Saturday marks a refocus for Memphis 901 FC as the club returns to USL Championship action settling into the summer grind of the regular season. The two-match roadย swing starts with a battle at Monterey Bay FC.
The Beale Street Boys work to make it a three-match winning streak in the league after convincing victories over Birmingham and Tampa in the last two weeks.
Monterey Bay have found themselves on the opposite end of the results with three consecutive losses to Orange County, Indy Eleven and Sacramento Republic in the Open Cup since the clubs last met on April 20.
Monterey overcame a first-minute own goal to take three points at AutoZone Park in the last meeting and will look to grab the season sweep in the Western Conference matchup at home. Tristan Trager scored from the penalty spot before Alejandro Lara redeemed himself from the early own goal with a 70th minute winner.ย
Memphis will lean on the likes of Bruno Lapa, Luiz Fernando and Marlon to put pressure on the Monterey back line at Cardinale Stadium.
โThey’re dangerous, they can finish, they’re very positive and thatโs why we put them where we did the last couple of games,โ said Memphis Head Coach Stephen Glass. โThey’ve contributed brilliantly all year. Itโs a positive thing when your forward players are scoring goals and they’re competing. Everyones happy with the output from the whole team.โ
The attack has been ignited recently with Marlon as the catalyst up top, scoring two goals to go with three assists in the last two wins. The Brazilian attacker tallied two goals and an assist against Tampa to earn the USL Championship Player of the Week Award for Week 9.
A victory on Saturday could bring Memphis 901 FC to the top half of the Western Conference table.
Kickoff for the matchup is set for 9 p.m. CT and will be broadcast live on ESPN+ nationally and WMC 5 Plus locally.ย
