Forward Madison Football Club aims to continue its quest for its first-ever championship in any competition as it hosts Charlotte Independence in the semifinal of the Jagermeister Cup, an in-season tournament among USL League One teams, at 6 pm tonight at Breese Stevens Field.
Forward Madison is the second seed among the final four, going 5-2-1 in the group stage to win the central group over One Knoxville, Lexington SC and Chattanooga Red Wolves.
The first-ever in-season tournament divided USL League One’s 12 teams into three groups. Each team played the three other teams in its group twice, and played once against one team from each of the other groups. Madison sealed the Central Group on August 29 with a 3-3 draw at home against Union Omaha thanks to goals from Wolfgang Prentice and Christian Chaney as well as an own-goal from Omaha’s Marco Milanese.
Highlights from Forward Madison’s 3-3 draw vs Omaha:
“Our goal at the beginning of the season was to try to compete to win this competition as well as the regular season. And right now we’re in a position to be able to do both of those things,” head coach Matt Glaeser said in an interview Tuesday. “Now it’s down to us to win a big game. We’re excited about it.”
Charlotte won the East Group also Saturday, defeating Greenville Triumph 1-0 August 30. Madison has not lost to Charlotte yet this season, winning 2-1 May 11 in a Jagermeister cup group stage match and playing to a 0-0 draw in Madison on August 14.
Charlotte comes to Madison tonight without one if its primary weapons: striker Juan Obregon Jr, who is on international duty with Honduras in World Cup qualifying.
“Always a tough game. They’re a good opponent,” Glaeser said of Charlotte Independence. “They always have a good roster. They made it to the (league playoff) final last year, and returned a lot of their group. I think for us, it’s always going to be about at home, wanting to control the game as best as we can. And they’re a team that likes to get out in the open field and run in transitions and create one-v-ones. And we want to try to negate some of that by controlling the game and then hopefully creating the better opportunities.”
In the other semifinal, top-seeded Northern Colorado Hailstorm hosts wild card Union Omaha in Windsor, Colorado. The winners of tonight’s matches will meet September 18 at the home field of the higher remaining seed.
In its six seasons of play in USL League One, Madison has made the league playoffs twice, both times losing on the road in the first round.
“It’s rare to play and knock out games and semi-finals and finals,” Glaeser said. “It’s not something we want to take for granted.”
Tickets are available at the Forward Madison website. The match will be broadcast on the EPSN+ streaming service.
