PREVIEW: Armada FC Hosts United FC Saturday to Kick Off 'Football Night in Jacksonville'

Armada FC Public Relations | Aug. 19, 2016

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Armada will cap off a packed week at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Community First Park when it hosts Minnesota United FC, presented by Tropical Smoothie Cafe.

Originally scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff, the Armada moved the time up to partner with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, which is hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in its preseason home opener at EverBank Field at 7:30 p.m., for "Football Night in Jacksonville."

Both sides are coming off Wednesday night matchups, with the Armada settling for a 1-1 draw with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers at home and the Loons defeating the Tampa Bay Rowdies, 2-0, at home.

Jacksonville nearly netted the game-winner in the 80th minute when Charles Eloundou slammed home a rebound off an Alhassane Keita shot. Eloundou even completed his backflip celebration before it was waved off when the referee called a foul on Pekka Lagerblom just before the shot.

Fort Lauderdale got on the board first when Jose Angulo took advantage of a costly Matt Bahner giveaway and slipped a low shot past goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo in the 20th minute. After a couple of missed chances by the Armada, Zach Steinberger connected in the 41st off a Pascal Millien assist to knot the score at one. Jacksonville dominated the run of play, recording 17 shots to Fort Lauderdale's seven and holding the ball 64.5 percent of the time.

Despite facing 19 shots from the Rowdies and falling down a man in the 82nd minute when Jack Blake was shown a red card, Minnesota firmly held control of the match. Ben Speas intercepted a pass from Tampa Bay's Walter Ramirez and hit a low bending shot into the bottom corner of the goal in the 18th minute to give the Loons the 1-0 lead.

League-leading goal scorer Christian Ramirez fortified his side's lead in the  62nd when he finished a touch by Aaron Pitchkolan into the back of the net.

In the Armada's last meeting with United FC, Jacksonville held a possession advantage (52.9-47.1 percent) and rattled off seven shots but could not convert multiple opportunities in a 2-0 road loss on May 14.

The Loons did their scoring early, getting on the board in the 16th minute on a Kevin Venegas strike and following it up in the 28th with a Stefano Pinho goal, before holding off the Armada's advances for the remainder of the contest.

Below is a breakdown of the teams and the matchup.

WHEN & WHERE
Saturday, Aug. 20 at 2:30 p.m. ET | Community First Park
Buy Tickets | Weather

THE TEAMS
Jacksonville Armada (2W-3D-5L, 9 pts., 9th NASL Fall, 3W-7D-10L, 16 pts., 11th NASL Combined)
Minnesota United FC (4W-2D-3L, 14 pts., 4th NASL Fall, 9W-3D-7L, 30 pts., 4th NASL Combined)

THE COACHES
Jacksonville Armada – Mark Lowry, 1st season
Minnesota United – Carl Craig, 1st season

SERIES HISTORY
United FC leads, 3-1-0

LAST RESULT 
United FC 2, Armada 0 - 5/14/16 in Blaine, Minn. | Recap | Final Stats

CLUB QUICK LINKS
Armada: News | Roster | Schedule | Season Stats
United FC: News | Roster | Schedule | Season Stats

WATCH
- CW17 in Jacksonville – Cole Pepper – PXP and Andy Kidd – Color
- ESPN3 Nationally

LISTEN
- Live on Project 106.9-FM | Stuart Webber – PXP and Ryan Patridge  – Color
- Also streamed live on iHeart app or project1069.iheart.com

READ
- Live Twitter updates on @ArmadaFCgameday – #JAXvMNU
- Live stats on ArmadaFC.com

POTENT NOTABLES
- Jacksonville has gone with 18 different lineups this season and has had the same back-to-back starting 11 just twice (June 4 at Carolina, June 11 vs. Tampa Bay; July 11 vs. Puerto Rico FC, July 14 at New York Cosmos).
 
- The Armada's five points from its past three undefeated results is the most it has recorded this season in a three-match span.

- Zach Steinberger's strike on Wednesday night tied his career high for goals in a season with two. He netted two goals for Indy Eleven last season while he was on loan from the Houston Dynamo (MLS) and scored both his goals against the Armada in a 3-0 Indy win on Sept. 5, 2015.
 
- Pascal Millien notched his first assist of the season on Steinberger's goal. It was the Haitian international's first assist since Oct. 3, 2015 in a 1-1 draw with Indy Eleven. He finished last season with a team-high four assists.

- Until getting a rest for Wednesday night's match, Tyler Ruthven had played every minute of every regular season match, making him the last player on the roster to do so. He is still tied for the league lead in minutes played with 1,710.

BY THE NUMBERS
0 – The number of times the Armada has beat United FC in the all-time series.

2 – The number of saves goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo needs to make to hit 100 for his career with the Armada.

62 – The number of combined shots (excluding blocks) taken by Charles Eloundou and Junior Sandoval, second-most in the NASL by a duo only behind Fort Lauderdale's Ramón Nuñez and Maicon Santos, who have 64 combined.

86 – The number of clearances for defender Tyler Ruthven, currently fourth in the NASL.

242 – The number of total shots the Armada has taken this season, currently third in the NASL.

838 – The number of total passes by midfielder Kevan George, which leads the team.

INJURY WATCH
- After going down with an elbow injury in the 21st minute against the New York Cosmos on July 14, Alex Dixon is out indefinitely. He is currently rehabbing the injury and could return to training within the next two weeks.

- Defender Anthony Wallace is currently day-to-day with a left hamstring injury.

CLUB CONNECTIONS
Loons goalkeeper Steward Ceus and Armada midfielder Pascal Millien and defender Mechack Jerome are teammates on the Haitian national team ... Ceus and Armada defender Anthony Wallace were teammates on the Colorado Rapids (MLS) from 2010-13 ... both Loons goalkeeper Sammy Ndjock and Armada forward Charles Eloundou hail from the same hometown of Yaoundé, Cameroon ... Loons goalkeeper Kristian Nicht and Armada midfielder Zach Steinberger were teammates on Indy Eleven in 2015 ... Loons goalkeeper Aaron Perez and Armada defender Beto Navarro were teammates on the Orange County Blues (USL) in 2015 ... Loons defender Jeb Brovsky and Armada defender Karl Ouimette were teammates on the Montreal Impact (MLS) from 2012-14 ... Loons midfielder Greg Jordan and Armada defender Matt Bahner were teammates on the Harrisburg City Islanders (USL) in 2013 ... Loons midfielder Aaron Pitchkolan and Armada goalkeeper coach Daryl Sattler were teammates on defunct NASL side San Antonio Scorpions in 2012 ... Loons midfielder Jamie Watson was teammates with Armada goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo at the Austin Aztex/Orlando City SC (USL) from 2009-13 ... Watson was also teammates with Jerome at Orlando City SC from 2011-12 ... Watson was also teammates with Armada defender Bryan Burke at Orlando City in 2013 ... Loons forward Bernardo Añor, who was on Sporting Kansas City's (MLS) roster in 2015, trained with Armada forward Danny Barrow when he was on trial with Sporting KC in 2015 ... Añor, Loons forward Ben Speas and Armada midfielder Kevan George were teammates at Columbus Crew (MLS) from 2012-14 (Speas and George were also teammates at the Crew in 2015) ... Speas and Armada forward Alex Dixon were teammates at the University of North Carolina in 2011, where they won the NCAA College Cup ... Dixon and Loons forward J.C. Banks and Armada forward Alex Dixon were teammates at the Rochester Rhinos (USL) in 2014.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Armada will have next weekend off before returning to action at the Carolina RailHawks at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3.