Hartford Return Home For Clash With Miami FC
The Latics will look to bounce back from a disappointing loss in North Carolina on Pizza Appreciation night.
Looking to bounce back from their first defeat of the season, Hartford will welcome The Miami Football Club to Trinity Healthy Stadium on Saturday.
Fans will be hoping for a promising attack — one that produced a near-club record 27 shots in a win over Birmingham in their home opener, but only one goal to show for it — to shift into top gear against a young Miami side that has so far defied preseason expectations.
Where Hartford had put in an utterly dominant first half against Birmingham, the story last time out in North Carolina was rather different. A poor first half left the Latics in a difficult position, and despite some improvements after halftime, and a Jay Chapman goal, they were unable to secure a result.
“We were flat,” said Hartford Head Coach Brendan Burke. “We expect to win wherever we go, home, away, we expect to control the flow of the game, and we did neither.”
Hartford will be looking to turn the page and return to the devastatingly effective press they deployed against the Legion.
Miami FC have the youngest team in the Championship this season, parting ways with a number of experienced veterans this past offseason, including Kyle Murphy, Florian Valot and Joaquin Rivas. They largely replaced them with a mixture of players making the jump from League One — like defender Daltyn Knutson, who won a title with Union Omaha in 2021 — and international additions like Rocco Genzano, who previously played for Potenza Calcio in the Italian Serie C.
While the roster does feature Championship journeyman Frank Lopez - who has 43 goals for six teams in just shy of 150 appearances - the general trend has been towards youth, and Miami is the only team this season whose average age so far is under 25 years old. This led to some predictions that they would struggle this season, but so far new manager Antonio Nocerino has his side well organized and delivering results.
The star for Miami in the early going has been versatile midfielder Allen Gavilanes, who has three of their five goals so far this season. Gavilanes joined Miami this past offseason after three good seasons with Greenville Triumph SC in USL League One, where he recorded 7 goals and 16 assists in 85 games, and has showcased his electric abilities already in 2024. In week three, he was the Championship Player of the Week for his two goals in a draw with Orange County SC (one of which also won Goal of the Week).
Through four games, Miami have made the most of fairly limited opportunities in attack. No team in the league has attempted fewer shots per game, and they have a worse expected goals performance than all but one other side, but they sit comfortably in the middle of the pack for goals scored. Hartford’s defense has been somewhat variable in the early going, and so Miami will perhaps fancy their chances to make something happen, particularly on the counter.
At the other end of the pitch, Miami have conceded a lot of opportunities - facing the second-most shots per game in the league - but have limited the quality of those opportunities, and again sit somewhere in the middle of the table in terms of actual goals conceded. The Latics attack hasn’t fully clicked yet, but continues to create dangerous chances, and will be hoping to take more advantage of their opportunities this time out.
Near-freezing temperatures and heavy rain put a damper on Hartford’s home opener, keeping all but the hardiest fans away. The Latics will be hoping that the forecast of cloudy and cool for Saturday will bring a bigger crowd, as the team looks to return to their winning ways.
Kickoff from Trinity Health Stadium is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+ and MyTV9.