group 5 is wide open at the moment, and the Latics will be looking to take a big step towards securing their place in the knockout rounds by way of three points and a few goals at Hinchcliffe Stadium.

It’s the first meeting between the two clubs, although Hartford did play NY Cosmos B (then playing in NPSL) in their inaugural US Open Cup campaign in 2019, triumphing 2-1 in the only game in club history to be played at Al-Marzook Field at the University of Hartford. Harry Swartz and Mads Jörgensen were the goalscorers that day, as Hartford recorded the first win in club history.

Coming into this game, Hartford are still trying to find a consistent source of goals. After going the entire month of April without finding the back of the net, they turned in back-to-back two-goal performances in wins over Detroit City and Brooklyn, but then the power went out again, with the club being blanked in a road loss to FC Tulsa and a nil-nil draw at home against New Mexico United.

Following the New Mexico game, Hartford manager Brendan Burke highlighted the need for individual players to take more responsibility, suggesting that his front four were over-emphasizing providing service rather than attacking the goal. Going into this game, Burke emphasized that point again, clarifying exactly what he wants to see from his attacking players.

“We want to see people's intent when they get in dangerous positions. When they round the corner, are they going downhill at goal or are they running toward the end line? Little nuances like that will tell us what their intent is.”

Burke does feel like his team is “ready to turn the corner goals" in part because Saturday will see something very close to his first-choice eleven on the pitch at the same time for one of the first time this season. Samuel Careaga - who was serving a suspension against New Mexico due to a red card received in the Tulsa game - will return to the lineup, and Emmanual Samadia, whose arrival was delayed by visa issues is now cleared for 90 minutes of play. Those two players have been on the pitch together for less than 30 minutes so far and both are critical pieces of what Burke’s side wants to do going forward.

For Samadia in particular, it’s been a long road, as the left back didn’t even arrive in Hartford until May, more than three months after the start of training camp. A cautious approach led him to play under a minutes limitation in Tulsa and against New Mexico, but he’s now ready to go at full speed, with Burke praising the Sierra Leon internationals’ commitment and preparation.

“He came back fit. He kept himself fit with his national team, with his local pro teams back at home. And he came in here just like the guy we've always known, which is extremely well prepared mentally and physically. So what do I expect? I expect more of the same from last year. I expect him to be a top two, top three left back in this league.”

And this is, truthfully, a game where Hartford should score multiple goals. Cosmos have the poorest defensive record in USL League One. They’ve kept just one clean sheet in 12 games in all competitions this season, and have conceded at least two goals in every other game and have actually given up three or more goals on six occasions. Digging under the hood suggests that there’s perhaps a hint of bad fortune here - their expected goals against (xGA) is in the bottom half of the league, but actually better than four other teams - but Cosmos seem unable to get out of their own way, lurching from one defensive catastrophe to another.

Things have been much less dire at the other end of the pitch, where Cosmos have been perfectly cromulent, largely thanks to the efforts of Ajmeer Spengler who has six goals to lead all players in League One. Burke had a lot of praise for the midfielder, whose 28 goal contributions in League One since the start of the 2024 season are the most of any active player - and trails only Juan Carlos Obregon, now of Brooklyn FC in the Championship among all players in that league over that timespan.

"I think he's dynamic in the sense that he can run with the ball and he will challenge you on the ball individually,” said Burke. “He's got very good passing range. He's willing to hit it from distance so you can't sit off him really. So I think he's a good young dynamic player.”

At the same time, the Hartford manager was adamant that his side will contain the Cosmos midfielder, adding.

”Do I think he should dictate any part of this game? No, I don't.”

Hartford’s real focus here is on three points and bettering Portland’s goal output in its Sunday afternoon matchup with Brooklyn. Doing so will take the Latics one step closer to the knockout stages of the USL Cup for the second year running, and give them renewed hope of defending their title from last year. The group is tight - and Portland are in a good position - but Hartford can tilt the field with a good showing on Saturday night.

“Portland's every bit as big a club as we are right now," said Burke. "And we understand that we're in a dog fight to come out of the group, but we're also understanding that we're in a good position to do that.”