3 Questions: Forward (Away)

If you haven’t been waiting for this game since the schedule came out, I’m honestly not sure why you are here reading this, maybe you’re new. In case you are new here, welcome, this is Union Omaha fan blog, we play in USL League One and our closest competitor in the league is a team that normally plays in Madison, Wisconsin, Forward Madison. They don’t play in Madison right now, they play at the home of the Milwaukee Torrent, but that’s another thing entirely. I am incredibly excited for this game.

1) Does Madison view this as a playoff game?

By the time we kick off, we’ll know if we got the help we are looking for from our friends North Texas who are playing the Kickers at the official home of League One chaos, Globe Life Park.

Even if Richmond drops 3 points, we’re still one point behind them. But we’re getting ahead of the task at hand. I have full faith Jay will have fully prepared the team for the task at hand, going to Wauwautosa, not getting COVID, and coming home with three points. After all, that is all we can control.

For Madison’s sake they have five games left and a chance to double their points on the season by winning out. But they also have to play five games in two weeks. Does the size of the mountain distract them. Do they try and manage the work load for the midweek games? Or do they realize the other four games don’t matter if they can’t win this one?

My guess is this has the feel of a playoff game. There is no love lost between the fanbases. There was no love lost on the field in August. I believe the presence of Parliament will add some extra spice as Backwards Madison, Conquer, and Creeper Keeper ring out around Hart Park, home of the five(six?) sports line spectacular.

2) Where on the field does Dami play?

The reintroduction of Dami Viader to the side paid dividends. An imperious appearance at left wing delivered Dami’s first goal and then first assist in short order. Concurrently, the backline of Crull, Knutson, Osumanu, Sousa has fully gelled. Knutson’s inclusion has brought a few extra options around the field and we earned another clean sheet last time out.

At the same time, our rearranged front six has been extremely effective. (Six goals in two games since Devin moved up top). BUT, two of those were thanks to Dami playing up the field. Count me among those that are super happy that I don’t have to decide where to play everybody at the moment.

That said, I predict the following lineup:

FWD: Boyce, Conway
MID: Sebas, TD, Toby, EVD
DEF: Dami, Crull, Illal, Sousa
GK: Nuhu

3) Do we get a player of the week performance from Evan Conway?

Some facts: Evan Conway is en fuego at the moment, Evan Conway is from a town 10 miles away from Hart Park, when Evan got substituted against Forward in August Jay mentioned he thought Forward had marked him out of the game and speculated that Evan maybe wanted it too badly.

Evan has a lot more games under his belt and his move up top has been fruitful. I think he’ll find the balance between doing too much and reminding Forward fans what they missed. And if he scores, it will be the celebration of the year. I, for one, can’t wait to watch.