Cary, North Carolina – The Greenville Triumph travel to WakeMed Park this weekend to take on North Carolina FC as the historic club makes its League One debut. It’s a tough welcome for the former USL Championship side to face the defending League One champions in their opening match, but what better way to really see what NCFC brings to the table? Triumph fans should get used to this new regional rivalry, as the two clubs will meet a total of four times throughout the 2021 season.
How To Follow
Kick off: 7:00 PM EST
Local TV: WYCW-62
Digital Stream: ESPN+
International Stream: YouTube
Social Media: Greenville Triumph SC on Twitter
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scouting ncfc
When making the move to USL League One, NCFC leadership cited the opportunities in its youth development pathways as the main reason behind the decision, so it’s not surprising that the average age of NCFC’s roster is just 20 years old while the average age of the club’s starting XI is just 22. Mixed amongst the young players are a handful of seasoned veterans, including Nazmi Albadawi, Pecka and Robby Kristo. Albadawi will not be available for Saturday’s match, but Kristo is perhaps the team’s most notable scoring threat as he returns to NCFC for the third season in a row.
NCFC not only revamped most of its roster from their 2020 USL Championship season, but the club also welcomed in John Bradford, who will be making his head coaching debut on Saturday. Bradford stated that Saturday’s match will be “an amazing opportunity for the young players to get a real professional game under their belt, and there’s no better opponent to kick off the season with than Greenville.”
what to watch for:
More of the Same: Greenville had a tremendous showing in the club’s home opener last Saturday. Defensive shape was solid throughout the match, but perhaps most entertaining was offensive execution. Greenville netted four goals from three different players which is only the third time Greenville has scored four goals in a match with the first coming also against North Texas at their home stadium in 2019.
Composure: Greenville has dealt with some adversity throughout the club’s first two matches, playing down a man in the first and dealing with some physical altercations in the second that resulted in two North Texas red cards. Greenville has already been given plenty of opportunities to “lose it,” and while there are going to be plenty more chances, the mental strides the team made during the preseason has shown to pay dividends thus far. This is North Carolina FC’s League One debut, so the excitement and energy will be extremely evident from the first whistle. But Greenville has already shown their ability to stay composed, control the tempo despite what the opposition is doing.
Young Guns: North Carolina FC’s average roster age is 20 years old. On the other hand, Greenville is returning 14 players from their 2020 roster, six of which have played under John Harkes for the last three seasons. Harkes boasts an extremely experienced roster this season, and while NCFC leveled the same score against Charleston Battery during preseason, veterans have a different way about them — their attention to detail, their game management, their general understanding of the game at a high level. That’s one of the key things that will separate Greenville on Saturday and throughout the rest of the season.
News and notes
Team of the Week: The Triumph headlined Week 5’s Team of the Week with five players selected after their performance in the 4-0 win over North Texas. Dallas Jaye, Brandon Fricke, Andrew Booth and Lachlan McLean joined League One Player of the Week, Marios Lomis who scored Greenville’s opening goal, a spectacular finish off a Brandon Fricke header, just seven minutes into the match and followed up with a second goal in front of the home crowd that gave Greenville a 3-0 lead. Booth scored the Triumph’s second goal on an assist from Don Smart while McLean netted the fourth Triumph goal after recording an assist on Lomis’s second goal. Jaye and the Greenville defense recorded their second shutout in as many games.
Triumph on ESPN: Greenville has been chosen as the host of the first USL League One National Telecast as part of the expanded USL linear television schedule. The May 16 match against Union Omaha will be aired on ESPN2. Read all the details here.
All You Need To Know: We are excited to be welcoming fans back in a limited capacity for the 2021 season. In preparation for the May 16 nationally televised match, please take a moment to re-familiarize yourself with our matchday policies and procedures. You can find all you need to know for matchday by checking out our A-Z guide.
UPCOMING
The Greenville Triumph return to Triumph Stadium at Legacy Early College on May 16 as host of the first League One national telecast on ESPN2. Greenville will face Union Omaha at 4:00pm, with gates opening at 3:00pm and happy hour specials running until kickoff.
