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Vital Eastern Conference points will be up for grabs in Germantown on Saturday where Old Glory DC play host to the New England Free Jacks. The two sides are well acquainted with each other after playing three times in 2024, all of them decided by four points or less.
| CURRENT STANDINGS |
2-2-0 (L1) East 2nd
2-2-0 (W1) East 4th
| STARTING LINEUP CHANGES |
|
IN | OUT |
| 2 | Facundo Gattas | KoiKoi Nelligan |
| 3 | Cali Martinez | Sam Davies |
| 12 | Jason Emery | Nick Grigg |
|
IN | OUT |
| 3 | Cole Keith | Jone Koroiduadua |
| 4 | Conor Keys | Jerónimo Gómez Vara |
| 9 | John Poland | Oscar Lennon |
| 10 | Harrison Boyle | Jayson Potroz |
| 11 | Paula Balekana | Killian Coghlan |
| CAPPED INTERNATIONALS |
(8) – Iscaro, Fa’anana-Schultz, Daniel, McVeigh (USA), Gattas (Uruguay), Martinez (Canada), Harley, Hoyland (Scotland)
(11) – Quattrin, Keith, Keys, Olson, Steeves, Larsen, von Dadelszen (Canada), Conradie, Malan (Namibia), Geiger (USA), Koroiduadua (Fiji)
| CLUB DEBUTS |
(1) – Kava*
(0) – Steeves
* – MLR debut
| NOTABLE ABSENTEES |
– Martín Vaca (HO)
– Jerónimo Gómez Vara (FL), Jayson Potroz (FH), Ben LeSage (CE)
| PREDICTION |
The Free Jacks arrive at windy Germantown without star playmaker Jayson Potroz who pulled a hamstring against NOLA. They are boosted by the return of Paula Balekana, with former skipper Josh Larsen back from injury on the bench. Simon Cross has preferred Jason Emery’s distribution to Nick Grigg’s straight running this week. Expect another close contest with the historical edge going to the visitors. New England are slight favorites on the road.
| LINEUPS |
OLD GLORY DC
1 Jack Iscaro, 2 Facundo Gattas, 3 Cali Martinez, 4 Rob Harley (capt.), 5 Tevita Naqali, 6 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, 7 Cory Daniel, 8 Lautaro Bavaro, 9 Connor Buckley, 10 Jason Robertson, 11 Axel Müller, 12 Jason Emery, 13 Steff Hughes, 14 Perry Humphreys, 15 Damien Hoyland
Replacements: 16 KoiKoi Nelligan, 17 Sam Davies, 18 Isikeli Kava, 19 Bill Whiteside, 20 Collin Grosse, 21 Ethan McVeigh, 22 John Powers, 23 Owen Sheehy
NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKS
1 Malakai Hala-Ngatai, 2 Andrew Quattrin, 3 Cole Keith, 4 Conor Keys, 5 Sam Caird, 6 Jed Melvin, 7 Joe Johnston (capt.), 8 Wian Conradie, 9 John Poland, 10 Harrison Boyle, 11 Paula Balekana, 12 Le Roux Malan, 13 Wayne van der Bank, 14 Isaac Olson, 15 Simon-Peter Toleafoa
Replacements: 16 Kaleb Geiger, 17 Jone Koroiduadua, 18 Kyle Steeves, 19 Josh Larsen, 20 Piers von Dadelszen, 21 Oscar Lennon, 22 Faletoi Peni, 23 Killian Coghlan
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, March 22
Venue: Maryland SoccerPlex, Germantown
Kickoff: 17:00 local (14:00 Pacific)
Weather Forecast: sunny, 61°F (16°C), wind W 17-25mph (27-40km/h)
Broadcasts: ESPN+, Monumental Sports, NBC Sports Boston, Sky Sports NZ, The Rugby Network
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Chris Assmus (Canada)
Assistants: Eanna O’Dowd (Ireland) & Matt Lake (USA)
TMO: Greg Gilliam (USA)
| HISTORY |
HEAD-TO-HEAD (10) – New England 8, DC 2
2024-07-20 – New England Free Jacks 33, Old Glory DC 29 (Veterans Memorial Stadium)
2024-06-08 – Old Glory DC 30, New England Free Jacks 31 (Maryland SoccerPlex)
2024-03-09 – New England Free Jacks 34, Old Glory DC 35 (Veterans Memorial Stadium)
2023-07-01 – New England Free Jacks 25, Old Glory DC 7 (Veterans Memorial Stadium)
2023-05-14 – Old Glory DC 24, New England Free Jacks 42 (Segra Field)
2023-03-11 – New England Free Jacks 34, Old Glory DC 31 (Veterans Memorial Stadium)
2022-05-07 – New England Free Jacks 26, Old Glory DC 20 (Veterans Memorial Stadium)
2022-02-18 – Old Glory DC 25, New England Free Jacks 41 (Segra Field)
2021-06-06 – New England Free Jacks 38, Old Glory DC 34 (Union Point Stadium)
2021-04-25 – Old Glory DC 35, New England Free Jacks 22 (Segra Field)
