Preview: Kickers Return to Action and Face Chattanooga

Opponent:  Chattanooga Red Wolves (5-2-5)
Date/Time: Saturday, July 12th, 7 PM
Last Result: 0-3 Loss Against USLC team Lexington SC in Jägermeister Cup
Up Next: Friendly at Home Against  Club Deportivo Leganés  June 16th, 7:30 PM

Weather from Weatherbug

Three Things to Kick About

1. Youth – The last result against the Kickers was a 3-0 loss against a team in a league above the Kickers in a tournament that the Kickers were already out of. The game featured at least 4 maybe 5 youth players and they did the best they could and got quality minutes aginst a much better team. This is a continuation of the Kickers plan to develop young local kids into professional players. The result sucked for the fans and the team but the dedication to an overarching plan continues.
2. A Win – The Kickers went through a long non-winning streak but on June 24th finally got a win. They were on the road and defeated Union Omaha 4-3. Billhardt who has struggled with injuries got his first start and first goal of the season to the delight of the Kickers faithful. Kirkland continued to impress and bagged a brace. The other goal was by O’Dwyer. That’s all very positive, but on the negative side, the Kickers did give up 3 goals including 1 penalty. The defense remains the Achilles’ heel for this team.
3. Achilles’ Heel Patch – The defensive problems were obvious to the Kickers front office as well. During the break the went out and found two new players. Seattle Sounders first round draft pick, Ryan Baer, will join the club on loan from Seattle for the remainder of the 2025 season. He’ll be playing in the midfield and most recently had playing time with Seattle MLSNext Pro side, the Tacoma Defiance. The other player will be making his 6’5″ presence known on the backline. Veteran centerback Marcelo Lage comes to the Kickers from the USL1 Spokane Velocity. The Velocity have been dominating the season so far and Lage wasn’t getting playing time due to a ridiculously stacked Spokane team including former Kicker Nil Vinyals. Lage had plenty of playing last season for Spokane and recorded 106 clearances and tallied 110 duel wins — 65% of his duel attempts in 24 matches.

Prediction

Chatanooga currently sits in 4th place and the Kickers are in 8th. Chatanooga has won 3 of their past 5 games, all by a single goal. As I mentioned above the Kickers won their most recent league game also by a single goal. When comparing the two teams one stat jumps out. The Kickers have scored 24 goals (2nd in the league) while the Red Wolves have scored 17 (tied for worst in the league). The Kickers have allowed the most goals in the league with 24, yay symmetry. The USL1 site doesn’t have the Red Wolves goals conceded for reasons that are known only to the soccer gods. Personally, I’m blindly putting my faith in the time off the Kickers have had to get players healthier and the two new additions to carry the Kickers to a home victory.

Kickers – 2
Chattanooga – 1