The Back Four: Week 32 boogaloo
Featuring Louisville notes, the USL's also-rans, a rocky title defense, and more USL miscellany
Welcome in to The Back Four!
As always, check out Backheeled for more USL content, including Week 32 power rankings plus unsung Championship and League One names to know. Also, check out This League! for an audiovisual dive into the week that was.
Without further ado, let’s get to it.
Louisville’s historic pace (and the things I’ve neglected to praise about it)
As someone who tries to cover the vast totality of the USL across multiple leagues, I can’t deep dive every aspect of every team. That said, I owe Louisville City some extra coverage this week. That might seem like a silly statement in isolation; no other club is as consistently lauded for their success, after all. At the same time, LouCity’s 2025 season has been utterly remarkable.
No team in the USL’s xG era (i.e., from 2018 to today) has ever finished a full season with more than 2.29 points per game. After beating Miami this weekend, Louisville is sitting at 2.46. This team could lose out and still set a new modern record – all while posting a plus-0.50 xG margin per match.
At various points this year, I’ve broken down Josh Jones and pined for players like Kyle Adams or Taylor Davila as award winners. When you’re this good, however, the success owes to more than just three guys.
Start with Phillip Goodrum. Acquired for a record fee last summer, Goodrum had big shoes to fill after Wilson Harris left for Israel. If you compare their statistics on a per-90 basis, you’d find that Goodrum is putting up roughly equivalent shot (3.4) and goal (0.7) numbers with 49% more duel wins and 270% more recoveries.
Goodrum has always been a hard-nosed forward, and that profile has only solidified atop Louisville’s 3-4-3ish shape. The No. 9 isn’t always asked to press into the opposing box in restart situations, but he’s nigh unmatched at battling for long balls and contributing in the counterpress.
A line back, Kevon Lambert has been equally important to LouCity’s system. Regular listeners of This League! will be sick of Lambert talk by now, but he’s given this team an entirely new aspect in the pivot.
At the start of 2025, it seemed as if Louisville would run back a midfield alignment much like that of Davila and Elijah Wynder from last season. Former Memphis 901 standout Zach Duncan was signed to approximate Wynder’s box-to-box skillset, but he went down after just a handful of matches. That forced Danny Cruz to get clever, and his application of Lambert as a box-crashing target of a No. 8 has been nothing short of inspired.
In the final third, Davila is often willing to sit low as a human “reset” button that can swing passes from side to side. He’s a recovery machine as well, leading the USL with more than 100 regains in the middle third. That safety-net skillset lets Lambert win headers, carve into the box to meet crosses, and play as a physical central bludgeon in the counterpress. Across the entire year, the Jamaican international is winning 5.9 headers per game. Since the start of August, he’s putting up 1.4 shots and winning the ball back in the final third a stellar 0.4 times per 90.
Meanwhile, we’ve seen Louisville experiment with their attacking alignment all the while. A brief injury to Goodrum seemed to catalyze experiments with a 3-5-2 in which the classic left winger drops lower in certain phases of play. With the star striker back, we’ve continued to see Louisville innovate – even when an out-and-out winger like Ray Serrano is in the team rather than, say, Evan Davila or Niall McCabe.
That pattern was extremely visible two weeks ago against Indy, as you see above. Goalkeeper Damian Las is on the ball, with the three center backs (in purple) fanning out around him. Meanwhile, Serrano (in white) shows deep like a No. 6. In doing so, he attracts the attention of an Eleven center back on the mark.
Serrano often dropped down the sideline rather than tucking narrow, swapping spots with left wingback Amadou Dia. No matter where his run ended, the winger’s movement let LouCity go long up a vulnerable left side. Here, they access Dia and earn their way to a throw-in from a dangerous space.
The approach up the left was necessarily more offensive-minded against Miami FC last weekend, with Jansen Wilson relocated from his usual deployment up the right. Louisville didn’t lack for chances as Wilson pushed up in an outwardly attack-first role, but it didn’t necessarily break the back of the Miami block.
Enter Serrano, who produced as many recoveries (three) and more takeaways (one, but that’s still an improvement on zero!) than Wilson did in 61 minutes. The change paid off handsomely, with Serrano’s lower positioning setting up a takeaway on the edge of the midfield to spark a game-winning counter in the 88th minute.
In every sense, Louisville is getting it right. They’re already the Players’ Shield winners, and they’re flirting with history in almost any category you consider. We’ll judge the legacy of LouCity’s 2025 team on their playoff success – fairly or not – but it’s worth admiring the achievement while it’s in progress.
Tingey talk
It’s easy to view Loudoun through the lens of their stars and their fun-to-watch system. Abdellatif Aboukoura is a headliner, and players like Florian Valot or Quimi Ordonez are full of standout moments; Ryan Martin’s possessive, pressureful 4-4-2 deserves any and all admiration it receives.
That focus makes it easy to miss Keegan Tingey’s contributions at right back. All of the front-end success wouldn’t be possible without the fullback’s movement, a threat that forces defenses to widen out or vertically overextend time and again. Likewise, Loudoun’s high press necessarily relies on active defensive recoveries. Tingey, with 76 regains between the defensive and middle thirds, is the sort of player that makes it happen.
Among the Loudoun fullbacks, Kwame Awuah tends to draw attention because of his fervent overlapping to the left of Aboukoura. He’s terrific, but there’s a designed steadiness to Tingey that’s every bit as important. The former Stanford man is in the 76th percentile for xG and 80th for final-third passing at his position, yet he’s also fourth on the team with 554 own-zone pass attempts this year. Awuah is seldom asked to sit in like a third center back in build, while Tingey manages that role while still providing offensive punch.
In Detroit last Saturday, Tingey wasn’t perfect. He registered six incompletions in his own half and didn’t attempt a single cross. Still, it’s hard to imagine any USL right back doing much better.
Detroit is a fundamentally left-tilted team. I literally sang the praises of Devon Amoo-Mensah in these pages last week, and Le Rouge’s attack relies on Ates Diouf‘s singular presence up the left to stir the drink. Tingey – who made four recoveries and won 67% of his duels – kept a lid on Diouf all night long, limiting him to just two pass completions and zero shots on target. That’s elite defending, pure and simple.
Even as Diouf subbed off and the game opened up, Tingey continued to shine. Here, Loudoun is played over, and the right back’s recovery against opposing forward Jordan Adebayo-Smith is initially a step slow. At that point, however, Tingey turns on the jets.
The pass into Adebayo-Smith is a bit behind, which allows the Loudoun man to get back. Tingey uses his right arm to muscle Adebayo-Smith out of a comfortable touch, but he’s keeping enough distance to avoid giving away a penalty. The result is a heavy tap from the Detroit forward and a goal kick for Loudoun.
You can’t quantify flat-out effort, but Keegan Tingey gives it to you. No matter what role he’s asked to fill within the Loudoun system, Tingey does so with aplomb. It’s a major reason why this club is playoff-bound for the first time ever.
Charlotte’s long game
From a certain point of view, goal kicks are set pieces. Soccer’s meta-game increasingly obsesses over efficiency in dead-ball situations, and while you’re never going to score directly from a goal kick, you can use those restarts as a chance to dictate how and where the match is being played.
In a game on Friday night where Charlotte sustained a mere 42.5% field tilt against Antelope Valley, the laser-precise restarts allowed for instant entrance into dangerous spaces. Goalkeeper Amal Knight completed six of his eight long passes, and each of those successes felt dangerous. The Independence’s physical dominance helped; they won 58% of duels, including 75% of the match’s 20 aerial battles.
The ability to quickly work over the top was especially important because of Alta’s defensive approach. Brian Kleiban’s side looked 4-2-4ish and was willing to sit within their own half, daring the Independence to break through. Charlotte still ran with their usual “defend in a five, but flex the right side forward in possession” gambit, but to limited results despite the fresh presences of Christopher Jaime and Juan David Moreno up the right flank.
Enter the goal kicks. You’re seeing what’s essentially a front-end diamond develop here, with Knight’s serve skewing toward the left side of the 5-2-3. This was actually somewhat rare; the majority of his long balls were aimed into more central spaces. Still, it’s a useful look at the spatial ideas Charlotte employed.
Here, left-sided Jon Bakero is the target by virtue of the ball’s flight path. Immediately, wingback Anthony Sorenson steps in case Bakero’s header is knocked backwards. Meanwhile, central midfielder Bachir Ndiaye does something similar, splitting with Omar Ciss in the pivot to become the base player in that aforementioned diamond.
Ndiaye ended Friday night with a staggering 11 recoveries, partially because he was asked to take up these kinds of positions. This specific example, however, skirts the midfield entirely. Bakero’s header will land at the feet of striker Christian Chaney, who immediately demands defensive attention. As such, there’ll be space for Bakero to push into the seam, receive on the give-and-go, and head into the box.
That was Charlotte’s fundamental formula in the instances where they decided to go long, with Chaney – who went six-for-eight in the air – as the first-choice target. Here, as he contests Knight’s serve, Alta is forced to send defender Miguel Pajaro upfield to unsettle the impending header.
Alta wants left back Steven Ramos to tuck inside as cover, but his reaction is slow. As such, Moreno has all the momentum in the world to sneak behind and claim Chaney’s flick. It’s a domino effect from there: Alta’s remaining center back has to hedge wide to Moreno, Bakero is free in space, and a goal ensues.
Bakero could also be the “run into the space vacated by the center back” piece, as in the 44th minute in a near-identical sequence over the top. By dropping Chaney low and pushing the wingers over the top, Charlotte found a simple formula to cause trouble. Did it require a superior performance from the No. 9 and a spirited effort from Ndiaye as the advanced safety net? Of course, but the best coaches know what their stars are capable of.
Mike Jeffries and the Independence didn’t always go long, but they weaponized their best players in designable dead-ball situations. It’s no coincidence they found a 92nd minute winner off a long throw, one that utilized Chaney’s physical profile once more to free super-sub Souiabou Marou. The result was a massive three points to sure up a playoff spot with two matches to go.
Ain’t No Sunshine
The Tampa Bay Sun might be the defending champs in the Super League, but they’re sitting in last place with zero wins and a minus-four goal difference after seven matches. Denise Schilte-Brown returned a core responsible for 66% of minutes played in that title-winning campaign, yet Tampa Bay can’t replicate their form. What gives?
Up-and-down defensive returns tell the story. Last year, the Sun conceded merely 1.08 xG per match. That’s up to 1.56 this season. Likewise, they’re winning the ball back in the press almost 20% less year-over-year. By the eye test, Tampa Bay’s aggression hasn’t abated. However, they’ve simply been less effective at taking the ball away in useful areas.
Progress is arriving in fits and starts. Two weeks back, a 4-1-4-1 approach held a fiery Fort Lauderdale team to just 0.27 xG in a nil-nil draw. There, Natasha Flint – the USL’s premier hold-up forward in the 2024-2025 season – essentially played like a No. 8 next to Jillian Shimkin, man marking the United pivot.
That choice came with trade-offs. Flint only got 27 touches in 66 minutes, and Tampa Bay often looked longer to a drifting Ava Tankersley up top. Offensive success and defensive integrity haven’t coincided this season. Still, Schilte-Brown’s system let the Sun control that match by and large.
Here, that central marking encourages United to try and dribble around the edge. Tankersley’s curled closing run only adds to that effect, and Fort Lauderdale takes the bait. When there’s no one available between the lines, a rushed long ball is the only escape valve.
Brooke Hendrix cleans up and steps through pressure, so Tampa Bay is able to mostly avoid the counterpress without getting in their own way. In every sense, it’s what you want to see from the Sun: muscular pressure, a clean shape, and no-nonsense operation from Hendrix and Vivianne Bessette at center back.
Those tenets didn’t entirely go away in Brooklyn over the weekend, but a less dogmatic opponent knew how to break Tampa Bay down. Brooklyn ended up with 1.6 xG by challenging the integrity of the 4-1-4-1 press, probing to imbalance the back line, and choosing moments to go long with far more control.
For one, a freer midfield group caused problems up the middle. Jordyn Listro wasn’t bad as the protective shield at the No. 6 spot, but Brooklyn’s wonky use of Antoinette Williams and Sam Kroeger could mix the marks and force the Sun into a lopsided central alignment. Moreover, unselfish drops out of the wingers – namely Jessica Garziano and substitute Catherine Zimmerman – did well to draw either Listro or right back Mackenzie Pluck out of their assigned pocket.
That’s what happens here. Tampa Bay’s shape is visible from the start, but a drop from Garziano lets Brooklyn break lines. Meanwhile, a wonderfully intelligent replacement run from Kroeger in the No. 8 spot forces Listro to hew toward the sideline.
The freeze frame spotlights the situation. Tampa Bay’s remaining three defenders are narrow, and Brooklyn has too much time up the middle to pick out a pass. Samantha Rosette has space on that side, and she uses it to find a shot. Is it the best chance in the world? Of course not. Still, this play set the template for future success.
Brooklyn’s first goal came in the 61st minute, and it once again featured a high step from Pluck – an ex-Brooklyn player herself. This time, it was Zimmerman making the drop-in run, thereby allowing striker Rebecca Cooke to make a diagonal move and receive over the top. Bessette couldn’t stop Cooke one-on-one, allowing her to score from inside the box.
Last year’s version of Tampa Bay seldom gave opponents time to pick out those sorts of entry passes, and they rarely lost their sense of alignment across the back four. It’s far too early to be genuinely concerned about a Sun team that also started last season slowly, but there are enough structural issues to begin the discussion.
Post-mortem positives, Week 1
As we get to the end of the season, I want to highlight something that stands out for each of our eliminated clubs. I’m using “eliminated” in a loose sense; if you’re below 10% in my odds model, you’re probably on the chopping block.
Without further ado, let’s start the eulogies.
Miami FC: Francisco Bonfiglio’s ascension
Back in my preseason preview, I didn’t know what to make of Miami. I slotted them in at 12th place in the East but noted their genuine playoff upside; hope sprang eternal. Unfortunately, my pessimistic leanings proved correct.
What I didn’t see coming was the arrival of Francisco Bonfiglio. Amidst a slew of little-known Argentine signings, the No. 9’s resume didn’t stand out. Bonfiglio had only scored four professional goals in his life, per Transfermarkt! This season alone, he’s been good for 16 goals and two assists across all competitions while leading the line for Miami.
Bonfiglio is finishing at a very decent 17% clip on extremely high shot volume, and he’s useful in varied situations. Whether as a transition runner or classical in-box poacher, the 23-year-old has all the tools you’d want at the Championship level. As a club, Miami is at an inflection point between a solid stadium plan, apparently moneyed ownership, and a genuine failure to be competitive on the pitch. If they retain Bonfiglio for 2026, it’ll be a major sign that they mean business.
Las Vegas Lights: Building next season’s core
When I spoke to Gianleonardo Neglia about the direction of the Lights this August, I came away impressed with the sporting director’s willingness to admit mistakes. Las Vegas erred in the hiring of Antonio Nocerino and didn’t build an adequate roster to support his tactics – or compete in the 2025 version of the USL Championship, for that matter
After much wheeling-and-dealing as summer bled into fall, that’s begun to change. Las Vegas hired Devin Rensing after a stellar stint as Ben Pirmann’s right-hand man, and while his style hasn’t fully stuck as we hit the end of the season, the bones of a successful 4-2-3-1ish template are clear to see. Signings from Stefan Stojanovic to Anthony Herbert to Tommy McNamara all feel like steady pieces that should feature in the 2026 squad.
It’s all a bit painful in the short term, but there’s a new clarity of vision at Cashman Field that ought to be encouraging.
Birmingham Legion: The start of a new era
Tommy Soehn was synonymous with the Birmingham Legion from their very first match onward, but it was time for a change at Protective Stadium. Replacing Soehn with Mark Briggs – a serial winner with Real Monarchs and the Sacramento Republic – was as big a swing as the Legion could’ve made in 2025.
That’s not to say things went to plan this year. Briggs’ most promising attacking signings (i.e., Sebastian Saucedo, Sam Shashoua) got injured before they could make a major impact, and other back-end additions (e.g., Maliek Howell, Edwin Laszo) were either hurt or deeply ineffectual. While Briggs was able to instill a clear formation, Birmingham stalled out because of an error-prone defense and an attack solely reliant on a direct passing into around Ronaldo Damus.
Birmingham sits on a minus-4.5 xG margin in the Briggs era, but I’m here to argue that the data shouldn’t be a cause for concern. The new manager needed to work with a roster built for an entirely different philosophy, and his in-season additions were spare parts more than long-term pillars. Briggs’ record means that he’s earned a chance to come good in 2026 – and if history is any indication, the Legion have a strong chance at finally getting back to the playoffs.
Westchester SC: Bad luck’s upside (and JC Obregon)
Westchester’s expansion year will go down as one of the oddest seasons in USL history. This team has dropped a stunning 38 points from winning positions. The previous League One record belonged to Richmond, who dropped just 22 such points in 2023; no Championship club has ever exceeded a total of 28.
You can blame Westchester’s defense to a certain extent, and a slew of fifty-fifty penalty calls early in the season hurt badly. Still, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that WSC have been uniquely, historically unlucky.
It’s easy to imagine the route to success for Dave Carton in 2026. As long as the back line can reach replacement-level competence, there’s the framework of an excellent attack in place. Start with JC Obregon, whose 16 league goals are likely to make him the Golden Boot winner. If he stays around, Westchester begins with the best offensive building block in the entirety of League One.
Carton will need to square this year’s slow offense (see 4.3 passes per possession and 6.9 progress yards per pass) with more explicitly vertical principles, of course. Whether loanees like Deshane Beckford and Taimu Okiyoshi return is something to watch as well. Still, nothing about Westchester’s first-year struggles feels intractable in the slightest.
Richmond Kickers: Continued academy success
Darren Sawatzky’s seat must be fairly hot headed into the offseason, but the organizational structure around him has never felt stronger. This season, the Richmond Kickers continued to shine as one of – if not the – premier club(s) for homegrown youth development in the USL.
Griffin Garnett is due to see his overall minutes decline after a breakout 2024, but he’s League One’s brightest defensive prospect at age 19. Asked to take on a more interventionist role in a more direct system, Garnett has upped his per-game takeaways from the 43rd to 70th percentile and remained a solid passer. James Sneddon has flatlined to a certain extent, but Richmond’s defense hasn’t made it easy. The average shot against Sneddon, also 19, has been worth 0.33 xG on target versus a far lower 0.22 average last season. Still, the young goalkeeper has made 23 starts in League One and grown under duress.
Becket Howell (20) held down the left back spot for a non-negligible stretch this summer. Landon Johnson (18) has tripled his starts year-over-year, contributing two league goals on 82nd percentile xG per 90 minutes. No matter where you look across the pitch, Richmond’s dedication to youth development stands out.
Quick Hits
In other news this week…
I’ve been an Amos Shapiro-Thompson skeptic all season long, so consider this to be my formal apology. It’s often hard to see the utility of a withdrawn attacking mid, but everything Shapiro-Thompson does is additive. When he’s on the field – half of Rhode Island’s minutes in 2035 – they’re +0.14 per 90 on goal difference terms. That number flips to a negative sign when the Boston College alum sits.
I centered much of my discussion of RIFC in Backheeled around the balance Shapiro-Thompson provides, but that’s been a season-long effect. He’s in the 90th percentile or better among attacking mids for defensive actions and total passes and below the 10th for xA and xG. In this version of the Rhode Island FC system, that’s a feature and not a bug.
Madison! Still good! In a week where Alta fell flat and Greenville’s return to a back four should’ve yielded a win (see a 1.6 to 1.0 xG margin) but didn’t, the ‘Mingos continued to take care of business. Much of what I’ve written about their 3-4-2-1’s midfield balance held true in Chattanooga, but also shoutout to Lucca Dourado for continuing to cook as a do-it-all No. 9 while on loan from Birmingham.
If Mark McKeever began the year as the Tormenta manager, we’d be having a serious discussion around Niall Reid-Stephen as the MVP. More on him in Backheeled tomorrow.
To close the loop on last week’s topic du jour, the new Park Chan-wook movie rules. It’s like Parasite meets Looney Tunes, and I mean that as a high compliment.