PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The season beginning Saturday at Memphis at 7p, the Riverhounds made some changes and believe this is a championship season.
“We have the right squad to go all the way,” said veteran Kenardo Forbes, now in his fifth year in Pittsburgh. “In 2019 we did a good job to win the East, but we were lacking depth. This season, Coach addressed this and I think we can go all the way this season.”
The United Soccer League power rankings are somewhat optimistic. The Riverhounds sit sixth in the preseason, much of that is due to the depth head coach Bob Lilley has added. They’ve only played a few preseason games together and it’s a squad so competitive Lilley said it was hard to figure out who the travelling 18 players would be, let alone the starters.
“It’s exciting to have this kind of quality in the group,” Lilley said. “We have a lot of work to do. That’s the biggest challenge now is to keep working. Every team is getting better. We are in the infancy of where we need to go to have a really successful season.”
“We have to keep our head down, keep working. Hopefully we can go to Memphis and get a good start to the season. That would build some confidence and we could continue to grow from there.”
Memphis made the post-season in 2021, but lost a pair of all-league players in the off-season. Riverhounds add scorer Dan Kelly and midfielder Angelo Kelly-Rosales among others. The top five players in minutes return including Forbes. Leading scorer Russell Cicerone is back, along with top assister Alex Dixon.
“We look dangerous,” Lilley said. “Our choices on the ball have been a bit erratic. At times we’re keeping it and patient, other times we are playing 100 miles-an-hour. We need to find a balance of when to hang onto the ball and what moments are truly good opportunities. You can’t pick the low percentage option on a regular basis.”
“I do think we have a very balanced team,” said versatile midfielder Dani Rovira. “We have some guys in the locker room that are always excited. Some guys that are just coming to work, to get the job done. It’s that feeling in the locker room. It feels right.”
Goaltender is an area of concern after Danny Vitiello signed with Sacramento. Team defense is an early construction zone especially without an established netminder to help fix any mistakes.
The Hounds won five of six in the preseason and have high expectations. So do many other teams including rival Louisville, ranked third in the preseason power rankings.
“There are so many good teams and last year we let some points get away early,” Lilley said. “We talked about it. The points we let slip away that we should have secured, cost us potential home playoff games.”
“We have a good group of guys,” Forbes said. “Guys come ready to work. This is my fifth year and this is the most excited I’ve been going into a season. I think coach did a good job getting the right guys in. He addressed key positions we were lacking last season. I think we are ready to go.”
“It’s that feeling like it’s back to normal,” Rovira said. “It’s time to win. We can write history this year and it starts on Saturday.”