Louisville City FC interim head coach Simon Bird was able to claim his first win for the club against UPSL side Southern Indiana FC on Wednesday in the opening round of the 2026 US Open Cup. The game came just one day after the announced departure of longtime head coach Danny Cruz. As visitors from across the river, SIFC were able to keep the game within reach for most of the night due to some nervy defending inside their own box, but a first-half brace from Louisville forward Tola Showunmi was all that was needed to see the home side through to the next round with a 2-0 win.
“We talked about business as usual and going about our process,” Bird said when asked about preparing for the game after an unexpected last few days, “… The guys have been really good, from taking in information and responding.”
The home side was also dealing with a heavily rotated starting lineup, with eight changes from the past weekend’s match against Miami FC due to a combination of injury and rest to prepare for this weekend’s upcoming match against Rhode Island FC.
Despite the turmoil early in the week, the Louisville players were confident heading into the game.
“These games are always going to be hard,” said captain, Kyle Adams. “We always expect to win, it’s kind of about how much (we win by).”
Southern Indiana FC were not content to let the home team walk away with an easy victory, though. The visitors were playing in their second consecutive Open Cup after another successful run through last year’s qualification rounds. The UPSL side struggled to maintain possession for most of the game, tallying just 30% total, but defended well in the final third, holding the home side to just five shots on target despite 21 total shots on the night.
Louisville’s defence proved too much for the visitors to handle though, with the first shot for Southern Indiana not coming until well into the second half. SIFC logged just four shots total on the night, none on target, earning LouCity keeper Hugo Fauroux a clean sheet in his first start for the team.
The strong defensive performance for Louisville meant that the pair of first-half goals from Showunmi (his first for the team after returning from a stint for English side Crawley Town) were all the team needed to secure victory on the night.
Despite the 2-0 victory, Bird sees a lot the team can work on moving forward.
“We need a lot of work in the final third, that’s for sure. We knew that going into it,” he said. “The guys know it. We just need to be a bit sharper in that final action.”
Louisville advances past their opening round of the Cup for the 10th consecutive time, and will find out their next round opponent after Friday’s draw.