Forward Madison vs Westchester SC | AC Boise Soccer Stadium, Boise, ID | 8:30 pm | ESPN+

Okay it’s not really tonight’s League One After Dark game — that’s Fort Wayne at AV Alta at 10 — but 8:30 is later than we usually go.

Last time we saw Nate Miller’s crew, it was mid-June at Breese Stevens Field. Madison was coming off an admirable performance in a Prinx Tire Cup match, a 2-0 loss to Indy Eleven. Kerfalla Toure had played so well in that Cup match that he got the start against Boise. Mister Mingo Derek Gebhard gave the Mingos a 1-0 lead going into halftime; Boise midfielder Luan Brito leveled just after the break. Then, in the 66th, 20-year-old DC United loanee Hakim Karamoko netted his first pro goal, and the floodgates opened. By the time all was said and done, it was 5-1 to Forward Madison, capped by Toure’s first pro goal in stoppage time.

The boys in pink and blue have not lost since.

Obviously, we can’t assume we’ll repeat that performance. But a few things work in our favor.

Boise has been fantastically successful in their inaugural season, consistently selling out and setting league attendance records, drawing upwards of 7,000 at every home match. But on the field, they’re not invincible at home. They’ve won six, lost three and drawn two at home, including a goalless draw against Corpus Christi last weekend.

The Mingos’ backline and midfield will need to shut down the tandem of Denys Kostyshyn and Wisconsin native Nick Moon, who have combined to score 11 of Boise’s 29 goals. They’ll also have to keep Boise’s hometown hero Blake Bodily in check. He’s their Roman Torres: doesn’t score a lot but if there’s a scoring opportunity, chances are he’s involved somehow.

Nate Miller has put together a roster of USL veterans, including a handful who played for him in Lansing all the way back in 2019, and who followed him to San Diego in subsequent seasons. They are experienced, which is valuable, but we are younger. Tumi Moshobone is still threatening but he’s 31; their core (Kostyshyn, Ricketts, Crull, Dengler, Bodily, Amang) are all 27 or 28. Their average age is 26.5; ours is 24.2.

On the upside for Boise, that means their roster is a bunch of cagey veterans who are used to the grind of the USL season. On the upside for us, that means we’ll be less likely to tire (as evidenced by the four goals we scored after the 65th minute last time we played them). We also come into this match with a ton of swagger.

We also have matches on Wednesday (home vs. Greenville) and Sunday (at Portland). So even with a fully-rested squad, expect some rotation. Word is Derek Gebhard could be back toward the end of the month, but AJ Edwards seems fully fit or close to it, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the wing tonight. Ryan Carmichael didn’t score against Westchester, but there’s no reason he won’t get the start up top.

In any case, it’ll be a scrap, but the Mingos have every chance to get all three points and extend the club-record unbeaten streak to 10.

Here are the postgame comments from Matt Glaeser, Stephen Annor Gyamfi and Hakim Karamoko after Saturday’s 2-0 win over Westchester.

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And here’s this week’s full podcast:

What a week for Mingo Nation! We got Forward Madison’s first-ever hat trick in a 5-2 win over Chattanooga and the boys ran their winning streak to seven with a 2-0 victory over Westchester. Today Ethan and I talk through ALLL the goals, then Ethan’s very excited for our first ever interview with a former Man City player, when FMFC academy U19 head coach, Manchester’s own Laurie Bell, stops by the studio.

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