The Opposition Report II — MD22 vs Richmond Kickers
Fort Wayne Football Club hosts a Richmond side that has won once on the road in USL League One play all season and has lost all four of its league away matches since we beat them at City Stadium in June.
Wednesday, September 2 | 7:30 PM ET | Ruoff Mortgage Stadium, Fort Wayne, IN | CBS Sports Network
Prior Proceedings
All-Time vs Richmond Kickers (W-D-L): 1-0-0
The Opposition Report
MD13 Recap & Analysis
Back in June, Richmond was beatable. Taking three points away was possible. They had just lost their coach, they were shipping goals every week, and the only thing in their favor was a full week of rest at home against a Fort Wayne side arriving on short rest. The read was that chances would come in bunches against a back line everybody had been running through. It didn’t quite play out that way, but we won 2-0. Fort Wayne FC spent most of the night defending, letting Richmond keep the ball and take shot after shot from spots where very few score. We created a handful of chances and finished two of them, a Jack Thomas goal off a deflected Taig Healy shot and then a Healy finish of his own. The tired legs never mattered. Richmond was every bit as beatable as it looked, and we beat them by staying compact and putting away the few chances we made.
Since then, Richmond is still beatable. And yes, taking three points at home is possible. They appear to be two different teams depending on their home or away splits. At City Stadium, they have won twice and drawn twice. On the road, they have been dismantled, four league road matches and four defeats since our visit, none of them particularly close.
The Matchup II
Richmond’s road record is the context for this match. One away win in League One play all season, in May, and a run of heavy league defeats away from home since June. Richmond does not play well on the road, and now we’re hosting them at Ruoff Mortgage Stadium. While we’ve suffered back to back defeats at home to Omaha and Chattanooga, Richmond sits in the bottom of the league, where they’ve been most of the 2026 season. This is a winnable, take all three points match for Fort Wayne, but it’s never a given.
They have a striker now. Josh Kirkland, Richmond’s top scorer, did not start against us back in June. Kirkland has since become the reference point in their attack, and the chances coming his way have improved. Around him, Darwin Espinal and Ali Sasankhah are the supply, Espinal as the team’s assist leader out wide and Sasankhah setting the tempo from the middle of the pitch. And then there is Owen O’Malley, part creator and part agitator, the one who wants the night played at a boil; Fort Wayne FC needs to cut off his service and refuse to give him a reaction.
Brian Ownby, Richmond’s interim head coach, has already reinvented this team once. Through the middle of July he ran a back three, and it produced the worst month of Richmond’s season, one goal scored in five league matches. Since late July he has played a back four, first with two strikers, lately with Kirkland alone up top and a playmaker behind him, and that version has been scoring. New faces arrived with it; full back Harold Hanson and forward Zahir Vazquez were not in the squad we faced in June.
I’d expect a back four on Wednesday, one that doesn’t include right back Hayden Anderson. Anderson has played more league minutes this season than anyone on Richmond’s roster besides goalkeeper Yann Fillion and center back Sam Layton, but he was sent off late against Madison and is suspended. Right back might be the spot to attack, so Michael Rempel could play a key role on Wednesday.
Richmond’s attack has improved. Their defense away from home has not. This is a match Fort Wayne should play to win. Three points at home is the expectation Wednesday night. If there was a winnable match on the schedule, this is the one. Collecting points is critical during these next five matches. Richmond is beatable.
Always FWD