Hartford Athletic hosts Sporting Jacksonville on Wednesday night, their sixth game in 19 days as they look to continue a run of form that has seen them reach the finals of the USL Cup, as well as move up to fifth in the Eastern Conference standings. Jacksonville arrive at Trinity Health at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, with just 14 points accumulated so far, and a loss would see them formally eliminated from playoff contention.
The two teams met on the opening day of the season, with Hartford claiming a 3-nil win at Hodges Stadium behind goals from Augustine Williams, Samuel Careaga and Adewale Obalola. While that offensive outburst was not predictive of Hartford’s immediate future – it would not score three goals again in a league fixture for nearly six months – it was a harbinger of things to come for Jacksonville. The league newcomers have been battered for three or more goals on nine further occasions this season, most recently by RIFC on Saturday night. It’s a defense that is nearly a goal per game worse than the next-worst team in the league.
Speaking to the media this week, Hartford manager Brendan Burke attributed that porous defense to the overall makeup of the team, which lacks the pieces necessary to challenge the opposition without exposing themselves.
“The way they're set up, they have to combine with each other to create chances. They can't get away from you on their own, outside of maybe [Edgardo] Rito and [Emil] Jääskeläinen in a certain situation and that means you have to move your whole team forward to get really high quality looks and you leave yourself with space behind you. That's the reality.”
That’s a space that Hartford will look to exploit on Wednesday, after finding rhythm in transition on Saturday against Tampa. In the first half of that game, Hartford were caught offside seven times, but in the second, it timed runs, leading to a goal, a penalty drawn, and two other good looks at goal. It was a critical half-time adjustment for the Latics, and they’ll look to double down on that against Jacksonville, with Burke emphasizing that the speed and quality of Hartford’s attacking pieces means there’s no reason to be offside.
“We test the last line a lot so it's important to give yourself a yard. Our forwards don't need an extra yard when it comes to a foot race so there's no reason to be there. I think we lead the league in offside and there's just no reason for it.”
At the same time, while Jacksonville continues to be unable to defend consistently, it has failed to keep a clean sheet in the league this season, it has hardly given up. In recent fixtures against Birmingham Legion and Lexington SC, it has scored deep in stoppage time to take away 3-2 victories. It might not be a real sign of a turnaround; in four other fixtures dating back to the beginning of August it has been outscored 13-1 while failing to record a single point, but it’s more grit than some teams in dismal seasons have shown, something Burke acknowledged ahead of Wednesday's game.
“II think they've gotten better and better as the season went on. They obviously fell flat on the weekend [against RIFC] but they have some guys playing for their next contracts, and that's clear when you look at a guy like [Kieran] Sadlier with 11 goal contributions this year. I'm sure there's a lot of teams in the league that would love to have an inverted midfielder producing like that. This hasn't probably been what the whole Jacksonville organization wanted it to be, but they're still pushing in a big way, so we're not at all looking at this game as an easy outing.”
With yet another league fixture looming on Saturday – and cross-country travel to Las Vegas coming along with it – Burke will be forced to continue to manage the minutes for his players across the remainder of the week. However, with a rotated squad cruising to a 3-1 win over league-leaders Tampa Bay, Burke will also have plenty of resources for this one.
Jordan Scarlett and Arturo Diz Pe each played a half, while Barry Coffey, Sebastian Anderson and Augi Williams took the pitch for just 30 minutes, and Beverly Makangila played barely 15. New acquisition Ben Mines played an hour, but that was his first extended action in more than two months. Abdullah Taofeek was an unused substitute; Baboucarr Njie is fully rested and available as well, giving Burke nearly a starting eleven’s worth of players who are rested and ready.
It’s a far cry from where Hartford were at the height of the summer, when trips to Rhode Island and Phoenix saw Burke forced to simply play whoever was available. Now, the Hartford manager can approach things in an entirely different way, fielding strong elevens in any given game, while trying to sort through who will play in the games that truly matter, including against Louisville in just over two weeks, something Brendan Burke emphasized as his club looks ahead to a second cup final in two years.
“We're not weary at all now because we've rotated right through the heart of the busy period and we'll continue to do that this week. You'll get a totally different line up on Wednesday then you will Saturday, and with guys in form in both lineups and we're getting a few guys back to the bench as well. So the competition level going into the two Louisville games is going to be real. It's going to be hard to get into the 18 for those huge games. And you know, down the stretch that's what you want. That's where you want your team to be sitting.”
Hartford are sitting in exactly the right place right now, finding goals and climbing up the table as the season draws to a close. With seven games remaining, Hartford controls its own destiny in the hunt for a home playoff game. It's been a slog to get here, but right now, things are going the Lactics way, and the timing couldn't be more perfect.
