Last Wednesday, the Twosies took down the (Chicago) House in the First Round of the U.S. Open Cup. This Wednesday, they’re hoping for a similarly successful result in MLS NEXT Pro action out in lovely Herriman, Utah, where they will take on Real Monarchs at 8 p.m. And, if there is anyone specifically the Twos will be hoping can replicate their showing from last Wednesday, it would be striker Jordan Adebayo-Smith, who put on a second-half scoring barrage to net a hat trick in the tournament victory.
While the match will only be the Twos’ second regular-season match of the new 2024 season, the boys have plenty of room for improvement after LAFC2 unleashed the scoring fury on the Black and Blue in a 4-1 victory in the season opener. Hopefully, the clean-sheet performance from Alec Smir in last week’s tournament victory can be the confidence boost he needs to hold up against a Real Monarchs side that will be playing their third match of the new season after opening the NEXT Pro season with a shootout victory over Portland Timbers2, before dropping match two to Vancouver Whitecaps 2, 5-3, this past Saturday night.
While the Twos will most definitely be hoping to have the services of Adebayo-Smith at their disposal this Wednesday, they can expect to have a little more depth than they had in their Open Cup matchup with first-team talent like Carlos Harvey, Moses Nyeman, and Patrick Weah back in the fold. Additionally, the Twos will be looking for some additional juice on the attack from MNUFC Academy’s Darius Randell. Against Chicago House, the young midfielder flashed glimpses of his speed, not to mention his aggressiveness in his hard-nosed exchanges with Chicago’s defensive third. If Randell, as well as Adebayo-Smith, can get the Salt Lake City defensive third off its game in the early-goings of Wednesday night’s match-up, then it may be the catalyst to the Twos finding their first positive results of the 2024 NEXT Pro season.
Next Match:
Real Monarchs vs. MNUFC2
03.27.2024 | Zions Bank Stadium | Herriman, Utah
MLS NEXT Pro | Kickoff: 8:00 p.m. CTÂ
