First Place Charleston Battery At Soccer Park This Weekend To Face Saint Louis FC

Saint Louis FC is back home this weekend as they welcome the Charleston Battery to Toyota Stadium on Saturday night. Charleston currently sits in first place in the United Soccer League’s Eastern Conference with 35 points on 10 wins, 2 losses and 5 draws.

Kickoff is set for 7: 30 pm on Saturday at Toyota Stadium at World Wide Technology Soccer Park. Tickets may be purchased online at SaintLouisFC.com or at the stadium box office.

Last Time Out For STLFC

Saint Louis FC’s skid continued last week in a particularly unenjoyable fashion. After a disappointing 0-0 draw with Rochester at home the week before, the club was pummeled in Charlotte last weekend 5-1 by the Independence.

STLFC has taken one point, the draw with Rochester, from its last seven matches. The club has a record of just 1-5-3 away from Soccer Park while compiling a 3-2-1 mark at home.

The club plays its next two matches at home, this weekend against Charleston and next Saturday against Louisville City FC, which sits in second place in the conference.

The winless skid has led to a shakeup of the roster by Saint Louis.

Doody Returning To St. Louis On Loan

Two roster moves were announced in St. Louis this week with the bigger of the two coming earlier today. Patrick Doody, who starred for Saint Louis FC during its first two seasons, will rejoin the club on loan from the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer. Doody will be available for Saturday’s match.

Doody will help anchor the back line for Preki’s club and could help spark the offense as a long ball threat.

In the move announced earlier this week, Jose Angulo was sent to the Oklahoma City Energy FC on loan while Daniel Jackson signed with STLFC.

Injured Players Hopefully Returning

Saturday’s lineup should look quite a bit different than the one that took the field last weekend in Charlotte.

After returning to the game day roster last weekend, Ivan Mirkovic should crack the starting eleven this week. Mirkovic has been out since suffering a broken leg in the second game of the season.

Dragan Stojkov will also be available this week after missing last weekend’s match with an injury. Mirkovic and Stojkov will return to a midfield that will be without Emir Alihodzic, who was given a three-game suspension by the USL league office for violent conduct in the Charlotte match.

Milan Petosevic and Max Alvarez are also rumored to be close to returning from their respective injuries.

USL Player of the Month Romario Williams Leads Charleston, But Will Miss Saturday’s Match On International Duty

STLFC and Charleston took to the pitch in Charleston back in May with Charleston coming out victorious 1-0. Defender Forrest Lasso headed a ball passed Adam Grinwis in the 62nd minute for the game’s loan goal.

Charleston striker Romario Williams was named the USL Player of the Month for June after scoring five goals in the Battery’s four games during the month. Williams also leads the USL in scoring with 14 goals on the season.

Williams will not take the field for Charleston in St. Louis, however. The 22-year old is on international duty with Jamaica at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. He scored his first international goal for the Reggae Boyz against Curacao

Charleston started Heviel Cordoves in place of Williams in their last match, a 1-1 draw with Louisville City. The 27-year old Cuban has played in 15 matches this season and has scored one goal.

The Battery have scored 37 goals on the season, 18 more than their opponents. The aforementioned Lasso, who stands 6’5″,  has six goals on the season, while Justin Portillo has five.

Pack The Park

Tickets for Saturday night’s matchup at Toyota Stadium can be purchased in advance online at SaintLouisFC.com or by calling 636-680-0997. They will be available on Saturday at the Toyota Stadium box office.

The presenting sponsor for tomorrow’s match is TW Contractors, which did much of the work to get Toyota Stadium back in shape after the flooding in the area recently.

The presenting sponsor for Saturday's match is @TWC_STL! Check out the great work their team completed to put our team back on the field… pic.twitter.com/IncHwIjHir

— Saint Louis FC (@SaintLouisFC) July 13, 2017

The St. Louligans supporters club will be holding their tailgate before the match in the back of the parking lot at Soccer Park. Partaking in the Hot Dog Bar requires a donation to the Charity Du Jour for Saturday’s match, the Colon Cancer Alliance.

You can hear more about why this charity has a special meaning to many of the Louligans by listening to the latest episode of the This Is Silly! podcast. When listening, keep in mind that it was recorded before the Doody news broke. Spirits would have been a little bit better if it had been recorded after hearing the news.

Can’t Make It? Stream It

All USL matches are streamed live for free on YouTube. You can also watch Saturday’s match on KPLR 11 in the St. Louis area and listen to all home games on 550 KTRS.

Stuck in St. Charles County and can’t make it out to Fenton? Watch it at Hattrick’s Irish Sports Pub in O’Fallon.

Charleston Battery vs Saint Louis FC July 15, 2017

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